The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is another entry in the longstanding Witcher franchise that consists of books, games, and television show series. From near flawless games to a hit Netflix series, this action-packed anime had a lot to live up to, which is precisely why it disappoints. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf focuses on Vesemir, a Witcher who gets wrapped up into a conspiracy involving elves, humans, and his fellow Witchers. It takes a while to see how this movie has a connection to the main Witcher franchise. In fact, its relevance isn't made clear until a cameo at the very end.

While the action is certainly something to admire (although it does get repetitive), the story is simply uninteresting. It is hard to care for the characters and story when most of the development is rushed in an already short film. Vesemir suffers from “hot guy main character” syndrome and that's about as far as his characterization goes. Most of the interesting characters here have just a few minutes of screentime, with the exception of Illyana. Illyana is Vesemir's longtime friend who ages much faster than him due to her being a human. She reencounters her old friend while she is in the later stages of her life and adds heart and emotion to the story. Sadly, it's not enough to warm the frigidness of Vesemir’s “badass” attitude, which made it incredibly hard to care about him. The only reason I'm lenient on this film is because of the aforementioned cameo, which is incredibly cool (albeit brief) and gave me a reason to care.

The anime-inspired animation has heavy references to franchises like Attack on Titan and Dragon Ball. It is certainly a pleasant film to look at thanks to the animation being fairly well-done. However, it is not a pleasant film to listen to as the sound design and mixing are poorly done. It's so poorly done, in fact, that it is sometimes hard to understand dialogue in key moments. Certain design choices also distract from the dark grittiness of the film. Ultimately The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf tries to emulate the intensity and compelling story of its predecessors but ultimately fails due to its repetitive fight scenes, cliché writing, and downright bad filmmaking at times.

5.5/10