Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I love Polish cinema. I love Michal Zebrowski, he was awesome in Stara Basn or in Ogniem I Mieczem. I love the fantasy books in LOTR style. But this film killed nearly all my sentiments. What do we see here - very badly done video effects (the scene of the battle with a dragon is especially hilarious), pathetic play of all the cast and above it all - too much of Zebrowski - this time, blond, dirty, proud and uttering such laughing stock lines that it is hard to believe your ears. Nay, do not waste your precious time - this is a random mixture of the images of Sapkowski's books, badly filmed and with a laughable budget. Nothing of the good kind here - just a constant yawning disease all throughout the endlessly boring film.

Chris CSo, maybe the budget of this film was near to 20 dollars. But have you seen Jackson's Lord of the Rings. Yes, there are much animation, there are 11 Oskars... for what? Only the first part is close to book, and the rest... Tolkien should be disappointed. If you want to see not just FX - the movie is really great. It is humorous, like an authors books. Yes, budget is really small, but the plot is exciting. About actors - dear Chris C - show me people from street who can play better. Zhebrovski is very good. Remember his role in "Ognyem i myechem". There are no wooden dolls. Lyutik is great. The actress playing Yennefer is what I expected to see. Maybe Poland haven't Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler for elves, but... Sapkovski isn't Tolkien. His world is different. So, for my opinion film is worth looking. Sorry for horrible English. Chris C - sorry for this comment. I just like Poland and polish films from "Chterey Panzerni" and "Pan Wolodyovski" till "Ognyem i Myechem" and "Wedzmin". And I think, that film is good enough to see it.

Methinks the vicious slams against this film, made by hardcore fans of source author Andrzej Sapkowski, are a bit out of line. Sapkowski's books, very popular in Poland, are not available in English yet (a UK edition comes out in 2007), and I have not read them, so I watched the film with no expectations. There is some excellent film-making here, an unusual atmosphere (helped by a fine music score and great scenery), and, most memorable, the magnetic performance of Michal Zebrowski in the lead. In WITH FIRE AND SWORD, Zebrowski seemed merely ornamental (he is very good-looking); here, he truly claims the role of the lonely warrior moving through a broken world determined to find a higher moral code.Comparison with Tolkien is largely misplaced, although this fantasy also clearly grows out of the catastrophes of the 20th century. In HEXER, we enter a world of vicious power struggles and atrocities. When a ruthless band resembling Teutonic Knights wipes out a sacred retreat of women, you can't help but think of the Nazi atrocities in Poland. The content also draws on older Polish history, such as the 17th century practice of impaling captives; you won't find that in Tolkien! The resonance of this exotic background and the seriousness of these themes give the film a welcome sense of gravitas that results in some haunting images and moments.Regarding special effects, I grew up in the 1960s on Ray Harryhausen claymation, and while I appreciate the tremendous advances in FX, they don't make or break a film for me. The special effects here are certainly not Hollywood state of the art, but nor are they cheesy; they are respectable.The film's biggest weakness seems to stem from the fact that a longer version appeared as a TV series in Poland, and this feature release was edited from that. Indeed, some developments seem too rushed and some characters pop up very abruptly; the story is not unintelligible, but does require a bit of concentration from the viewer. I would love to see the longer, more fleshed-out version on DVD someday.

Wiedzmin books (the first two volumes are stories on which this fatal movie is based) and five further volumes i.e. Wiedzmin Saga are perfectly written piece of fantasy literature. I can agree that their author borrowed a lot from Tolkien but he added so much his own spice that at least in my opinionthey are much more exciting that Tolkien's Middleearth Saga.If only we(Poles) had someone like Peter Jackson to direct the movie based on Wiedzmin Saga (and enough money, but not so much as for LOTR) that potential movie would shake Hollywood.But for now we can only cry in despair that someone spoilt such piece of great fantasy.Kind regards, Paul Wiedzmin's(book version) fan