The greatest draw for The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is its lead efficiency: Game Geralt Doug Cockle strikes from one rendition of Andrzej Sapkowski’s ongoing fantasy saga to a different to present a gravelly, sardonic flip because the famed Butcher of Blaviken on this Netflix film. Unfortunately, the most important draw right here can be the one draw. A follow-up to 2021’s Nightmare of the Wolf, Sirens of the Deep is unimaginative and dramatically sterile. Its bland, pastel anime method turns Geralt of Rivia right into a spinning motion determine properly sufficient, on the expense of the inventive curiosity that makes Sapkowski’s Witcher world such an interesting one to get misplaced in.
Cockle’s distinct vocal supply is a stabilizing presence in Sirens of the Deep, lending it a brooding high quality that comfortably hearkens again to the heights of CDPR’s Witcher RPGs. His efficiency has a sly richness that’s regrettably absent in different variations. As the movie round him veers into predictable fantasy cliches and obligatory hack-and-slash havoc, the as soon as and future (?) Geralt holds regular, ready for a wiser story that by no means materializes.
Another shiny spot is his banter with Joey Batey, as soon as extra choosing up the lute of live-action Witcher breakout Jaskier. This cross-franchise pairing makes a cosy match, and when Geralt and Jaskier are free to pal round, Sirens of the Deep turns into midway pleasing. The actors’ confidence of their roles is well essentially the most interesting facet of the film, they usually’re much more of a delight to take heed to than the host of appalling “Bri’ish” accents surrounding them.
And goodness, a number of the solid actually fail the brand new characters. It’s particularly troublesome to understand Essi (Christina Wren) and Prince Agloval (Camrus Johnson), not solely as a result of Wren and Johnson’s unconvincing, often dire performing, but additionally due to the passive method they’re written. From a storytelling perspective, Essi is especially unremarkable: a passionate, nautically savvy determine from Jaskier’s previous who naturally captures Geralt’s affection, she’s extra a inventory love curiosity for our libidinous hero than a correct romantic foil. Agloval is simply as one-dimensional, the sullen prince entangled in a politically charged melodrama between the kingdoms of merpeople and people. His infatuation with the mermaid Sh’eenaz (Emily Carey) serves as a prelude to warfare, but when there’s any ardour value risking a kingdom for between these two characters, it was disregarded of the script.
Geralt and Jaskier discover themselves within the coastal realm of Bremervoord, struggling empty stomachs and, because of the violet-eyed Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra, in flashbacks), harm emotions that dictate the place the Witcher takes his contracts and whether or not he’ll slay a beast to earn some coin. (He insists he has a “ethical code” – although that insistence is Sirens of the Deep’s solely proof of the code’s existence.) Their desperation pulls them right into a battle between Bremervoord and the merman kingdom of Ys, and regardless of his preliminary, feeble reservations, Geralt cannot resist getting concerned, particularly when the doubtful contract to cull a whole monster race comes from rich King Usveldt (Simon Templeman) – “Codes for none, coin for all,” as famished Jaskier places it. It is not lengthy earlier than Geralt’s medallion begins to shimmy and shake.
The plot is boilerplate, even by Witcher requirements. Usveldt bids Geralt rout a faculty of vodnik – fish-men who serve Ys – plaguing pearl divers off the coast of Bremervoord, however naturally, there’s extra at play than a easy dispute over aquatic territory. As the film goes on, the courtly intrigues on land and sea paint a boring image of racist motives from a power-hungry few who’d like nothing higher than to have their kingdoms go to warfare merely for spite (and maybe slightly revenue). And warfare is inevitable except Geralt, Jaskier, and Essi resolve this conspiracy, a narrative that unfolds like a crappy rehash of The Little Mermaid (a parallel underlined throughout one crummy musical sequence) and sometimes seems like a extra uninspired model of the DC Animated Movie Universe’s spotty Throne of Atlantis. The motion is rudimentary, and Sapkowski’s murky morality loses a few of its nuances in traces like “Humans have a knack for looking for short-term earnings and retelling the story so it wasn’t their fault.” As a fascinating under-the-sea journey that additionally desires to be social commentary, it’s out of its depth.
This is not any reinvigoration of a franchise that’s struggling to search out its footing within the wake of Henry Cavill’s departure from its flagship collection. If Sirens of the Deep is the most effective Netflix has to supply underneath such circumstances, it is perhaps time for the streamer to rethink its funding within the Witcher universe. Perhaps it is time to lastly let Geralt sail to friendlier shores.
