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Brotherhood of the WolfRating:
Release Date: 24 February, 2003 Retail Price: $19.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (6 total) |
Brotherhood of the Wolf Reviews
The French answer to Hollywood and Hong Kong...
A stunning attempt to make an action/horror/historical film goes awry in this rather lengthy effort. Set in the mid-1700's France, a series of gruesome murders take place appearing as if a giant wolf is ravaging innocent travellers and villagers. As the King sets about to solve the dilemma using scholars and military, a deeper story unfurls involving Catholic and political implications with a terrifying beast providing the core mystery.
As usual, the French have a difficult time making a cohesive and entertaining story, but will probably blame America because we can't 'understand' anything unless WE made it ourselves. In truth, the basis for an excellent film is behind 'Brotherhood' but the lack of directorial and script editing skills slowly carved away the ability for this film to relate to most viewers. Events are poorly established most times, and the visuals wobble between lush and embarrassingly immature. Despite some bad dubbing, it was a nice matinee flick, but the inclusion of copious kung fu fightin' and Mad Max leftover characters made me feel we weren't in France anymore, rather post apocolyptic Mongolia. A better effort at 'historic horror' would be the uber-ridiculous 'Ravenous' which seems to stay in the period and not bring in too much oddity from around the world to cover a rather straightforward story, but goes to the heart of the characters, their fears, loves and desires.
The most confusing element is the Wolf itself. After watching an entire film where the populous in it cries 'Wolf Wolf Wolf DEMON!', and the entire story revolves around this mysterious creature, when they 'reveal' the beast at the end it becomes 'Oh yeah, the wolf was this thing from Africa, or sumthin'....ah dunno....'. Odd.
One Of The Best Films Of 2001
I wasn't sure what to expect from "Brother Hood Of The Wolf". At first glance, it seems like a Werewolf story. But it's not. It's part thriller, part drama, part action, part romance and even part horror. The opening of the film is great. Two mysterious men intervene in what appears to be the ravaging of two innocent gypsies. The men quickly face down the attackers and send them packing. It's from here on out that Christophe Gans shows us that this movie has somewhat of a fantasy like quality to it. We quickly follow these two men, Gregoire (Samuel Le Bihan) and Mani (Mark Dacascos) deep into a mystery involving violent deaths at the hands of a "beast". Religion vs Science vs Enviornmentalism vs Myth all play an important roll in how each of the main characters view the impending situation. I really enjoyed the performances by Emilie Dequenne and Mark Decascos. The film is very easy to understand and follow even if you don't speak French. I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes a good mystery or an epic adventure set in the history of France.
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