Review of Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) by Little T — 30 Sep 2009

Jean-Francois de Morangias: So tell me sir, do they speak of the beast in Paris?

Gregoire De Fronsac: Speak of it? They're already singing songs about it.

Geneviève de Morangias: Instead of singing songs, they should be saying prayers.

Quite the strange film, which manages to pack a historical atmosphere with killer wolves, martial arts, crazy amounts of cleavage and nudity, political drama, romance, and some slick cinematography to make it all look nice. The film is too all over the place to be great, but it is entertaining.

Set in 18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast. During this time, more characters are introduced, including a one-armed count, played by Vincent Cassel and one of the women at the local brothel, played by Monica Bellucci. While on the hunt for the dangerous beast killing many, the two main men learn that there may be much more to the terrorizing of the beast than one may know.

Jean-Francois de Morangias: Congratulations. If I had both my hands, I'd applaud you.

At two and a half hours, this is a long movie, especially given its B-movie style plot outline. The first hour and a half was actually really good, before the movie descended into stranger and stranger territory. The characters are interesting and the premise was working for me. As the film kept going, all the other layers detracted from my liking of the movie.

The two things that were the most solid here were Mark Dacascos as the Native American who was awesome as a quiet martial arts expert and the gorgeous cinematography. Any movie that can give us both beautiful landscapes and transition fades from Bellucci's breasts to mountains is quality. Certainly adding to both these elements (Dacascos and the cinematography) is the action sequences, which make great use of slo mo and speed ups.

As intriguing as the beast aspect of the story is, seeing it wasn't too satisfying, however, it did kinda grow on me in a strange sort of way.

Now in addition to all of this, as absurd as some of the elements in this film are, what is surprising is that a lot of the characters and their character traits are actually true. Its a detail that I feel necessary to share, because what else can I say about this movie? It has some cool action, looks great, but is overly long.

Gregoire De Fronsac: How did it happen?

Jean-Francois de Morangias: I learned that sometimes one bullet doesn't suffice.