Review of Empire of the Wolves (2005) by Andrew S — 06 Aug 2009

Story needed to be cleaned up a bit - it's confusing to follow and the screenplay lacked attention to detail. Spoilers: Why is a highly trained assassin being used as a drug mule? Why does she resort to trying to sell the drugs for cash if she's already got enough to flee? Why the hell is some Turkish fringe movement so implacable in Paris?

The premise is a bit contrived, and the feel of the film lacks cohesion.. You'll spend the first 20-30 minutes thinking you're watching a slow burn thriller; then it turns into this action extravaganza, complete with a telescoping exploding staircase sequence in a crypt, characters being resurrected unscathed, and a final sequence so melodramatic, you'd think you had all of a sudden somehow stumbled upon the ending to Bad Boys II (albeit, slightly more grizzly).

Despite such shortcomings, it's a decent, and (fairly) intelligent thriller. Jean Reno doesn't fail to disappoint in his performance, and the rest of the cast is pretty decent. The direction is stylish, and the film _looks_ great. It's rather long, for what it is - it's painfully sluggish pace makes it feel even longer, and the more far-fetched details will probably interrupt your suspense, but eh, I'd say it's still worth a look. Watch it in the original French if you can; the voice-over work on the dubbed version is pretty bad.