Brotherhood of the Wolf
2001
Director: Christophe Gans
Action director: Philip Kwok
Stars: Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Jeremie Renier, Mark Dacascos
A vicious wolf is attacking a small French village, so the king sends a scientist (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Indian escort (Mark Dacascos) to find the wolf and kill it. They arrive to the village and discover a dark secret about the wolf, as well as a web of political intrigue around it.
While Brotherhood of the Wolf is not the action-packed saga the trailers make it out to be, the action (under the direction of Five Deadly Venoms alumnus Philip Kwok) is still good for a Western movie. The fights are a bit too short, but they are photographed well (there is just enough camera trickery to give the fights flavor without drowning them in style) and combined with some excellent sound effects, so they still provide suitable impact. Of course, a liberal dose of blood and some unique weapons also help out matters.
Since there is not too much in the way of action in Brotherhood of the Wolf, the film-makers had to emphasize other aspects of the movie, and they do that well. To begin with, the film is technically very well-made. The sets and costumes are great, and the movie as a whole looks good through sharp cinematography and crisp editing. Story-wise, Brotherhood of the Wolf comes off like one of Wong Jing's better movies -- there is literally everything in here, from action to horror to drama to romance (with even a bit of exploitation thrown in), but the movie manages to stay cohesive, because one element is never emphasized too much. Thank god -- I really didn't want to sit through another hammy, melodramatic romantic subplot.
Of course, not everything is perfect here. The story's climax seems to take forever to finish and is ultimately resolved with a cheesy plot device that just smacks of lazy scriptwriting. Also, the movie's suppoedly "hidden" villain is pretty damn easy to spot, and this leaves the "detective" parts of the film feeling flat. Some of the acting felt unpolished. I couldn't tell if some of the characters were supposed to be parodies of French aristocrat types, but at any rate, some of the actors just came off as dull or annoying. Finally, it felt like the pacing could have been tightened up a bit. With a running time of about two hours, there are a few scenes which could have been trimmed or cut completely.
Even with these shortcomings, Brotherhood of the Wolf is worth a viewing. It is certainly one of the more unique "mainstream" (the film was a huge hit in France) movies to come out of a Western country, and it's probably more inventive than anything big Hollywood is likely to throw at you this year. I haven't liked too many of the French movies I've seen, but whether it is an Eastern influence, or a general trend toward more action-oriented (versus talking-oriented) films, Brotherhood of the Wolf marks a good step forward for French movies, at least those enjoyed outside of the "arthouse" crowd.
RATING: 7