Brotherhood of the Wolf, The (2002)

Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Emilie Dequenne
Director: Christophe Gans

Rating: R

Studio: Universal Focus

Review Posted: 1.21.02

Spoilers: Minor

Rating: 3/4

By Craig Younkin. | Read Review #1

"Brotherhood of the Wolf" is a combination of many different movies. Most have come out in past years, and were very good. This film will remind of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "From Hell", "Sleepy Hollow", but on a sad note, last year's "The Musketeer" as well.

Despite this, "Brotherhood," the period piece by director Christophe Gans, is a very entertaining ride of one man's battle with evil.

The film begins with naturalist and philosopher Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Iroquois Indian friend Mani (Mark Dacascos), who are brought to Southeast France to investigate the murders of several young women. By the way the bodies are mutilated, it becomes apparent a wolf is the likely prime culprit.

The idea of a killer wolf has sent the town's folk into a terrified state and it is King Louis XV's last resort to have Fronsac work with the police to capture the beast. But as Fronsac gets closer, he finds that there is a power over the beast that ranges all the way back to the Catholic Church.

"Brotherhood" is a slick and terrifying action picture. The visuals occasionally take on a stylized beauty, but Gans's best work is in establishing suspense and action sequences. Besides another obvious rip-off on "The Matrix" in the beginning, the battle sequences, which are mainly composed of martial arts and swordplay, are very exciting scenes to watch.

And what makes them even better is that Gans puts in a sufficient amount of character development and wit, something that last year's "Iron Monkey" lacked primarily. In particular, Samuel Le Bihan is the most charismatic hero I've seen in months. His charming, daring and intelligent performance makes even the first 45 minutes of the film, which is to set-up up a romance, an engaging period of time.

The special effects are also incredible. The film flawlessly puts together some really horrific characters, which makes them become so scary that at a certain point, even the feeling of their presence is enough to send shivers down your spine.

January movies are usually awful. "Brotherhood of the Wolf" is that rare exception; it offers something more.

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