Brotherhood of the Wolf (Review)

“Chewing tobacco was a bad idea.”

To explain fully what goes on and why in Brotherhood of the Wolf I’d need 2,000 words, even then I’d just end up confusing things, suffice to say it’s pretty intricate.

The basics of the story though, are that a French “problem solver” and his Native American (ish) assistant venture to a region of France beset by an unknown but very vicious and hungry beastie who is killing the locals in gruesome fashion.

The Frenchman is Mr Fronsac who is cool in quite a poncy way, and his Indian companion is Manny. Once they arrive and speak to the locals they find that this is far more than a wild beast with a tendency for human flesh, but something that may in fact be directed by an unknown organization hellbent on terrorizing the town.

Even though it is set in the 17 or 18 hundreds here is a film that tries to defy genres, therefore we get hyped up fight scenes, horror elements and even a part animal part beast, all set with a sumptuous backdrop of French nobility and heaving cleavages. One of the more notable cleavages belongs to Monica Belucci, who in a genius moment of casting works in a local brothel and early on “shares her wares” with Fronsac.

As mentioned the plot is labyrinthine as the filmmakers obviously want to continually throw the viewer off the trail, so we have many red herrings and characters brought in to confuse the issue and muddy the waters.

Many characters are introduced during the first hour and a half, special mention must go to Vincent Cassell as the one armed Jean-Francios, who is ugly, creepy and compelling all at once for some reason.

After some unsuccessful hunts with little success, Fronsac and co are told to step aside and let someone else handle it, he hangs around in any case determined to see the situation through, (and to keep plowing Belucci I’d wager).

When the “beast” finally arrives it is reasonably impressive, though the quality of the CGI fluctuates at times, shortly afterwards the truth is exposed, and we learn the origins of the beats, who is behind it and why.

The Brotherhood of the Wolf is heavily stylized and at times pretentious filmmaking, I daresay if the movie was made in English (and not French) with a similarly important tone it wouldn’t be as well known.

It is an interesting film, and amid the confusion and long-winded scenes there are some memorable moments, more than anything I give credit for at least attempting to make a period epic with so many influences and a blending of genres, even if they did ultimately overreach.

Paring down some of the elements and cutting perhaps up to 40 minutes of running time would do a lot of favours for the film.

Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. If subtitled, 2 ½ hour, genre-crossing French period pieces about half mechanical animals terrorizing a small town is your thing look no further!

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
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