Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

☆ ☆ ☆

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) – C. Gans

Based on a true story (!!!) – or at least many of the characters are real people from pre-revolutionary 18^th century France (the bodice-ripping era) -- and apparently, there was a wolf-like beast preying on peasants in this particular regional area of France at that time.  The fictional conceit is that two “investigators”, one French (Samuel Le Bihan) and one Native American or Canadian (Mark Dacascos), have been sent by the King to catch the beast and bring it back to Paris for scientific analysis.  So far, so good.  However, the style used to present this story (by director Christophe Gans) is one that I find immediately off-putting:  it’s that mix of video game or comic book aesthetics with irritating sound effects, slow motion fight moves, and occasional CGI flourishes that also marred other films of this time period (I’m thinking the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes film at the moment).  Others may enjoy this style and certainly this became a hit outside of France but it ruined the film for me (that and the over-long running time and dragging romantic scenes).  Still, there are some fine actors here (Vincent Cassell, Émilie Dequenne, and Monica Bellucci among them) and the art direction/period mise en scene generally looks great (apart from that CGI sheen). A conspiracy plot lies buried beneath everything, which could be appealing if the chaff were cut away from the wheat.  In short, I tried hard to get into this – comparing it to some of the Hong Kong films of yore (with their decidedly non-naturalistic fight scenes and sound effects) – but to no avail.  Moreover, the beast itself reminds one of Princess Mononoke (1997), the better film (if entirely different). I guess I can’t really recommend this – but whatever floats your boat!