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Dan Owen reviews
Universal Pictures
- Cert: R
- Cat.no: 05014T
- Running time: 152 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 20
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 (Fre only)
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $14.99
- Extras:Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer, Optional English/French MenuScreens & Production Notes
Director:
- Christophe Gans
(“Crying Freeman”)
Screenplay:
- Stephane Cabel & Christophe Gans
Cast:
- Gregoire de Fronsac: Samuel Le Bihan
Jean-Francois de Morangias: Vincent Cassell
Marianne de Morangias: Emilie Dequenne
Sylvia: Monica Bellucci
Thomas d’Apcher: Jeremie Renier
Mani: Mark Dacascos
Le Comte de Morangias: Jean Yanne
Brotherhood Of The Wolf(or, Les Pactes de Lupe) is an exaggeratedaccount of an 18th-Century myth concerning ‘The Beast Of Gevaudan’; asupposed wolf-like creature that stalked the French countryside for manyyears killing peasants.
Director Christophe Gans adapts the story as a hybrid of many genres,meaning its period drama trappings become interwoven with flashes ofmartial arts fighting and the requisite monster movie backbone. Gans’recipe works moderately well, although “Brotherhood” never totallysatiates the viewer’s expectations.
The movie remains stylish and occasionally inspired throughout, withGans camerawork effectively restrained and the cinematography manages totransform the film into a living oil painting. However, the screenplaybegins to wander after the first hour and the 152 minute running timedrags incessantly in the mid-section.
Samuel Le Bihan makes an affable lead as Gregoire de Fronsac, the manwho is sent by the King to slay The Beast – but the lack of passion andconviction in his performances seriously limits the enjoyment of hischaracter. His romantic involvement with Marianne de Morangias (EmilieDequenne) also rings quite hollow and unnecessary throughout the film.
The only true character success in the movie is with Fronsac’sfriendship with Mark Dacascos‘ stoic Native Indian character Mani.Dacascos has easily the most interesting role in the entire movie andmakes the character his own – but he is also crippled with the lack ofverve and energy behind the script.
Supporting characters are similarly flawed – the actors merely seem togo through the motions of their limited roles, playing second fiddle tothe enticing premise of the film’s story. Sadly it’s a premise”Brotherhood” fails to capitalize on until it’s far too late in thegame.
Audiences expecting a rousing action movie, set in the 19th Century,with martial arts versus a werewolf are going to be very disappointed.Unlike the genre-busting style ofPlunkett & MacLean,Brotherhood Of The Wolf prefers to play its premise straight. Toostraight. Even if you accept its weak ‘true story’ credentials.
Brotherhood Of The Wolf is a film of thirds. It begins with intrigue,a few unsettling scenes of mayhem, a couple of enjoyable fight scenes,and promises great things. A FrenchJawswith aCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonsensibility?
The second third becomes bogged down in convoluted tweaks to the premiseand tiresome scenes that begin to crush the fun out of the wholeexercise.
Thankfully, the final third, despite some terribly stilted CGI for ‘TheBeast’ creature, restores some zest into the film and works quicklytowards a moderately enjoyable finale. Trouble is, by the time the filmbegins to redeem itself… you may be beyond caring.
Overall Brotherhood Of The Wolf is a disappointing movie, but notwithout its highlights. Christophe Gans shows good technical ability asdirector, and some of the final twists in the story should raiseeyebrows… but it lacks flair, passion, and a more exuberantsensibility that could have really pumped some excitement into theperiod-romance-chopsocky-werewolf movie it should have been.
Instead, we get a French Merchant Ivory flick with a CGI hedgehog thrownin to attract American teenagers at the multiplexes. Not bad, but thismovie is a clear case of a project failing to live up to its huge hype.
The animated menu screen begins promisingly, with a virtual cameraswooping over French cliffs and then shattering into the predatory imageof a lone wolf in a tomb… but then it’s just a rather boringlyanimated wolf shuffling about with scenes playing in the background. Notgreat, but not bad.
The picture quality of the film’s 2.35:1 (anamorphic) Widescreentransfer is quite good, although the disk has some problems displayingdeep darks. Therefore, most night sequences come across as a little toodingy – not helped by the blue hue Gans uses throughout. That said, theday lit moments are quite enchanting and detail levels are high.
There are some nice surround sound moments on the Dolby Digital 5.1(French) sound mix, although of course the English version is somewhatdulled because of the voice-over dubbing. I recommend you stick with theoriginal French language, and make use of the English subtitles. Unlessyou’re French, of course, in which case you can enjoy the rather tastyDTS French-language option.
Gans makes sure his movie has plenty of rear sounds during the fightsequences, with Mani’s weaponry in particularly whooshing around thespeakers to great effect. Everything else is usually ambient (nice rainsounds, horses galloping, wolves howling, etc). A fairly dynamic track,but nothing to shout about.
Regarding the extras…Oh dear, oh dear. This is one disk that should (and could) have beenpacked with insider material – interviews, ‘making of’ documentary,featurettes on the supposed reality of the Beast – but we getpractically nothing.
What we do have is the very impressive Theatrical Trailer and theinclusion of 40-minutes of deleted scenes in the form is four deletedsequences and a highlight reel of deleted material from “Le Pacte desLoups”.
The scenes are presented in a big running loop, but are thankfullychapter encoded for easier access. Director Christophe Gans introduceseach scene by giving general background information about where thescene would have been placed in the film, then returns after each sceneto discuss his thoughts and motivations about the deleted scene and whyhe felt it necessary to cut.
In addition to the scenes themselves you are given the chance to seesome behind-the-scenes footage, interspersed with interview footageafter the main sequence has played out. This takes the optionalcommentary approach to the next level as instead of simply commenting onthe removed material, Gans allows us to see him and his crew working onthe scenes. The scenes here include a longer version of the openingfight sequence, a scene outside a church and a romantic scene on afrozen pond.
Despite the excellent deleted scenes feature, this is still a hugedisappointment for a DVD release. But there is a 3-disc Special Editionrelease which has been crammed full of material. I recommend you getthat release if you want to find out more about the making of the film.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLE-mail Dan Owen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.