Movie Review by William Bettner
Posted: February 2002

Critic Score: B

"I would be lying if I did not admit that this is all, in its absurd and overheated way, entertaining." - Roger Ebert

"...berserk yet entertaining..." - New York Times

What is it with Hollywood these days? Can they not tell a story in under an hour and a half now? Movies such as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" both clock in around 3 hours long! And it doesn’t seem to stop here in Movieland USA. "The Brotherhood of the Wolf" clocks in at 2 hours 40 minutes!

But, time complaining aside, "Brotherhood of the Wolf" ("Le Pacte Des Loups") is a cross genre movie that is executed quite nicely. The plot is based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorized France in the mid-XVIIIth century.

The first act of the film, we are introduced to Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), a biologist, explorer, philosopher and alchemist, and his Indian cohort, Mani (Mark Dacascos) who arrive in the Gevaudan region, in the mountainous central part of France. They are told of a Beast that has been attacking women and children for months and nobody has quite been able to harm it or even take a good look at it. Their mission: to kill the Beast for the love of the King of France and the safety of its people. A daunting task for something that’s never been spotted except by the dead.

In the second act, our hero Grégoire doesn’t only have to fight the Beast, but also ignorance, bigotry and conspiracy. His love for his country falters, as he has to deal with deceit by the very government that has asked for him to hunt this beast. This part of the film is well done and encompasses a lot of subjects. But, each topic is focused upon and has just enough screen time without getting annoying. The focus on the hunt for the Beast never plays second fiddle for too long.

The camera work does leave something to be desired though. Chistophe Gans’ (director) infatuation with the speed up/slow down camera tricks really got annoying at times. There are scenes in the movie where this style lends itself well to the action (martial arts scenes), but in others, it doesn’t make any sense. Another camera trick that was used was a dissolve from a woman’s naked body to the snowy capped mountains of South France. Should we laugh at this and think the director was attempting to be comical? Or should we consider this dissolve as a fabulous eye for the insane? Whichever the case, the tricks worked in some moments and not in others. It didn’t deter from the story much.

So how would this movie be described? What category can this film be shelved? Well, it’s a costume period movie that’s part horror, martial arts, and detective. The funny thing is, all the pieces work well together. Expect imitations to come running out of various studios in Hollywood in the next few years.

The scary thing about this entire movie is that it’s based on a true story! Between 1764 and 1767, in the southwestern mountains of France, a beast HAD killed roughly 100 people! This story became such a commotion that the King of France (Louis XV) sent envoys in hunt of the Beast. It was never found and it was rumored as to what type of creature it was. Was it a hyena, a wolf, a person, or something supernatural? No one knows for sure, but the movie does attempt to explain the reasoning of how the Beast came to France and what type of creature it was.

In all, a well done movie that deserves a second viewing, when you get the chance.