Rating: 
Summary: Offensive mess
Review: A female werewolf is ravaging the French countryside, and two naturalists so hetero-... that they might have stepped out of a Monty Python sketch are called in to track her down. Meanwhile they visit a brothel, where are subject to lots of disgusting scenes of naked women. The head naturalist falls in love with a cross-dressing female aristocrat, and his assistant, played woodenly by Marc Dascascos, has ... with some women and is killed. I have rarely seen such an offensive movie: it gets one star because Amazon.com doesn't go any lower.
Rating: 
Summary: Good New Fashioned Swashbuckler!
Review: This is a classy over-the-top action adventure combining elements of Three Musketeers(-2)Swordplay...substituting Kung-Fu adepts... with Sherlock Holmes (Hound of the Baskervilles)mystery set in Pre-Revolutionary France. Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos play two agents On His Majesty's Secret Service sent to unravel the Mystery of THE BEAST ravaging the countryside. Beautiful, moody photography ports the adventurers and viewer into the belly of the Beast and a Masonic conspiracy to frighten both a decadent Monarchy and Catholic peasantry into continued, obsequious submission to the corrupt Aristocracy. Director Christophe Gans is not really interested in a history lesson on intrique among the Three Estates.THE BROTHERHOOD of the WOLF is a New Fashioned Swashbuckler with bad bad guys to be done-in and beautiful damsels to be rescued. The bad guys are worthy opponents and the damsels certainly worthy of being rescued.The movie is a bit too long and the outcome(resolution of the mystery and ID's of the evil dudes and dudettes) predictable. But so what? Fear, decadence and danger are conveyed masterfully with ghostly, rain-soaked vistas; wolves loping through blizzard-blanketed forests and castles as inviting as Purgatorial antechambers echoing eerie cries of Lost Souls below. This is a good movie; the French subtitling does not distract and with some judicious editing (monitoring)the R rating could easily be scrapped for the well-made, unpretentious Good-Guys vs. Bad Guys (Wolf's)Tale it is...
Rating: 
Summary: Perfection in the Action Genre
Review: I saw a trailer of this film a year before it finally reached my city. I admit I had forgotten about it. But when I read the name in a newspaper clipping showing the movies that were to open up the following Friday I immediately made plans to go view it. I was not aware of the experience I was about to have. This movie is the best action movie I have seen in a long time. It is full of action, suspense, and other dramatic elements. The movie impressed me in the first twenty minutes. An hour later the movie impressed me on new levels. The rush never left me throughout the film. I bought it as soon as it was available on DVD. I recommend that you buy it too. The best definition by comparison I can think of is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with some exceptions; no flying, subplot of revenge instead of love, and it is in French, not Mandarin. I also recommend that you watch it in French with subtitles. It has as English dubbed option, but leave that for a screening when you are concentrating on company instead of the movie. Again, If you like action movies with a good plot, this is a great film for you. I rate it five out of five. It was one of the best theater experiences I've had. Grade A+! *5 out of 5 stars!*
Rating: 
Summary: A good kung-fu, period piece...if that's possible
Review: Having seen this awhile back in Minneapolis, I picked up the DVD "Le Pacte Des Loupes" while visiting in France. Overall, it's a fun film, one that doesn't take it self too seriously, but at the same time, is dedicated to the presentation of the period in which the film takes place. The cinematography is great, washed over with a sense of darkness and foreboding, adding a great touch to the film. The actors, a great collection of hot French actors and actresses, only help to compliment this. Samuel Le Bihan and Vincent Cassel, like always, are great, each really getting into the roles of their characters, Cassel especially. The kung-fu action parts are fun, albeit a bit ham stringed, and towards the end, the resolution is a bit stretched as well. But, overall this is a great film. And, thanks in part to the action elements, should add a nice incentive for those movie goers who usually shy away from foreign flicks a nice opportunity to see one that is a bit "against the grain." The DVD is nice, with a pristine transfer. Compared to the French version of the DVD, though, the American release is pretty lacking in extras. US buyers will be missing out on an entire extra disc of special features, including cast interviews, featurettes, additional deleted scenes and more. Overall, though, it gets some nice treatment considering it is ia foreign film.
Rating:
Summary: The Movie and Story are Fine; It's Just Too Long!
Review: Don't get me wrong. This is a very interesting tale, but like so many foreign films, it seems as though its director couldn't tell the story in 90 minutes. Believe me, the gist of this story could be told effectively in a 1950's hour-long anthology.
There's no reason for this film to run nearly two and a half hours. A film that runs in excess of two hours should involve major changes for the protagonist (as in "Ben-Hur" or "Gone With the Wind,") or use the excess time for a powerful denouement, (as in "Murder on the Orient Express.)
Plus, the looping of dialogue is sometimes very distracting. This film may have been better served with subtitles instead of dubbing.
Rating:
Summary: brotherhood of the wolf
Review: long slow pretty and boring.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful horror kung fu action period film from France
Review: Wow, they certainly tossed just about everything into the pot in making this one, including the French Revolution. "Le Pacte des Loups" starts off as a exquisitely photographed costume drama/horror flick set in 18th century France with a poor peasant girl being hunted down by an unseen beast. My first thought that this was a beautiful film, more reminiscent of a Jane Austen period piece than a horror flick from Hammer Studio. But then our hero, Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his faithful Indian companion, Mani (Mark Dacasos), show up and we suddenly discover the film is also a cross between "The Last of the Mohicans" and "Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." However, since this is movie based on a legend regarding a huge wolf ravaging the French countryside, this hardly seems the time to insist upon a standard of realism. The collaboration between director Christophe Gans and cinematographer Dan Laustsen results in some beautiful and memorable camera shots (most notably, as the camera tracks up a woman's nude body it morphs into snow covered terrain), often playing with time and movement to great effect. In the deleted scenes Gans provides a sort of mini-commentary on the film that is quite interesting in terms of setting up the film's dynamic, especially regarding the opening sequence originally conceived for the film and the scene that replace it. Laustsen is the cinematographer on upcoming "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," and my assumption is that when I see that film I will have a better sense of who contributed the most to "Brotherhood of the Wolf." The film was edited Xavier Loutreuil and Sébastien Prangère, with David Wu doing the Hong Kong kung fu fight sequences, which are impresive because they do not, for the most part, violate the realism of the time, which is a way of saying the wire work is extremely limited and understated. I also like the way Fronsac's love triangle is color coded: Marianne de Morangias (Émilie Dequenne) is a redhead often dressed in a red uniform while the raven haired Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) always wears black. The rouge/noir opposition works well in contrast to the blues, browns and yellows which serve as the palatte for most of the film. My only real complaint is actually the traditional complaint one has after watching a Hammer horror film: the beast, when we finally get to see it, is something of a disappointment. However, I will allow that this is probably due as much to my heightened expectations given the quality level of the rest of the film more than to the limitations of CIG technology. The second time I watched the film this aspects was less bothersome to me, but still something of a disappointment. An action/horror/fantasy/thriller/romance like "Brotherhood of the Wolf" is not going to be embraced by everyone, but certainly fans of those genres will admire the ambition of this film, the most beautiful of its type we have ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: The evil is made by mankind
Review: I had read some of the reviews and the general complaint is that there aren't a "real" supernatural beast or a sorcerer or a witch or something demoniac. Hey men, monsters don't exists....the bigfoot..nessie...a fake! so why are you upset that this beast is a "made by men beast"? The legend about this beast is real, it was never caught, that's the reason why we never know what kind of strange animal was terrifiyng france at that time. About the movie. This is a great movie, I got my dvd from Spain, and all I have to say that this is one of the best movies I've seen in the last years. Forget the [stuff] of Jurassic Park (excepting the first one maybe) and those adolescent horror movies. This is an action packed movie, with a plot. The only complaint is about the love story....but the rest of the movie is good enough to let it pass. But don't forget that the evil is made by mankind, there are no spawns from hell.
Rating:
Summary: Great period/action/drama/horror cheese in French
Review: Although the Canadian version of this disc is recommended, this movie is great fun nonetheless. A little Jaws, a little Crouching Tiger, a little 18th century period piece and a little Native American mysticism add up to a rollicking good time. Not a great movie, but greatly enjoyable. The real-life husband/wife team of Monica Belluci and Vincent Cassel, along with great scenery and martial arts action, make this one a cheesy joy.
Rating:
Summary: In French W/ English Subtitles
Review: Watching the presentation in its original French will not only allow the words to match up with the actors' mouths but will also provide a more accurate portrait of the director's intentions.
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