Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!!!!
Review: I loved this movie! It was filmed in such an orignal way. The opening scene was mindblowing. The sound effects matched the action scenes to a tee. The silences would roar with tension and than the action would just blast you out of your seat. The cinematograpy was tremendous! The scenes were so imaginative and creative. The storyline was plausible. The beast was really encased with armor which made it seem to be a monster. It was actually an animal brought from Africa and made to be mean. In fact, this story is based on actual rumors that this had happened. The ending was a bit over the top but it has to please the majority by having a happy ending. I myself don't need that but alot of people do. I am just amazed at the action scenes and sound effects, the suspense is UNBELIEVABLE! The plot is good but its the original way that the material was filmed that makes this film a winner. If you want to see a creative piece of work, with horror, major and I mean major suspense, blood and lots of it, beauty, violence over the top violence!!! Go see this movie it is one of a kind. Lisa Nary
Rating: 
Summary: 45 MINUTES ON THE EDITING FLOOR WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT!!
Review: What beautiful cinematography, sumptuous costumes, new bright faces, and acting for a change
The plot is based on a French urban legend. A beast is ravaging the countryside, killing women and children only. This is stirring-up the general public and their hysteria is making the King loose popularity.
The King sends forth his Gardener(Samuel Le Behan) who takes his Iroquois sidekick, Mark Dacascos, and they set out to capture this beast. Which turns out to be no easy thing. There is a sub-plot which I will not discuss as it might hinder the reader from seeing this movie.
If Christophe Gans had left 45 min. on the editors-floor this could have been a great film. But it falls apart in the middle as the Director seems to think he has to develope even the extras characters in this movie, hence if you can get around this stumbling block, you will enjoy.
The fight scenes bring to mind Hidden Dragon, but they are cleverly choreographed. All the main characters are vibrant and easy to look at and if you are worried about what an Iroquois from the Americas is doing in 18th century France, his partner (Smauel) had been to America on a expedition for plants and they became BLood Brothers.
I gave this *** stars for overall and ***** for cinematography, costumes, and acting. ciao yaaah69
Rating: 
Summary: Le "Ghost and the Darkness" as Anti-Catholic Bruce Lee Flick
Review: That's right, imagine a French version of "The Ghost and the Darkness" that's shot as an anti-Catholic, Bruce Lee movie. What a shame. Remove the PC animus towards the Pope and Church and you have a beautifully shot, wildly entertaining monster/martial arts period piece.
"Brotherhood of the Wolf" is easily the best looking foreign film I have ever seen. In fact, except for the subtitles, you'd think you were watching an American release. I'd be shocked if director Christophe Gans isn't being courted, as I write this, to direct the next Jerry Bruckheimer action flick or an epic a la "Last of the Mohicans" or "The Patriot". Given his visual style during the beast's "Jaws"-like attacks and his handling of the alternating quick-cut/slow-motion fight scenes (never have sequences like this SOUNDED so good), Gans can't be ruled out to direct the next big film from the horror or martial arts genres either.
With so much going for it visually, it is unfortunate that it is so difficult to get beyond it's repulsive plot (which I won't reveal). Suffice it to say that the "heroes" one must root for include: a "libertine" naturalist, a sadistic, blood-tasting whore and an Iroquois warrior/medicine man (Mark Dacascos is excellent in a role that would have been great for the late Brandon Lee). And of course the "real" monster they are fighting is the Catholic Church. This is a film that Nietzsche would have loved - good is evil and evil is good. I give it 5 stars for the cinematography, thrills and action minus 4 stars for the overt bigotry. What a monumental waste of talent.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I do not like subtitles, I like to read books not movies. I would wager that when it is released on DVD there would be a version dubbed in English. The promotion of a film is the second largest expense next to the actual production costs. With this in mind I don't know why the filmmakers did not take the time to ensure the widest audience possible for the film. However much this film makes at the box office, it will be less than it deserved to earn. Word of mouth will play a large part in the ultimate level of success the film has, and there are many people who will not attend a subtitled film. The trailer was well done, and included absolutely no dialogue, so some viewers may feel they were mislead when the subtitles begin.
The film is beautiful to look at for virtually the entire 2 and one-quarter hours that it runs. Christophe Gans, the director, has a great eye and he seems to prefer lush, saturated colors that make some scenes that would otherwise be overextended pleasant to view. He uses some clever transitions, some of which are so smooth they could be missed the first time they are viewed. He also makes good use of slow motion and he evens freezes a few frames to punctuate terror, and it is effective. Slow motion gets used by some directors to the point of being annoying, for how interesting is a view of a person walking through a door? A body falling through leaves so that it becomes abstract, or a body falling in to water, gives the eye a great deal to watch.
The movie has a great deal of fighting that is very well choreographed and stays far away from the digital effects used to have people scale walls, or spin horizontally in the air. The fights may remind you of Jackie Chan sequences in that they are clearly very well thought out, very well rehearsed, and they have a director that knows how to capture the action on film. I enjoyed the super human sequences The Matrix presented, but that is not what is on offer here.
The actors are all unknown to me, but all seemed very capable. Evidently the husband and wife that pair in this movie has done so several times in French films, and are very highly thought of in Europe.
Not dubbing this in English will hurt the film at the box office. However with that qualification, this is a great action film/period piece, and when appraised as such should appeal to a great number of moviegoers. The R rating is appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Those Wacky French.....
Review: I've never seen a French movie before, and I've also never seen a film as weird as this one, so I guess that alone would be worth a couple of stars....
Brotherhood of the Wolf is part Action Movie, part Espionage, part Horror/Period Piece/Suspense/Martial Arts, and throws in a Conspiracy that would make Oliver Stone smile. On the surface, these elements could (and SHOULD) make a real mess of a movie, but Brotherhood suceeds nonetheless.
A mysterious beast is ravaging a small village in France in the 1700's (This portion of the story is true...), and The King sends his Naturalist/Botanist/Bonesetter (This is a real Jack-of-All-Trades type) and his Mohawk Blood-Brother to help in the identification and apprehension of the creature, which the locals believe is a supernatural Wolf. That seems straightforward enough, but Director Christophe Gans throws in everyting but the kitchen sink, sub-plot wise.
Still, the film has a number of things going for it: Strong performances by the leads, Samuel Le Bihan as the Wolf-Hunter, & Mark Dacascos as his silent-but-deadly companion (Dacascos brings a quiet dignity to the Indian Mani, and his numerous fight scenes are breathtaking.); great creature effects- the monster is very well done, and really had me wondering just what it was; beautiful cinematography that adds a lot to the mood of the film- this is truly one on the best LOOKING movies I've seen in quite some time. And Emilie Dequenne, the actress who plays Marianne, is just about the most beautiful woman I've ever seen...so that didn't hurt either.
On the bad side- there are about four or five different times that I thought the film was over...but then it starts again...the movie is Waaaaayyy too long, and there is just too much going on. My biggest beef, without giving anything away, was the "Scooby-Doo" ending; I felt cheated. Yet I still managed to really enjoy the film as a whole,
People who are put off by subtitles shouldn't be too scared; after 5 or 10 minutes you hardly even know they're there, and since the last hour is one big action-fest, there isn't much reading to distract you from the action.
If you're looking for something (VERY!) different, this is the film to see.
Rating:
Summary: Good plot - Actions Scenes over done
Review: A very interesting story, well acted. The open scene set a great tone for the movie, but as the movie progresses you start to lose the feeling of the openning scene, since every action scene that follows is done like it is the grand finale.
This could have been a great movie if the director would have been more descrimitive about the intensity of each action scene.
Rating:
Summary: Lush and captivating
Review: In the past, movies have hung on richly convoluted political conspiracies, but none recently has captivated my imagination as well as "Brotherhood of the Wolf" did. It is lushly photographed and visually interesting even when the occasional 'table talk' slows the momentum. Plot twists and other story-telling devices in this movie do not detract from the growing eerie "Oh, no - it CAN'T be..." suspense. How I wish I spoke French and had not had to rely on the subtitles!
