Brotherhood of the Wolf

[Cap'n Al]

I'd been looking forward to this with almost feverish anticipation, because I'd hoped that it would do all that Sleepy Hollow (IMO) failed to do, by combining a great action/adventure film with a really interesting political costume drama. Instead, the film is nothing so much as a bizarre exercise in combining as many genres as possible in one film (far more coherently than A Knight's Tale, to be fair), with the overall impression being that Christophe Gans simply didn't have enough confidence in either the simple 'monster movie' plot, or in the more complex political machinations.

For all that, I enjoyed it quite a lot; it's always good to see a film that does something a bit different, including apparently killing off both the male leads, as well as having the lead villain commit incest with his sister, and the fight scenes are very well staged, although Gans' insistence on cutting very quickly and placing the camera extremely close to the action is somewhat annoying, as you don't get a sense of the beauty of the fighting (which, to be fair, is partially the point here.) It also didn't help that I and the 2 other people who went to see it were nearly deafened by the very over-active sound system.


Oh, and Vincent Cassel is fantastic as the one-armed villain. Then again, he always is....

[rst]

I agree, the attempt to diversify the plot lessened the impact. However tis still a good film, I was quite suprised. They think this will be a bit of a sleeper, and do a CTHD. There were about 100+ people watchng it...not bad for a subtitled film..

[Chuffster]

What are the creature effects like?I saw a clip on Film 2001 and they looked as bad as An American Werewolf In Paris...........

[Rohail]

More info in the thread below.

Brotherhood of the Wolf thread (http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15941&highlight=brotherhood+of+the+wolf)

[kanedaa]

I gave pretty much the same criticisms (Bar the multiple genre ones) in my review but maybe didn't make them as clear cos I simply adored this film :)

anyone who saw the clips on Film 2001 had the film spoiled in many ways as half of the beauty is not knowing what the beast looks like for a good 90minutes....still, j.ross gave it a great review and one that i thoroughly agreed with.

Capn'al - are you getting the French release? (sure its you on the reserved reviews list) - if so, i'm presuming you can speak French very well???

Only ask as I plan to translate and create a timed script for the French R2! and although my French is basic I can use the online translators so much, and then hopefully a dictionary and help from seasoned French speakers to complete my work....

dave.

[Cap'n Al]

Originally posted by kanedaa
Capn'al - are you getting the French release? (sure its you on the reserved reviews list) - if so, i'm presuming you can speak French very well???

Only ask as I plan to translate and create a timed script for the French R2! and although my French is basic I can use the online translators so much, and then hopefully a dictionary and help from seasoned French speakers to complete my work....

dave.

I'm going to get the 2-disc, rather than the 3-disc on reflection, because, while I liked the film, I didn't adore it so much that I have to spend an extra £10 on the box set. I was amazed by how simple the French used was, actually, and so even basic French should be enough to understand the film, with subs....

[Disappearer]

Just got back from seeing this movie - a bit long, and too convoluted at times, but overall it's very, very good, and certainly better than what Hollywood's been churning out this year.

What's most surprising is that it's managed to get such a wide release in this country!

[gooseUK]

I saw this film a few weeks ago and was hugely disappointed. sure, there are some slow-mo riddled, Matrix / CTHD inspired fight scenes, and a big-monster-on-the-loss plot chasing dumb-to-be-on-the-moor-alone busty maidens, but the film just gets bogged down by long, supposedly deep discussions about art and philosophy and so on, which really hinder any tension and pace the film establishes. Just when it's starting to crank up a gear, it slows to a dead halt. I wouldn't mind this so much if any of the lead characters were charismatic enough to be engaging (spoiler: this film has one of the dullest "heroes" in memory). That said, as speculation on a genuine mystery (there really was something eating people out in them moors at this time in France), it's quite a clever little idea. The monster design is cool, though I wish it was more model than CGI. This film is already long, but apparently the French cut runs some 20 mins longer.

Still, the opening 10 mins is an absolute cracker, and the sound design is simply superb.

[stantheman]

Very enjoyable, loved it.
Esp after most of the summer tosh I've sat through.

Can some kind soul give me a link to the French dvd release.
Ta.

Or any other region release. I think I read that the US cinema release was in Jan. Will this mean a region 2 release before region 1?

[Creamstick]

Saw this at 4am this morning at a horror marathon (along with Cronenberg's The Fly, Theatre of Blood [Vincent Price campfest - superb], Event Horizon and Jeepers Creepers), and have to say it was absolutely superb. Certainly in my top ten of the year so far.

[Hardnox]

I have to say i was very impressed with this film.
Plot was different and from the trailers, the plot was definatley not what i expected.
However, i was most impressed by the camera work.. especially the way shots were paused, or stuttered using very detailed fast framed cameras providing detailed deep paused shots at crucial moments.
For example when busty-maid falls into bog and is trying to scramble out, and the shot of the horses feet running through a puddle. Nice pauses and slow-mos.

That is all :)

[Ol' Blue Eyes]

Not a bad film at all, certainly different in an entertaining way. Good to see it playing in the multiplexes too, although at mine, the guys at the box office were instructed to warn anyone buying a ticket for Amelie and Brotherhood that the films were in French. No doubt there had been complains from the local shellsuit brigade. :rolleyes:

One question - what was the monster actually supposed to be? It reminded me of the museum creature in The Relic.

[McMikey]

Originally posted by Ol' Blue Eyes
Not a bad film at all, certainly different in an entertaining way. Good to see it playing in the multiplexes too, although at mine, the guys at the box office were instructed to warn anyone buying a ticket for Amelie and Brotherhood that the films were in French. No doubt there had been complains from the local shellsuit brigade. :rolleyes:

One question - what was the monster actually supposed to be? It reminded me of the museum creature in The Relic.

I thought it was a lion with armour on it. it looked a bit strange at time but then again from what I remember the lions in the ghost and the darkness did aswell.

anyway I saw this tonite after I saw the pledge (great film) I'd say I really enjoyed it although I felt the first hour and a half (ish) could've been trimmed without really hurting the story. That said I really don't like it when I know there's footage took out of a film thats good enough to watch. Bring on the 10 hour version of Dune :) Nice to see a reunion of Doberman cast aswell. Oh and I think that the speeding up/slowing down stuff was a bit overused as well.

[Mr Vampire]

OK film. But what have the French got with the close ups in fights?
But generally a pleasant 2 hours and a bit, although Gan's could've tightened it up, for what is really a simple story stretched.

[britboy1979]

Well I've just returned from seeing it, and I was amazed. My friend and I entered the cinema expecting some cheezy dungeons and dragons inspired "it's sooooo bad it's good" type of film ( well that's the impression we both got from the trailers )

However it came out being a stunning (if a tad tooo long) action, flick, with far too many strange elements too work...but work they did. :D

(and the lead girl was very pretty :) )

[SloppyJoe]

Okay I'm going to have to ask a very stupid question - is the film in French with no subtitles or is it subtitled.
Also I know there's a French speaking version available on DVD, but to us none French speakers is there a subtitled version available - or pre-order?

[kanedaa]

yup, it has English subtitles in the Cinema. no English subs on the French DVD though :(

dave.

[SloppyJoe]

Damn my poor attention span. I knew I should have been listening rather than drawing in those FRench classes.