Dr. Spec
10-02-2002, 11:09 AM
Brotherhood of the Wolf:
Based on a true story about a beast that terrorizes a 17th century French countryside, and the men sent to find it and kill it.
This movie is visually gorgeous - with woodland scenery, imagery galore, naked women, houses of debauchery, hunky men, old castles, and rolling countryside. There is also a rolling fadeaway of a woman's naked body into a snow covered countryside that simply has to be seen first hand to be fully appreciated.
It is long (2.5 hours) and occasionally suffers pacing and editing problems. Like sex, the French take their time with movies, unlike most Americans, so get yourself in the mood and slow your life down a bit and just soak it all in.
The action sequences - when they occur - (which is about 1/3 of the time) are excellently choreographed and exciting, with occasional slo mo thrown in for good measure. The martial arts fight scenes are excellent, and there is plenty of firearms, knives, swords, and other weapons thrown in for good measure.
The acting is fine, and the English dubbing works very well, but is not perfect (can dubbing ever be?). The plot must be closely followed in order to "get" the story. There is plenty of French aristocrat treachery and backstabbing and plots twists (reminiscent of Gladiator in this regard), plus lots of nudity, kinky sex, and even an incest/rape scene thrown in for good measure. I won't ruin the movie ending for you, but there is a strong parallel to "From Hell" regarding the whole who, what, why, where, how, in the handling of the Beast - things are not always as they seem!
The soundtrack is fine, with DD 5.1 and pleasing vocals and surround effects. Bass is quite powerful, clean, and deep (room shaking actually, but not overcooked) when called for, and is largely absent when it should be - a refreshing change from say LOTR where synthesized bass is dubbed into almost every scene.
Despite the occasional pacing problems, this movie is lots of fun, defies genre classification, and is definitely different. If you are looking for something unusual with a Euro action twist - definitely see BOTW. I'm glad we have it in the collection and I give it a solid 8/10.
Doc
Based on a true story about a beast that terrorizes a 17th century French countryside, and the men sent to find it and kill it.
This movie is visually gorgeous - with woodland scenery, imagery galore, naked women, houses of debauchery, hunky men, old castles, and rolling countryside. There is also a rolling fadeaway of a woman's naked body into a snow covered countryside that simply has to be seen first hand to be fully appreciated.
It is long (2.5 hours) and occasionally suffers pacing and editing problems. Like sex, the French take their time with movies, unlike most Americans, so get yourself in the mood and slow your life down a bit and just soak it all in.
The action sequences - when they occur - (which is about 1/3 of the time) are excellently choreographed and exciting, with occasional slo mo thrown in for good measure. The martial arts fight scenes are excellent, and there is plenty of firearms, knives, swords, and other weapons thrown in for good measure.
The acting is fine, and the English dubbing works very well, but is not perfect (can dubbing ever be?). The plot must be closely followed in order to "get" the story. There is plenty of French aristocrat treachery and backstabbing and plots twists (reminiscent of Gladiator in this regard), plus lots of nudity, kinky sex, and even an incest/rape scene thrown in for good measure. I won't ruin the movie ending for you, but there is a strong parallel to "From Hell" regarding the whole who, what, why, where, how, in the handling of the Beast - things are not always as they seem!
The soundtrack is fine, with DD 5.1 and pleasing vocals and surround effects. Bass is quite powerful, clean, and deep (room shaking actually, but not overcooked) when called for, and is largely absent when it should be - a refreshing change from say LOTR where synthesized bass is dubbed into almost every scene.
Despite the occasional pacing problems, this movie is lots of fun, defies genre classification, and is definitely different. If you are looking for something unusual with a Euro action twist - definitely see BOTW. I'm glad we have it in the collection and I give it a solid 8/10.
Doc