INTERNATIONAL GEEK CINEMA PRESENTS: BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (2001)

Director: Christophe Gans

Rating: 7.5

Welcome back to Geek for Hire, Today we begin our International Geek Cinema Special where we go far from Hollywood to find the geekiest films out there. Today's turn is for France, with one of the craziest films I've seen in my life, from Christophe Gans, the guy behind Crying Freeman and Silent Hill comes: Brotherhood of the Wolf.

On the XVIII century, on the province of Géuvadan, there is a beast that is terrorizing the people, the King of France hires an adventorous taxidermist and his loyal bodyguard to solve the mystery in the mashup of Historical Drama, Horror, Romance, Erotism and... Martial Arts. Wait, what?

This is basically a Hybrid movie, and the first time I saw some of its scenes on TV, I thought it was merely a historical drama, then I watched the whole film and I noticed this was going on a more Hollywoodesque style. I like Historical Dramas, even though they're not 100 per cent accurate, it represents a challenge for the crew in terms of dialogue, set and costume designs, etc. 

The genre mixup might be annoying for some audiences, but at least it works in here, it's not an accurate depiction of 1700's France, but it feels authentic in a fantasy sense, I really enjoyed the themes of prejudice, mysogyny, religious fanatism and the thin line between fantasy and reality. On a technical level I adored the cinematography and the costume design, the score by the legendary Joseph Do Luca, the stunt work was really amazing, specially from Mark Dacascos who does most of his own stunts.

Let's go with negatives, the movie is too long, lots of subplots could've been trimmed for the sake of the pacing, there is a great cast but I didn't really care for their characters, maybe except for Mani the Iroquois, not even the great Vincent Cassel shines as he should, I think Gans was more interested in sytle instead of substance, but some of its scenes really needed a bit of substance for emotional payoff. There is a moment between the end of the third act and the epilogue where I lost it, there had to be an important scene that ends so abruptly and left me confused.  The Beast itself looks great in some scenes, in other its looks very 2000's fake.

Putting the negatives aside, there is a lot of enjoyment in this movie, I can't deny that I was entertained by it, I appreciate the effort to mix these crazy ideas and execute them properly, I think an anime based on this universe would be cool, but that's just my humble opinion. Brotherhood of The Wolf is an interesting flick with several elements that make it pure entertainment and gives us a taste of good French imagination.

This was my latest entry in Geek for Hire, tomorrow I'll review Aliens on my Classic Sundays, celebrating Sci Fi month and coming soon my reviews of Annihilation and Jessica Jones Season 2. If you liked this, you can comment below and share it, this blog isn't just mine, it's yours as well. And Happy St. Patrick's Day.