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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 25, 2002

MOVIE SCENE
'Wolf' bites off too much from American films

By Claudia Puig
USA Today

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Stars: Samuel Le Bihan, Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Mark Dacascos

Director: Christophe Gans

Distributor: Universal Focus

Rating: R for strong violence and gore and sexuality/nudity

Don't be fooled by the 18th-century setting, French dialogue and subtitles: This action-packed, blood-and-guts extravaganza is more Hollywood than most American films.

Certainly French filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut have influenced American directors, so it's only fair that we return the favor. But we clearly got the better end of the deal in the cultural exchange.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is an amalgamation of The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Titanic and Indiana Jones, in a period piece. Villagers are being terrorized by a mysterious beast; the king sends for a renowned scientist to slay the creature. It's a movie for people who wouldn't be caught dead seeing a foreign-language costume drama (read: teen and twentysomething males).

Wolf has the hard bodies, careening violence, kick-butt martial arts and spooky thrills to satisfy the Fast and the Furious and Tomb Raider crowd, but probably not enough substance to lure the crossover audience dazzled by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Stylishly shot and edited, awash in fast-paced jump cuts and whooshing, Matrix-style sound effects, the eerie story and special effects get pulses racing. But, for all its visual verve, its gruesome graphic violence is overkill. If you don't enjoy watching bodies eviscerated and entrails exposed, this is not your movie. Also, animal lovers beware: There is an unsettling scene of a pack of graceful wolves being hunted and shot down.

Though at times an entertaining, B-movie-style adventure saga, complete with bodacious bordello babes and a host of unlikely villains, Brotherhood is also occasionally tiresome and, at 2 1/2 hours, too long.

There's a jaw-droppingly useless scene that gives new meaning to smashing pumpkins. Speaking of rock groups, the movie's three male leads all look as if they might be more at home in spandex than breeches, with their flowing locks, toned pecs and swaggering attitudes. Samuel Le Bihan, who plays Fronsac, a naturalist sent to investigate the mysterious beast terrorizing a French village, looks a bit like a less frenzied David Lee Roth. And teenage girls will likely drool over the loincloth-clad physique of Mani, played by Mark Dacascos, the Iroquois blood brother and sidekick of Fronsac.

We don't want to give too much away, but when finally glimpsed, the beast (created by Jim Henson's creature shop) looks oddly familiar, its loping moves reminiscent of rampaging creatures in American blockbusters.

Foreign films have traditionally provided a refuge from Hollywood's excesses. But with this grisly popcorn movie, we're reminded of the heavy-handed contributions that some U.S. blockbusters are making to global culture.

Must we import the rubbish we export?