Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Well, there goes the first movie I watched in the new year. Whoop-de-doo. A friend told me about this movie and how it supposedly was a big hit in Europe (I haven't bothered to confirm) and now it's playing at a theater nearby. Sure, what the heck, I'll go. I usually find myself enjoying foreign movies, with "Amores Perros" being my favorite one last year. We arrive at the theater a little late, I realize that the eight dollars that I thought was enough wasn't, and of course it turns out that we're not late after all thanks to about twenty minutes worth of commercials and trailers. But enough about the atrocities plaguing the filmgoing experience...I suppose that's what one gets when one makes the mistake of swinging by a theater with more than two screens.
Okay, first time doing a movie review, so perhaps I'd better take a look at the tips the kindly epinions staff has provided. "Suggest similar movies..." Well, how about suggesting ANY movie, and chances are it'll be similar to "Brotherhood of the Wolf" in some way. You see, this movie sort of borrows elements of different movies from different genres and mixes it together. Oh, you say, the best of all worlds! No, no, no, that's not how it works. Imagine taking all of your favorite foods and putting it into a blender. You don't get some savory culinary masterpiece. You'll probably get a chunky smoothie that looks like poo. Most likely the pizza, jelly beans, and ice cream react together to form some toxic product that induces vomiting. Anyway, the movie starts out like many movies. Some guy talking about an event in the past that of course is what the whole movie is going to be about. And of course this narrator part totally disappears to make way for gore, sex, and bone-crushing martial arts (hey, this is America). I also suspect French swear words that the translator decided not to fully translate. The scene after that one is well done and makes the movie look promising. A peasant woman is running frantically for her life from a mysterious predator that the audience doesn't see. She stumbles and the predator kills her in a most violent, and noisy fashion.
"Brotherhood of the Wolf", known as "Le Pacte des Loups" in France and probably the rest of Europe, is set in 18th century France. A mysterious, cunning, and powerful Beast is reported to be roaming the countryside, killing women and children, while eluding the menfolk's attempts to kill it. The king appoints a man named Fronsac (played by Samuel Le Bihan) and his Iroquois buddy Mani (martial artist Mark Dacalscos) to get rid of this menace once and for all. After fifteen minutes into the movie, I'm thinking that this all probably has something to do with religion; God punishing man for his sins and irreverence or something like that. It's not exactly the correct guess, but it's pretty close. The actual plot line is nothing too amazing. It seemed to me to be pretty trite. The director Christopher Gans was probably inspired by an X-files episode or something. Perhaps the movie's plot wasn't intended to be its strong point (though why would you ever purposefully do that?); I suppose it was meant to be one of those sit-back-and-enjoy-the-ride movies. The scenery and costumes are quite elaborate. There is plenty of action, supplied by numerous fight scenes. There's even a laugh or two in the movie. One particularly redeeming part is a transition of scenes where a woman's naked bosom fades into two snowy mountain peaks. Oh, and you do get to see the Beast eventually. This might not exactly be a good thing because the Beast is kind of disappointing and phony-looking. Perhaps keeping its appearance unknown would have added to its mystery and as a consequence of that, to its power. One thing that baffles me is that some of the characters claimed that they have seen the Beast. Yet, when a hunting party goes out to scour the land in search of the Beast, they shoot every wolf they can find in hopes that it is the Beast. How one can confuse an ordinary wolf with a monstrous Beast encased with some strange armor is beyond me.
I don't want to discuss too much of the plot. Perhaps I would do that if the movie was truly awful, just to save you from the trouble of seeing the movie. The movie is not awful; it is actually somewhat enjoyable. Another point that I did not mention yet is that the acting is nothing extraordinary. But then again, I did mention that this is one of those movies best enjoyed by letting your eyes soak up the colors and action. I would probably recommend this movie to someone who has already seen everything and is indecisive of what kind of movie he feels like watching tonight.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age