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



If ‘The Brotherhood of the Wolf’ were a basketball team, you’d have to throw it away (or at least make it run a lot of laps). It telegraphs almost all its moves. Even though it is somewhere in the general category of a mystery/suspense/horror sort of film, you know what’s going to happen (and I don’t mean just that the good guys are going to win). Somehow, it doesn’t seem to matter. Believe me, I expected it to matter (for a while), even as I watched it.

In the first minutes of the movie, when we catch our first glimpse of what you might call the ‘head bad guy’ (even though he isn’t), you can’t possibly think anything but, ‘well..., there goes the bad guy.’ When we learn a little more about what’s going on in the movie, and thus know something about a particular bad guy, you can’t help thinking/realizing, ‘oh yes, that’ll be him.’ And, when we learn yet more about what’s going on, and discover that there is much more going on than meets the eye (but we haven’t had it completely spelled out yet), you think, ‘Ahhh..., the old X, Y, Z trick.’

You just know what’s going to happen, in general anyway. But, even as you watch it and think that perhaps something hardly worth watching is going on (you know who the bad guy is after all, why watch?), you watch it anyway. You just don’t care, and you could watch it again and it would be just as good (and then you really know everything).

It seems there’s just something different going on here. It’s almost like you’re watching the Globetrotters instead of some ‘normal’ basketball team. You know who’s going to win, and you see all the ‘pranks’ coming (though somehow the other team doesn’t), but it doesn’t matter, of course.


‘The Brotherhood of the Wolf’ is a story built around something true. What’s true is that in 18th century France, several people died in the Gevaudan province under mysterious circumstances. Their bodies were discovered with markings consistent with animal attacks, but apparently an animal too big to be a wolf. Some 100 people or so died.

And so, our movie centers around this area, and the beast attacks. The King has sent Gregoire de Fronsac, a naturalist and animal expert, to aid in capturing/killing the beast, and to study it when caught or killed. This is where we enter the story, with Fronsac (French cinema hot prospect Samuel Le Bihan) and his Indian companion, Mani (Mark Dacascos - ‘The Crow: Stairway to Heaven’ television show), making their way to the region.

Fronsac and Mani meet the leaders of the region, examine bodies, go along on organized hunts, and generally poke their noses into just about everything. The collected leaders of the region aren’t particularly interested in believing that the beast is anything but a wolf, and have some odd ideas about what is going on. Before long, Fronsac and Mani learn that they may have gotten themselves mixed up in something much bigger than they imagined. To make things worse, we learn that someone has turned things political by publishing a book that claims the beast is some sort of punishment/act of God that has been sent as a message/retaliation against the King.




I might have given the impression (especially from the Globetrotter reference) that what is going on is something that is pure fluff, but this is not at all the case. This is a movie that is along the lines of a serious, but fun, adventure flick, and one with an interesting story. I might have given you an idea of something like ‘The Mummy’, or ‘The Scorpion King’, and indeed, had this been an American-made film, that’s likely what we’d have. But, this is much more comparable to something like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. (This may be confusing, as ‘The Mummy’, and ‘The Scorpion King’, are themselves somewhat comparable to ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, except that they suck.)


‘The Brotherhood of the Wolf’ is a fun adventure with brains. It has some well-done, purposeful fight scenes. It has its share of scary moments, intrigue, and characters with depth (though in some cases, not what you would call the most non-cliched sort of depth).

It is also excellently, and beautifully crafted. Christophe Gans (‘Necronomicon’, and ‘Crying Freeman’) hasn’t given us much yet, but I am now eagerly awaiting his next film, ‘The Adventurer’, due out next year. It’s obvious that each scene (whether it works absolutely perfectly or not) is painstakingly put together with attention to every detail. The mood, setting, and even (and you’d be surprised, or maybe you wouldn’t, how rare this actually is) the characters’ motivations are actually used, and used well.

Our actors are all excellent (though I have to assume some of the dialogue lost something in the translation), most especially Vincent Cassell (‘The Messenger’, ‘Birthday Girl’, ‘The Reckoning’, ‘Irreversible’) as Jean-Francois de Morangias.


Many have tried to give a feel for this movie by way of comparison to other movies. It is hard to find a review that doesn’t call it, ‘Last of the Mohicans’ meets ‘Sleepy Hollow’ meets ‘Whatever’. That’s normally a good way to convey a general idea of a movie, but it’s pretty tricky here. ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ doesn’t really feel like anything else (for good or ill), and just about any attempt along these lines will give an inaccurate impression.


It’s a fun, entertaining, intelligent ride, and perhaps most importantly (to me), it leaves me with little doubt that it is exactly the movie it was trying to be. It has an interesting, worthwhile, and somewhat unexpected (one of the few unexpected things in the movie) relationship between Fronsac and Mani.






The deleted scenes on the DVD, and the director’s commentary that go along with them, are actually very interesting. Gans explains just why each scene didn’t work in the film, and you come to understand, through his commentary, just how he saw the project. The first deleted scene, which is actually a scene which only had a portion deleted, is an excellent scene, and one Gans was very fond of. Unfortunately, Gans is very correct when he says that had the full scene been included, the movie would have been completely different.

The DVD (and I assume the VHS) is an extended version of the film, and, according to Gans, is the ‘official’ version of the movie. Unfortunately, I don’t actually know what is different from the theatrical release, so I can’t speak on that.


It is, at least this version is, somewhat long, coming in at approximately two hours and twenty minutes. It does feel slightly long, but you won’t mind.



Fun, adventure, style, story, acting, suspense (sort of), and even a bit of love story, all work together to create an excellent movie.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD