Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 25, 2021

A period mystery collides with horror and action in 2001’s “Brotherhood of the Wolf,” which represents co-writer/director Christophe Gans’s attempt to change the course of the French film industry, adding a little violent genre excitement for the masses. It’s a valiant mission to deliver bigger thrills, and the premise is loaded with strangeness, blending magic, myth, the French Revolution, and some sexual power, with Gans using all he can to summon a bizarre adventure that occasionally packs quite a punch as Hong Kong choreography crashes into a stately European endeavor. It’s an excessively long feature, but “Brotherhood of the Wolf” holds attention for most of its run time, finding Gans eager to please with his usual mix of fantasy visuals and charged encounters.

In 1764, a beast of unknown origin is taking lives around the province of Gevaudan. Called in to help with the situation is royal naturalist Gregoire (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Native American companion, Mani (Mark Dacascos). Gregoire uses his instincts and skills to explore the area, learning more about The Beast and its deadly ways. However, his attention is also drawn to Marianne (Emilie Dequenne), the daughter of a local count, while her brother, Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), displays resentment towards the newcomers. As the investigation widens, Gregoire learns more about Gevaudan, visiting mystical prostitute Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) to satisfy his desires while pining for Marianne, creating a distraction as The Beast continues its rampage, claiming more innocent lives.

What’s most impressive about “Brotherhood of the Wolf” is Gans’s dedication to the production. He’s truly giving his all to the work, determined to see his vision through to the end. This encourages incredible production achievements throughout, including glorious costuming that reinforces hierarchy, sensuality, and indigenous appearances. Sets are enormous and exquisitely detailed, giving the picture a sense of period majesty and unreality to help with the fantasy aspects of the plot. Cinematography is also attentive to detail. And there’s The Beast, which emerges in the final act, offered as a mix of CGI and animatronics, providing a small but valuable level of practical threat to the endeavor.

“Brotherhood of the Wolf” is gorgeous, a visual treat. Dramatically, it’s not as impressive, as Gans and co-writer Stephane Cabel are laboring to transform the hunt for The Beast into an epic overview of combative characters, local hostilities, romantic entanglements, and secret societies. At 150 minutes, there’s a lot of superfluous business in “Brotherhood of the Wolf,” which is always most compelling when focusing on the hunt for The Beast, watching the characters grow to understand what they’re up against. Simplicity is Gans’s best friend, but he tries to inflate the feature until his lungs burst, striving to transform the work into a literary-style adventure while still tending to smashmouth asides as Mani is forced to defend himself against hostile idiots, and the overall quest leads to areas of unexpected threat. The theatrical cut of the movie was ten minutes shorter than this “Director’s Cut,” which only adds distracting complications and tedious supporting characters.

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.33:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Brotherhood of the Wolf" represents a much older scan of the feature. Shout Factory tries to make it look as pretty as possible, but there are limitations throughout, including colors, which mostly look aged and flat. More direct primaries, such as red and blue, emerge with some distinction, especially on costuming. Fine detail is mostly absent, with a few extreme facial surfaces appreciable, along with fibrous outfits, but softness dominates, reducing outdoor dimension and interior decoration. Delineation slips into solidification at times. Grain offers a processed appearance. Source is in decent condition.

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA, and French 5.1 DTS-HD MA track options, with the latter providing the most organic listening experience for "Brotherhood of the Wolf." Dialogue exchanges are crisp, with clear emotionality and balanced argumentative behavior. Scoring cues support with clean instrumentation and volume, delivering suspenseful swells as the action heats up, while more delicate social hour music is appreciable. Surrounds offer immersive atmospherics, with weather changes and outdoor exploration. Action beats deliver some panning effects. Low- end provides weight for physical activity and gunfire, keeping things rumbly.

Note: There's an ongoing discussion about the quality of the English subtitles on "Brotherhood of the Wolf." While I don't have another release of the movie to use as a comparison, a few misspellings are present, along with a handful of skipped and inaudible lines.

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "Brotherhood of the Wolf: Guts of the Beast" (78:11, SD) is an extensive making-of for the film, collecting interviews from director Christophe Gans, executive Francois Congnard, writer Stephane Cabel, actors Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, and Emilie Dequenne, cinematographer Dan Laustsen, production designer Guy-Claude Francois, stunt choreographer Philip Kwok, stunt performers Gaelle Cohen and Nicky Naude, producer Richard Grandpierre, visual effects supervisor Jamie Courtier, and visual effects artists Pete Bell, Val Wardlaw, and Seb Caudron. The documentary tracks the development of the script, which impressed studio execs, and eventually found its way to Gans, who wanted to do something dynamic with the material. Casting achievements are celebrated, along with a mission to break the traditions of French cinema with a more stylized action movie. Creative offerings are highlighted, including the construction of sets and the particulars of the costumes. The Hong Kong style employed in fight scenes is dissected. For the creation of The Beast, a mix of practical puppetry and CGI work was utilized, while additional computer-assisted shots were created to beef up the epic quality of the feature, including the use of a special sword. Interviewees close with their hopes for "Brotherhood of the Wolf," interested to see if the endeavor matches pre-release expectations.
  
  Note: the documentary is in French, but subtitles are missing for a few minutes around 21:40, 51:15, and 55:35.

• "The Making of 'Brotherhood of the Wolf'" (77:54, SD) offers a semi-candid behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the feature, following director Christophe Gans as braves the elements with his cast and crew, working on several sequences from the film. On-set energy is captured, with disagreements and camaraderie present, along with footage of the actors in motion, trying to develop their performances and deal with special effects. It's a fascinating look at the creative process.

• "Legend" (17:23, SD) is a conversation with author Michel Louis (he's not immediately identified due to delayed subtitling, creating some confusion), who's an expert on The Beast from Gevaudan story. Louis shares his research into the tale, his insight into animal behavior, and offers a few criticisms of "Brotherhood of the Wolf," though he's careful to stay positive about the "adventure" picture.

• Deleted Scenes (40:08, SD) offer in-depth introductions from director Christophe Gans, who details his perspective on the story being altered by cuts and the labor put into the work. Some BTS footage is included as well.

• And Theatrical Trailer #1 (1:55, SD) and Trailer #2 (1:43, SD) are included.

Brotherhood of the Wolf Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Brotherhood of the Wolf" is a fine film to get lost in, following Gregoire and Mani as they encounter those seeking to help and hinder their mission. Gans aims big with the endeavor and gets most of the way there, offering powerful visuals and rough action sequences, making the plan to kill The Beast quite compelling, even thrilling at times. It's the rest of "Brotherhood of the Wolf" that gets in the way, finding subplots unsatisfying as Gans labors to make the biggest movie possible with this rare chance to bring highly choreographed brutality to refined French filmmaking.