The Brotherhood of the Wolf
(Le Pacte de Loups)

It's a semi-rare occurence to get an acclaimed European film into widespread showings throughout the United States. The beginning of the popularizing of this action can either be attributed to Life is Beautiful, or more recently Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Life is Beautiful was met with critical acclaim and a decent box office, but Crouching Tiger showed studios exactly what is possible when a film from overseas (and in a different language) is successfully brought to American soil. With a great track record behind it, being a "European phenomenon" as the television commercials proudly declared, I looked forward to Brotherhood of the Wolf with quite a bit of anticipation. With only great foreign films getting such a wide release before, why shouldn't I?

After finally leaving the theater, I was left wondering how Europe possibly turned this film into a "phenomenon." Was it really a phenomenon, or did the studio just broadcast it as such to draw suckers like me into the theater? I was surely waiting for something better than what I got. What I got is an extremely trivial exercise in mediocrity, a film that does a few things well, but many poorly. There are a couple scenes worth mentioning, but so many instantly forgettable ones that its difficult to remember at all what I was watching for more than two hours.

The beginning of the film, which is clearly the high point, is quite an extravaganza of flashy editing and camerawork as well as some nifty fight choreography. We instantly know who is the most interesting character in the story and watch as he is delegated to the sidelines as the film focuses on somebody else. If the film had chosen Mani as its primary character the film would have fared better. But instead we're treated to his master's quest for love and his investigation into the mysterious killings allegedly done by a giant wolf that eludes hunters.

The film is a solid production, clearly one of the bigger foreign budgets I've seen. There are some great sets and costumes. Director Christopher Gans, however, can't seem to make the film as interesting as it should be. He doesn't shy away from violence or even gratuitous nudity, but he is unable to keep things moving at a pace that closely resembles fluidity. It's far too sporadic to be anything more than a guilty pleasure, even for those who admire the film.

The final twenty minutes is a complicated mess of twists, turns and betrayals that becomes mind-numbing by the third or fourth one inside of five minutes. In addition, the epilogue agonizingly becomes a tired effort to tie up all loose ends into a tidy, crowd-pleasing whole. The film as a whole is interesting to look at but its core is disappointingly hollow.

On a scale of 1 to 10 ninja natives : 5