Rating of
3/4
"Brotherhood Of The Wolf" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 12/19/11
An adventurer and his Iroquois warrior companion investigate a series of brutal murders in rural revolutionary France said to be the work of a supernatural creature. The Brotherhood of the Wolf is a strange fish indeed. It is a genre spanning hybrid of period romance, supernatural horror, Holmesian mystery and martial arts mayhem. It's a strange brew indeed, but somehow it works. The basis of the story is similar to The Name Of The Rose in that a man of science investigates murder in Ye Olden Days to a backdrop of religious and political paranoia but it mixes in elements of The Hound Of The Baskervilles and Dangerous Liaisons with a Hammer Horror twist to create what is best described as a French Sleepy Hollow with Kung Fu. The eclectic cast all show their quality in their various fields, from straight to DVD stalwart Marc Dacascos' laconic, high kicking Indian to Vincent Cassell's embittered aristocrat through to the inevitably stunning Monica Bellucci's mysterious Italian courtesan. The CGI may be showing its age a little, but otherwise its visually very nice and the story, although a little lacking in focus, is so odd ball it never fails to maintain the interest. An unusual supernatural action film that transcends its patchwork of ideas to create something strangely unique.
