|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A- | Audio A
| Extras C-
Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne,
Monica Bellucci, Jérémie Rénier, and Mark Dacascos
director Christophe Gans | Studio Canal & Universal
2001 | Action - Thriller - Mystery - Foreign (French)
R | 144 minutes |
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
| Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: This is a French foreign film about
a mythical and mysterious beast that ravages the citizens of Gévaudan, a
peaceful French countryside. For political reasons, the French King
sends in a noted taxidermist
Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Behan) and his companion Mani
(Mark Dacascos) to solve the mystery and rid Gévaudan of the beast.
This unlikely duo comes to town and immediately becomes heroes with their
fantastic marshal arts fighting skills. But can they stop the
beast before fear spread across the French countryside? With a run
time of nearly two and a half hours long, Brotherhood of the Wolf
left me feeling somewhat dragged out at times during the first two-thirds
of the movie, while the last third was quite satisfying.
This film mixes a 19th century period film ambiance
with a modern Chinese martial arts fighting style that is remotely
familiar to that in used in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Cinematography-wise, the film was beautifully
shot with an
artistic flair that nicely complements the subject of the film. The visual special
effects, however, was a mixed bag. For example, in some scenes, the beast
looks artificial... not much better than the Japanese version of Godzilla. Other scenes,
fortunately, the beast looks
downright real and was actually frightening. What gives?
Sound wise, this DVD offers both English (dubbed) and
French (original dialog) Dolby Digital 5.1
soundtracks, so you can view the film with the original French dialog and
(optionally) English subtitles, or the English dub version. In either the case,
you get a superb 5.1-channel surround sound experience. The sound
design effectively used the surround sound
channels to capture the effect of the beast closing in on its
victim. At times, I felt as though the beast is breathing down my
neck, right behind me. The surround sound channels were aggressively
used to put the viewer in the middle of all the action, with lots of aural
clues for off-screen action. This is one of those movies
where a 5.1-channel home theater system makes a big difference in the home
viewing experience.
Action thriller fans will probably find that Brotherhood
of the Wolf is easily worth a rental. Be warned though, there's
lots of violence and gore.
Special Features: There's not much here,
just some deleted scenes with
director commentary, cast and filmmakers, production notes, and a theatrical
trailer
DVD released on 10/1/2002 | Reviewed 9/10/2002
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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