Brotherhood of the Wolf

A rollicking good time—en francais. This movie is now (as of this viewing in 2026) a quarter century old, yet it still plays fresh and feels very contemporary. That undoubtedly derives from its being a period piece set in the 1700s—nothing is obviously anachronistic because it’s all anachronistic. The action sequences are exactly like you’d see in any more recent action flick, with all the slick moves and stylish presentation that has become the standard these days. Indeed, the whole production has stylish written all over it, with plenty of moody and atmospheric visuals that sell the story’s monster mayhem plot. The strong work of director Christophe Gans gets ample assistance from excellent performances from the leads, Samuel Le Bihan as Fronsac, a naturalist and sometime soldier and Mark Dacascos as his companion Mani, an Iroquoian who is as badass as any action hero conjured up by the Hollywood movie machine. They’re on a mission to catch a beast that has been terrorizing the countryside, but there’s more going on than your mere monster on the rampage. Thus, you get a well-blended mix of horror and thriller and political intrigue and, because they’re French, a touch of the amour, too. It does go on a bit too long, and it may be a bit too easy to figure out who’s really behind the whole campaign, but the movie is still very enjoyable and well worth the time it takes to watch it. (And read it; subtitles are required for those not familiar with la langue.) So there you have it: sometimes the French can be a bit more than just cheese eating surrender monkeys. C’est bon.