 A DVD Review of...    
Images (C) Universal | |||
Genre: Drama/Horror Cast: Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Rénier Synopsis: Based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorised France in the mid-XVIIIth century, the movie aims to tell first and explain afterwards. In the first part, a special envoy of the King of France, altogether biologist, explorer and philosopher, arrives in the Gevaudan region, in the mountainous central part of France. The Beast has been attacking women and children for months and nobody has quite been able to harm it or even take a good look at it. In the second part, our hero Chevalier de Fronsac will not only have to fight the Beast, but also ignorance, bigotry and conspiracy and will rely on two women, one an aristocrat, the other a prostitute, as well as the enigmatic Mani, a Mohawk he met in New-France Film Review: More and more we're seeing French films crossing over into Western culture, especially as the industry over there starts dealing with film budgets to equal or supercede many small-moderate budget American studio films (ie. US $25+ million). Like many European films though we've only really been exposed to the quirky comedies or hard core dramas, but now other genres are beginning to slip through. One such project is this, a lavishly produced action-packed supernatural thriller which includes three actors familiar to Western audiences - Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Mark Dacascos. 'Wolf' is a melding of what many politely term 'genre' movies. There's werewolf elements, Machiavellian political manipulations, gory horror, supernatural and spiritual themes, grand landscapes, marshes, fogs, bogs, sword fighting, gun fighting, martial arts, bordellos with nudity galore, mysterious black-clad mistresses with razor sharp fans, LOTS of leather, and a great big beastie - you name it as its all here. But does it really gel? The hedonistic mix of American, European and Hong Kong cinematic elements never quite adds up to the sum of its parts. Taken seriously as a film its overly long, stumbles on its feet in the second half and all up doesn't add up to much. Yet if you look at it for what it is - the French trying to do a Hollywood-esque blockbuster, you'll appreciate the sheer entertainment value of the whole thing. More than anything else, 'Wolf' is a guilty pleasure for any genre fan. A little on the talky side yes, but the action is refresingly effective and imaginative, the atmosphere quite eerie, and the characters unique and interesting. Gans directing skill includes sweeping vistas, trick FX photography, and lots of martial arts in abundance used to much greater effect than another French period piece style tale of recent times (aka. the woeful "The Musketeer"). Acting wise there's solid performers all round with Dacascos turning heads as the Iriquois Indian whose amazing with a mohawk, Cassel as a somewhat slimy and resentful one-armed son of an aristocrat, and Bellucci as a black-clothed Italian temptress. All this support easily outshines the fine but somewhat lacklustre leads Samuel Le Bihan and Emilie Dequenne. FX and production values for the most part are quite effective aside from one creation which looks to have been made from the same computer program used to create the creature in "The Relic". Music and sound is used quite effectively but the ending isn't as satisfying as it should be. Still, its great to see such a classy looking horror-themed movie production. - Garth Franklin 
DVD Review: After some truly lavish sets have been released overseas, the US version is somewhat lacklustre sadly. The film itself is transferred fine - colours are excellent (they appear somewhat desaturated at times but that's deliberate), blacks are spot on and whilst edge enhancement goes overboard during some of the daylight outdoor scenes - for the most part its not a problem. Both soundtracks (French and English) are rich with music, sound FX and dialogue well balanced though the French one seems to have more genuine punch and much more realistic sounding voices. Surround is made of excellent use throughout, especially the wolf attack scenes. The deleted footage is the big extra here and presented in an unusual way. Played out as a half-hour featurette, we have Christophe Gans introducing each of the five cut sequences (played in VHS quality widescreen) and then oddly enough after each one, it shows behind-the-scenes footage of the same sequence whilst Gans talks about why it was cut. Easily the biggest chop was the Dacascos fight towards the start of the film, there's also a beautiful romantic scene set on a fog-bound iced over lake, and a hilarously cheap looking S&M sequence. Those scenes are followed by a quick montage of other short cut footage. The rest of the extras are more standard style items including production notes, biographies for the cast & director (cool graphics though), and the quite cool US trailer in non-anamorphic widescreen - that's the "Dark City" music it plays in the background if your wondering. Its not a great disc, especially considering some of the truly lavish extras and sets seen in the French version, but what's here is pretty good. - Garth Franklin . |
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