The French drama "Brotherhood of theWolf," or "Le Pacte Des Loups," is full of extravagant costumes,impressive martial arts and amazing special effects with English subtitles. Thetale is about a monstrous beast-wolf that ravages women and children in theFrench countryside in 1764.

The King, preoccupied with battling Britainover the New World, scrambles to end the beast's murderous rampage by hiringGrégoire de Fronsac (Samuel le Bihan), a rational scientist, and Mani(Mark Dacascos), a wise and mysterious Iroquois Indian from the New World, totrack down and destroy the beast.

Grégoire and Mani have muchdifficulty finding and slaying the beast not because it is a horrifying monster,but because its origins and motives are puzzling. The two become impassioneddetectives as they gather evidence, investigate crime scenes, and speak withwitnesses. As they form friendships with townspeople, Grégoire and Manirealize that

the beast may be more than a frightening animal, and perhapseven the result of a more human evil.

The movie is full of structurallayers that make up the pieces of the plot's puzzle. When questions are leftunanswered and scenes don't achieve their intended effect, however, the piecesfail to come together and instead leave the plot obscure. The filmmakers shouldhave omitted the many subplots so as not to confuse its audience, because it isonly after careful scrutiny that you can figure out this movie.

Perhapsit is because the film is so engaging that you are diverted from the story andleft with dangling subplots. The movie has impressive fight choreography withscenes of kickboxing and intricate swordplay, but they tend to drown the plot asif to cover up for the movie's lackluster ability to solve its own monstrousmystery. The costumes are dazzling, the acting satisfactory, and overall themovie is very entertaining. Yet regardless of how impressive, a moviegoer shouldnot have to scrutinize the plot of a film to understand its story.

"Brotherhood of the Wolf" is a very striking, extravagant, andconfusing film. I would not recommend it as an epic masterpiece.