The fuss, it would appear, is over a whole lot of flash and not a lot of substance. Yes, it has flashy fight sequences, attention grabbing camera work, intriguing special effects and gorgeous cinematography. What it lacks is a soul. That's a fancy way of saying it kept me amused for awhile with the eye candy but when it was time to back it up with some substance, bored me to tears. Okay, not necessarily tears but there are moments where it drags so badly I struggled to stay awake. At approximately two and a half hours long, it's in desperate need of a trim by the editor. The ending in particular seems to go on forever as if the director couldn't bear to let his fun end.
I liked a lot of the ideas in the movie, just not the way they were carried out. A plot that mixes actual history, politics and religion should be able to give the viewer plenty to chew on but this lacked a bit of backstory and character development that could have made it fly. For the most part the characters are fairly indistinguishable between one another. The hero Fronsac and his trusty Indian companion Mani are pretty well established but after that it gets fuzzy. There is a young noble who follows them around like a lost puppy. There are a bunch of religious folks and nobles who I couldn't tell apart. Then there is Monica Bellucci as a prostitute/secret agent who is easy to remember because she's bare ass naked most of the time. And then there is the love interest for Fronsac, a lovely red head who doesn't get even vaguely naked much to my disappointment. Oh, I nearly forgot, it also has a one-armed man who killed Dr. Kimble's wife. No, just kidding, he only kills the fun by reminding me of how dull Ocean's 12 was, which he, Vincent Cassel, also starred in.
Fronsac and Mani are sent out to investigate a province in France that is under siege by some sort of creature, possibly wolf-like, that is terrorizing the area. This is based on an actual series of events in which about 100 people were killed in 1764 by a wolf-like creature. The movie takes a lot of that event and builds it into a wild conspiracy tale that was almost interesting. The movie's sluggish pace manages to kill most of that interest though.
I'll give the movie credit for oozing style in every direction. The fight sequences are well choreographed and quite entertaining. The design of the movie is first rate. It's just dull a lot of the time.
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