This slick French period thriller is certainly an opulent production, with gorgeous costumes and settings, lively camera work and fine actors. It's also a self-indulgent mess in bad need of serious editing. It's 1766 and a horrific beast is terrorising the villagers in Gevaudan. So officials call in the eminent naturalist Fronsac (Le Bihan), who arrives with his American Indian blood brother Mani (Dacascos) and, with the help of a young aristocrat (Renier), gets right to work. But his discoveries don't sit well with the local political leaders, who want a better story to take back to King Louis XV. Meanwhile, Fronsac dallies with both a mysterious courtesan (Bellucci) and a beautiful noblewoman (Dequenne) whose creepy brother (Cassel) keeps appearing at just the right place as if on cue.

Gans has proven his cinematic style before (the manga adventure Crying Freeman), and he lets loose here with massive action sequences, dizzying cinematography and whizzy effects work. But the big fight sequences are staged and edited so badly that we can barely figure out what's going on, not to mention why. And the Sleepy Hollow-like story (city clicker sceptic gets to the bottom of murderous local legend) drags badly--it's like Gans was so pleased by all his nifty visuals that he couldn't bear to leave a single one on the cutting room floor. The impressive creature work (by the Henson Shop) is overused, as are the Native American stunts, buxom damsels in distress, ghoulish plot twists and atmospheric shots of wolves watching from the woods. The narrative suffers and, despite the incessant action and gutsy performances, the film feels dull and repetitive. Especially as it all spins out to involve conspiracy, secret societies and a government cover-up. It's just too much on every level, and a real example of a case where less would have been much more.

themes, violence, sexual situations

11.Sep.01