Customer Reviews

The Empire of the Wolves

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

`Empire of the Wolves', a French film directed by Chris Nahon and starring the perennial French film star of choice, Jean Reno is better than several of Reno's films I've seen recently such as `Wasabi' and `The Crimson Rivers', but not nearly as good as his appearances in `La Femme Nikita' or `The Professional'. And yet, his performance in this movie raises the quality of the movie rather than detracting from its reputation. Reno seems to be the French Robert DeNiro, who has appeared in a number of potboilers lately whose primary claim to fame is the fact that DeNiro is the star.

Overall, this is a pretty engaging thriller with a really unusual premise built upon the contemporary concerns about terrorism and interest in medical technology. Similar to `The Crimson Rivers', the movie starts out with two unrelated story lines.

The first story line involves a young woman who, as the film opens, is undergoing an MRI scan to diagnose what seems to be a very odd type of amnesia, where she can't recognize her husband's face. The second story line involves a Paris homicide detective who is working a serial murder case where all the victims are illegally immigrated Turkish girls. The detective captain brings in Reno's character, a forcibly retired specialist in the Turkish quarter of Paris, who left the force in disgrace, stripped of virtually all civic privileges, including his driver's license.

Through the middle of the film, we are treated to Reno's interpretation of the `Dirty Harry' archetype of cop who extracts information from the bad guys in ways that even Clint Eastwood's characters would think twice before trying. Meanwhile, the young woman, played by Arly Jover, is falling ever more deeply into a very shadowy mystery involving her husband and his government colleagues which leads her to escape from their control and merge with Reno's half of the story.

To my taste, there is not quite enough exposition explaining everything that's going on, as if only the thinnest premises are necessary to serve as a framework for well filmed action scenes in unusual venues. And, this movie has its share of unusual venues. In one scene, it seems to borrow a page from the great 1940s film `The Third Man' with its chase of the Orson Wells character through the sewers of Vienna. I have heard a director recently quote Alfred Hitchcock in saying that the audience can endure just so much exposition, so you better get in what you need quickly and succinctly, or you loose the audience. I think either the screenwriter was just a bit too quick and managed to cut out one or two important pieces needed to tie everything together.

The story and the movie are too good for me to spoil it for the future viewer, but I think there are just one too many perps to go around. The list of primary perps includes a Turkish Mafia which seems to have at least two different agendas, one being terror and the other being narcotics smuggling. It also includes the shadowy governmental agency to which main character's (Anna) husband belongs. Finally, it seems the narcotics division of the Paris police are not entirely innocent in these goings on. Last but not least is the French army, allied with the shadowy governmental agency, and involved because of their responsibility for the oversight of all radioactive substances, including those used in medical diagnostics.

There is a sense that the plot was constructed by simply glamming together three or four popular contemporary themes of suspense movies and hoping that a coherent story would emerge. Fortunately, the movie achieves just enough genuine suspense and classic chase scenes and turnabouts to make the movie a pleasure to watch.

One does get the feeling that the film is just a bit overlong, but it does seem to have enough meat to keep us interested for the full two plus hours. Based on my very rudimentary French, I believe the subtitled translation is as good as you will see anywhere, especially since there were no subtlties to deal with as you may find in a Renoir or Truffaut film.

Recommended action flick, a bit weaker than Reno's best, but fun anyway.

Not knowing what to expect from this film, I was pleasantly surprised by the Empire of the Wolves. The movie sheds light on a series of murders that take place in the Turkish neighborhoods/quarter of Paris involving young women.
The film starts out with slight elements of horror, moves on to a thriller, and climaxes as an adventure with lots of gunfire and explosions.
The plot is overall very good, shedding light on the French government and police as well as the Turkish extremist nationalist group known as the "Grey Wolves" and the drug trafficking used to finance their operations.
Jean Reno, and the rest of the cast have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are extraordinary to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows!
Nevertheless, there are flaws in the plot, e.g. the French policeman does not seem to have a supervisor to report to; he does pretty much whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. Moreover, his arrival in Constantinople, alone and without contacts or knowledge of the language (he sticks out like a sore thumb), and his finding the secret hideout of the Grey Wolves, and all that without being detected is a bit too much...
In short, it's a movie definitely worth watching, as it will provide for an evening's entertainment. 4 Stars

_L'Empire des Loups_ is an excellent French action film. The film features a woman who is apparently losing her memory. Her ability to distinguish her husband's face is disappearing. However, something sinister lurks behind this apparent memory loss. While this woman struggles with her apparent disorder, illegal Turkish immigrants are turning up dead, their bodies and faces mutilated. The film features many surprising plot twists as the woman and the murder cases begin to coincide. A secret society that seeks to restore the Turkish empire known as the "Grey Wolves" (named after the grey wolves that supposedly saved Turkey from imminent destruction) is involved in a diabolical attempt to infiltrate government as well as drug smuggling. The movie also shows the unethical attempt by the government to experiment on unwitting victims, as well as the threat posed by both terrorism and knee-jerk counter-terrorism forces. This movie is very exciting and will certainly keep the viewer interested.

Okay, so there are certain aspects that aren't very believable, but who cares, it was great fun to watch.

Highly original thriller more or less a mirror 'type' image of "Manchurian Candidate" and it packs quite a punch ARLY JOVER is spectacular as the very confused candidate, and it becomes quite an eye opener re. the world of 'intrigue'.

Reno [as usual] never fails to please and is remarkably original in his depiction of the burnt out [?] cop?

Enough said - go along for the ride - this is an original and deserves much more attention than previously received.

[ps. Hollywood - please don't remake - this is classic French 2000 cimnema].

If you liked La Femme Nikita or the Professional, this will do the trick. Very unique, with a cerebral plotline and two converging stories that make for a very engaging movie. May have to watch it twice, particularly if you saw it in French with English subtitles, as I did the first time.(?)

A chic Parisian housewife (Arly Jover) finds her life falling apart when suddenly she can no longer remember the man that she is married to. Meanwhile, a young police officer (Jocelyn Quivrin) is forced to join forces with the ethically challenged Det. Schiffer (Jean Reno) in order to solve the grisly murders of three Turkish immigrants.

Even though I am a huge fan of Jean Reno and of Jean-Christophe Grange's other book-film adaptation, "The Crimson Rivers", I kept finding myself putting off seeing this film because I was under the mistaken belief that this was going to be a film about the plight of illegal immigrants in France - ie a film with a social message (something which I generally try to avoid). My father, on the other hand, who is also a fan of Reno, and who watched this film with me, said that during the first twenty minutes of the movie, he thought that he had accidentally stumbled across a film about a woman with Alzheimer's disease (which is something he would avoid). Boy were we both wrong.

"Empire of the Wolves" is an exciting, and intelligent action film that neatly links two seemingly unrelated stories to produce a combination between a police procedural and a biotech thriller. The ending was a little weak, but the story's twists and turns still managed to keep me interested until then. Because this is adapted from a novel, there are some points throughout the movie where it feels as though details from the book have been either omitted or glossed over, but rather than bothering me, this just made me want to go and read the book.

Be aware that, although Jean Reno is given top billings in this film, he is not actually the main character. His role is big enough to satisfy Reno fans, but would definitely be classed as a supporting. People who like this film should also consider watching "The Crimson Rivers". The stories are very different, but the tone and style of the two films is almost identical.

I went into this with an open mind - I didn't read the cover, I didn't know the premise, nothing. The only familiar thing was Jean Reno. After 10 minutes or so of trying to figure things out, things started falling into place aided (and of great entertainment value), with the usual disdain of the french for all things un-french. Wonderful plot, good shots of Paris and the surrounds with just enough pace to keep on you the edge of your seat. I'm planning to watch it again soon!

The palpable resemblance of `Empire of the Wolves' to `The Crimson Rivers' is not accidental. They share not only the star Jean Reno (both as unconventional cop) but also the original French bestselling writer Jean-Christophe Grangé. The difference is that `Empire' does not have the latter's brooding, `Se7en'-like atmosphere, most attractive aspect of `Crimson.' However, for all its ridiculous story, 'Empire of the Wolves' is largely entertaining thriller thanks to the presence of Jean Reno and his character.

Jean Reno plays Schiffer, a French investigator of unusual, violent (and illegal, perhaps) method with strange beard and a white hair, who teams up with a younger, less experienced cop Paul (Jocelyn Quivrin). Paul was investigating the brutal murder cases of the Turkish female immigrants in Paris, and he needs a help from Schiffer, who is said to know everything about the underground world of France and Turkey.

The story above looks like that of `The Crimson Rivers,' but `Empire of the Wolves' has another story about a woman Anna (Arly Jover) who lost her memories She tries to recover her past, but what she discovers turns out the astonishing secret.

[SO MANY TWISTS] Anna's secret has, of course, something to do with the film's title, but by the time you realize the nature of it, the film shows so many twists and surprises that it might be hard to follow the complicated story and the real situation of the characters. The film explains everything, but not everything is convincing. To be honest I find the film's conclusion is more incredible than the identity of the killer in `The Crimson Rivers.' You may be still entertained by the constant flow of the actions and suspence (and the director is Chris Nahon, responsible for equally action-packed and violent `Kiss of the Dragon' starring Jet Li), or you may just find the film is nonsense.

Either way, you will be impressed with the solid acting of Reno who is truly in character as Shiffer, who does not hesitate to break a finger or two of the potential suspects in order to get what he wants. Arly Jover is also fantastic as Anna who has to drastically transform her images more than once. But for all the interesting use of social issues like immigrants from Turkey, the mystery itself is far-fetched and the effective photography of the rainy city of France and the shiny sky of Turkey cannot hide the big plot holes in the overlong story.

Jean Reno is pretty fun if not on the edge of crazy and dark, although his part is more of a supporting role. The movie suffers from too many sub plot points all trying to rule the empire of being the major plot point. A little horror nightmarish, a little Jason Bourne, a little Fringe. If they stuck to one of these, the movie could have been better. Unfortunately it doesn't.

If you're looking for Jean Reno films, this one is a "maybe-catch-it-on-TV-sometime" viewing. Won't miss too much.

Also, in terms of family friendliness, it is rated R and for good reason. Some grisly dark violent scenes, as well as nudity and language.