Wolfhound (2006)

"What the devil?"

My favorite character in this movie is a bat named Ragged Wing.  Not Broken Wing, as I incorrectly remembered when initially putting this review together.

"Wolfhound" (the onscreen title is "Wolfhound: From the Tribe of Grey Dogs") is a Russian sword-and-sorcery adventure flick based on a popular 1995 novel written by Mariya Semyonova.  Popular in Russia, at least.  Apparently the movie did well enough at the Russian box office, 'cuz a prequel TV series called "Young Wolfhound" soon followed and a sequel movie is rumored to be in the works.  Here in America, it went straight to DVD.  There is a series of "Wolfhound" novels too, none of which have been translated into English.  Just wait, though - Broken Wing may yet win the hearts and minds of the American people.  Um, I mean Ragged Wing.  Here is a Ragged Wing-less American trailer. . .

This movie is highly derivative of many Western fantasy tales, but cribs most of its elements from "Conan the Barbarian" and "Lord of the Rings".  The opening scene of the movie is a direct ripoff of the opening to "Conan the Barbarian", with young Wolfhound's family getting slaughtered by a small army of marauders.  These marauders are led by two evil druids, Zhadoba (who wears a skull mask which makes him look like that evil general guy in "Willow", and is not quite human) and the Man-Eater (has a beard).  Turns out these guys serve Morana, an evil goddess imprisoned in something called the "Celestial Gates".  Their ultimate goal is to free her and rule the world (at her sufferance, of course).  In the meantime they slaughter an entire village because they've heard a rumor that the local blacksmith has made a blade that can kill Zhadoba.  This blacksmith turns out to be Wolfie's dad.  After claiming the blade, the druids send little Wolfster off to be a slave in Man-Eater's mines.

Cut to about 15 years later.  Wolfhound is now free from the mines, has some nice facials scars, a sharp sword, a flightless bat friend (Ragged Wing - they were prison buddies), and a bag of magic dust (not a drug metaphor, it's actually magic).  There is a great flashback montage later on in which we see his time inside and his escape from the mines.  Patience, friends.  Anyway, he's all grown up now and ready to rumble.  He infiltrates Man-Eater's stronghold, kills the guy, sets the place on fire with his flammable pixie dust, and rescues a petite redhead (who screams annoyingly throughout the scene) as well as a dirt-encrusted mystic old guy, all before breakfast.

Wolfer and his pals fall in with a caravan which is shortly attacked by Zhadoba and his crew.  The Wolf cuts off Zhadoba's arm and takes back his father's sword.  Why Zhadoba would keep the sword around, I don't know.  Maybe he enjoys tempting fate.  "See this sword in my hand?  It's the only thing that can kill me! Here, try and grab it - ha!  Too slow!  Nah, nah, ne-nah, nah. . ."

The Wolf Crew eventually reaches the kingdom of Galirad, which has been cursed by Zhadoba with eternal cloudiness, chilly temperatures, and mud.  He needs the blood of the princess of Galirad, Elen, to free his master Morana.  It turns out that Man-Eater and Zhadoba had developed a feud somewhere down the line, and that squabbling with each other has kept the city of Galirad in a relative state of peace.  Then some dickhead came along and killed Man-Eater, giving Z free reign to wreak havoc.  D'oh! (Wolfhound slaps his forehead in frustration)

So Wolfenstein rescues a young slave boy with a fixation on religious texts.  Petite redhead, old guy, and slave boy then leave Galirad to go on a pilgrimmage to the Celestial Gates.  Wolf-O next saves the incredibly cute Princess Elen from assassination and becomes her bodyguard.  Just in time, too, because the king has just offered his daughter's hand to Vinitar, son of the Man-Eater, who's not a bad guy like his pops and who will help make the kingdom secure against Zhadoba.  One problem - they have to reach him first.  Thus begins a quest through strange lands and nasty dangers, facing off against redneck swamp people, killer fog spirits, inept assassins, and traitorious traitors.

I like this movie.  There's much that is derivative, the special effects can be cheesy at times, and there are some directing missteps along the way, but it has charm.  It's one of those movies that grew on me as it went along, and by the end of the movie I was eating it up.  It's earnestly played, with solid performances, especially by the lead actors.  As Wolfhound, Russian TV star Aleksandr Bukharov makes a convincing hero, playing up the subtleties of the character rather than the larger-than-life comic book elements.  There are many scenes of him just looking, and you can see the wheels turning behind his eyes.  He's a wary barbarian.  Oksana Akinshina (famous in Russia, and briefly seen in "The Bourne Supremacy"), as Elen, is great as well.  Besides being extremely cute (did I mention that?) she brings a gravitas and thoughtfulness to her role that matches Wolfee's demeanor quite well.  You'd believe they'd fall for each other for real, and not just because they're the two most good-looking characters in the cast (which is usually the only reason in most movies).

But forget everyone else, it's Broken. . . I mean Ragged Wing who steals the show.  Brought to life with a combination of real bats and convincing CGI work, RW seriously kicks ass.  Granted, he doesn't do much for most of the movie.  His wing is ripped for the first 40 minutes or so, and all he can do is crawl around and flap his wings in Wolfman's face whenever he wants attention.  Then his wing gets healed - and for the next hour and twenty minutes he flies around a little bit, reacts comically to events around him, and makes cute high-pitched cheeping noises when agitated.  But in the final half hour, hoo boy, it's time to unleash the beast!  He finally participates in the action, and each time he does, I can't help but giggle with girlish glee.  I don't know why, but the little flying rodent just makes me happy.  He's not an annoying comic relief character, he's actually used quite sparingly.  Maybe that's the secret to his succcess?  Also, he totally owns the final scene in the movie.  He needs to star in his own spinoff movie, right now.  Here's the entire movie condensed into 8 minutes.  You also get to hear some of the actual music from the movie. . .

It's lots of fun, mostly because of Br - Ragged Wing, but he's far from the only reason.  There's plenty of bloody good action and some good special effects, especially in the climactic scene, where Wolfdog fights off a swirling vortex of rocks and magma with a 10-story-tall lightsaber.  No, really.  Director Nikolay Lebedev is clearly new to the fantasy genre (as is all of mother Russia), but does a decent job attempting to break new cinematic ground for his people.  Despite all the derivativeness, there are touches of Russian culture sprinkled throughout the film which give it a unique flavor.  This is especially true of the musical score, which is excellent.  Here's a Russian trailer. . .

In the end, you don't have to be a sword-and-sorcery movie junkie (like me) to appreciate this one, but it helps.  It may not be groundbreaking for us dopey Americans, but it's a nice timewaster which has grown on me quite a bit (like Athlete's Foot).  I recommend it.  And not just for the bat. . .