User reviews

The sound expert Chanteraide holds the life of his fellow mates in his hands. Onboard high tech submarine Titan a small mistake leads to a confrontation with a mysterious submarine. As the danger of a next war becomes all too real, it's up to Titan and its crew to save the day.

Wolf's Call is the first feature from screen writer Antonin Boudry and it is a tense and inventive thriller where an approaching global disaster is played out on a smaller scale and rests on the shoulders of a few men. Handpicking his hot young stars, the trio of Omar Sy, Francois Civil, and Reda Kateb, Boudry builds on the relationship between the three men, throwing the characters into the crisis of a life time.

A minimalistic score by Tomandandy nicely supports the vast underwater scenes and claustrophobic in-cabin sequences. It is no wonder the film was snatched up by Netflix, it has an interesting concept, well written and acted.

WOLF'S CALL proves that a smaller scale underwater thriller can be tense and engaging even with a very restricted budget.

This movie depicts a topical and realistic situation, with the codes of most major big-budget movie. The cast is well chosen and overall does a good job of portraying what many would expect the French navy to be like. But in my opinion, the most successful trait of the movie is its storyline, stemming from contemporary stakes, which I've rarely seen in military/tactical movies, which instead tend to focus on past historical events or on more far-fetched futuristic scenarios. I think that's the reason the story is so compelling, and why I personally found the movie so immersive.

I did watch the dubbed version, and it was very well done. This movie has exceedingly high production values, with very modern and realistic materials. The acting is excellent, and the pacing is good overall. There is an overriding ambience of tragedy to the story which reiterates the opening epilogue of the movie: "There are three kinds of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who go to sea." (Aristotle.) This is more a thinking person's action movie. Good viewing.

Reading the reviews here, it seems to be a love it or hate it movie - I don't understand why. I grew up watching the original Das Boot as TV series and went through all the submarine movies. Instead of comparing the incomparable and saying what is flawed etc., I simply want to point out what I liked watching this movie twice:

• refreshing actor set, no B-movie characters just like "could be your neighbour" type
• storyline that could happen, although we normal people would never hear about it
• great music/ambience perfectly fitting the setting
• straightforward effects, less is more
• happy end without happy end, evoked emotions
• overall a very refreshing, non-cliche Hollywood-type movie.

There's a lot of reviews here making points such as "could not happen".

Ok sure, there's some unrealistic stuff going on.

But there's also a lot of original and thoughtful scenes that are explored. There's a lot of ideas here that feel completely fresh.

The idea that a French submarine, once committed to a nuclear strike, will not receive any orders to abort, is a weak one. Unfortunately a large part of the movie hinges around this concept. The second half of the movie does feel a little silly at times because of this.

I liked the sonar guy as the hero.

If you're into military thrillers, movies like Failsafe, you might like this. It has plenty of twists, good pacing, and a unlikely hero, a flawed sonar man who loves his country and is very good at his job.

The movie is not free of tactical and strategic logic holes, but the pacing, progression of events, f/x, live shots at sea, military action dialogue, and story keep you locked in. For English only viewers, the English dub is excellent.

I found it very unpredictable right up to the very end. Really enjoyed it. The characters were all week played too. If you enjoyed Hunt for Red October or K19 you'll love this.

Submarine movie genre is quite unique in France, I just remember having seen 40 years ago the René Clément "les Maudits" (with a terrific scene), I really don't remember another french title dealing with submarines. Even in Hollywood, it's a seldom exploited theme. And we have the opportunity to discover a kind of french Joel Silver production, but without Bruce Willis or other great star. And that's cool, all cast is fine (Francis Lavil as the special acoustic young specialist), but real special bravo to director Antonin Baudry and his team : first direction, complete solid and technical direction, tragic suspense, a never seen geo political subject in french cinema. Go on Mr Baudry, we're waiting for your next movie.

The sub (sub) genre of action movies is a small one, but there have been a couple of good hits. Crimson Tide and The Hunt for Red October may be the only couple of good ones off the top of my head in the last 30 years.

This French language film popped up on Netflix, and I'm glad I watched it. The film follows a sub crew as they confront a realistic crisis of Russian aggression and terrorism. The main character, Chanteraide (François Civil) is a sub listener, and there are tense moments as he must figure out if the sound he hears is a far off whale, or a torpedo coming for the kill. The cast is filled out with a host of French actors, many of who I recognized from other films.

The film is more a suspense than an action film, more Red October, and less Crimson Tide in that sense, but there are some very good action scenes. The plot is not unique, but very well executed, and sets up some very well done moral dilemmas, again similar to Crimson Tide.

These moral dilemmas end up being the best part of the film but unfortunately could have been an even larger part of the film, a rare missed opportunity in the film.

Although it fails to achieve in several areas, it still sets itself apart from the average drone of current action films. Although I am tempteted to give it an 8, 7/10 is the review. Don't deep six this one!

I really wanted Le Chant du Loup to be good but in the end it's let down by sub par screen writing - some events that are so implausible that it borders the laughable. The main character's involvement in the events pictured feels far fetched and even the title has little bearing on the actual story. Someone, unsurprisingly, referenced Das Boot in his/her review but unfortunately Le Chant du Loup is not worthy to be mentioned in the same sentence as the German classic. Avoid, would be my recommendation.

A great and almost faultless movie, keeps you engrossed throughout. Cast, direction, score, and procedure spot on. Note: it is not remotely sci-fi for those looking.

I loved the story, it's rhythm and twists, yet some details left me disappointed in the quality. What was super wrong - that unrealistic traceless blow of the armored helicopter - even it felt funny. Like the scene that nobody really cared about. Also I didn't like boat interior design setup, where equipment was left standing on the flat surfaces, not fixed or secured somehow. Never happens in real. I would also add some more ideas regarding depth and breathing equipment - so my wish to the directors - just consult with proper specialists to make your script realistic.

Very engaging film. From start to finish it hooked me and there was never a dull moment. Good actors, well thought out plot with excellent follow through in its development.

Will watch again and highly recommend it.

Finally a great European production at the levels of overseas filmon. Definitely the most beautiful war movie I've seen recently. Nothing is out of place, the images and effects are spectacular, the plot keeps you glued to the screen and the characters are all believable and well defined. I read about someone who complained about taking legends such as the Hunt for Red October. But the films belong to their own time and if today we were to compare the two works, the latter would have the flavor of a fairy tale compared to Le chant du loup which today seems much more realistic and suitable for modern taste. Just a small note: Civil, which is certainly an excellent actor, should stop having that dog-like air to capture the consent of the public as a good guy. The same expressions were good for Burn Out, here they are in some cases out of place. A must see.

This movie was amazing ! It was fast paced and the twists were incredible. One thing I couldn't stop talking about with my Friends was the soundtrack. It made me feel like I was in the movie. This movie is so worth watching!! First I thought that a french movie couldn't be that great but I'm impressed and clearly satisfied. Everybody should see it once to see what french cinema can show.

A really nice change-up from your typical submarine films, but I found it a little too technical with the constant fancy jargon, and overdramatic with the stretched out scenes. The almost 2 hour length and dragged out pacing made the film feel much longer. There were also some editing issues. The writing/screenplay definitely needed some tweaking. The directing was decent, and the score on point. The visuals were great, especially for a B-grade French film, and the acting fairly decent. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you like these type of films. Would I see it again? No. Sacre bleu, it's a 7/10 from me.

This is a great film with an impressive Kassowitz. The rythm is fast, full of twists and you really feel you're in a submarine trying to save the world. I entered the theater ready to be bored, being there to please some friends, and we ended the dinner endlessly talking about it.

Well, I did not see much of them, and this has probably nothing real involvement of Netflix except making English audio dub and putting their name on screen at beginning. Means not that movie is great, but at least was much better than those, mostly Sci-fi ones what I had misfortune to watch.

The beginning was a bit confusing, mostly because what happened on ground seems messy. But that was just introduction, mostly to show how acoustic observation is very important under water. I really have no clue how realistic all it was, but we had our hero already. There was romance with cute girl, as refreshing as drink with same name as actress's last name is :-) I really felt sorry for her when he waited for hero in car, after he was arrested. That's called connection with characters. Even if her role was mostly decorative.

I will not spoil anything when talk about that nuclear missile launch from far-far away - targeting France - across whole Russia and north Europe. And clearly launched from submarine. So, Russians would do something so stupid ? Much better would be if they launched it from Atlantic, from North Sea ... This was probably weakest point of whole movie. Last 40 minutes went on salvation action, and it was generally OK, although sometimes it was not directed/edited so good. Not expert about missiles, torpedoes, but CGI looked somehow cheap when they performed their task, to say so .

Overall it was more good than bad, watchable. Main actor was best indeed, others more-less. I like Beer, not only in warm days like this :-)

Although François Civil and Reda Kateb partially save the day, this film transpires mediocrity and cheapness with a hardly-credible scenario. It's even sometimes laughable or moronic. A disappointing French attempt to compete with Hollywood, mainly because of a two-penny scriptwriter.

Two-thirds of the way through the film I was tempted to call this a great movie, but sadly things kind of didn't gel for me in the third act. Even so, this is still a remarkable movie for submarine movie buffs. There's something vaguely mystical about gliding through the water in darkness listening for the sound of other predators in a dangerous game of hide and seek that I've always found fascinating, and 'The Wolf's Call', the title a reference to that idea, is an excellent contribution to the genre.

The first act, where they setup the situation that drives the movie, is nothing short of brilliant. The screenwriters have devised a scenario that is extremely, verging on too, topical. Without wanting to give away anything important, I would just say that it is based upon a scenario that perfectly fits the Zeitgeist of Europe at the moment.

The scenario involves an element of US politics. From my perspective as an American I would say this scenario is extremely unlikely, even given the conditions that give birth to it. Europe and the US may not always get along as well as everyone would hope, but we are kin. The ties that bind us are forged in blood and stronger than any individual; for better or worse that will never change. But having said that, I can certainly see where the concern comes from.

I would also say that it's interesting to see how perspectives change. Post Iraq war, the depiction of Americans in European media painted us as at best ambiguous, and often arrogant, imperialist, or even sinister in our application of military power around the world. The views in the movie bring worry from the opposite direction, and seem to tacitly acknowledge that sometimes it's not so bad to be friends with the 800 lb gorilla in the room, even if you're not always happy about his temper and penchant for smashing things.

In any case, the scenario involves the French Navy and submarine combat. Not being a submariner I can't say that the technical details of life on a submarine are accurate, but if they aren't it is some brilliant bull because they certainly feel real. The main character is Chanteraide, played by François Civil, who is the sound guy on the sub.

This is a big deal on a submarine; modern subs all have computers to analyze the sounds in the water looking for acoustic signatures that tell them who else is out there in the depths, but as you might imagine this is a difficult task as every sub also has technology to obfuscate those sounds and keep themselves hidden. You might compare the task to, say, listening to the sound of someone type their password on a keyboard and then trying to reverse the sounds to keystrokes. It can be done, but the process is difficult and filled with uncertainty.

The middle third of the story involves Chanteraide investigating an acoustic mystery as high-stake events unfold. Acoustic signature investigation may not sound exactly thrill a minute, but between the brewing crisis and some good story pacing by the director, it remains fresh and interesting, and I enjoyed how honest to the intellectual process of solving the mystery it was.

The final act is where I was a little disappointed. The setup is too good to give away, but let's just say a misunderstanding develops and Chanteraide is called on to help resolve it. I was expecting Chanteraide to come up with something clever, a means of delivering a message using his unique skill set and training, which would have capped the movie perfectly, but the movie instead reverts to more standard thriller fare at this point.

There were a couple of problems here, in my opinion. First, the movie abandons all sense of time, moving characters between locations in minutes that, even optimistically, would have taken hours, so that they can be in the important places as events unfold. For a movie that has been so careful to get the details right, this stands out in glaring contrast.

Second,the characters and even some of the submarine functions act in a way inconsistent with previously established story. It's hard to believe that certain characters would have behaved the way they did, given what was happening.

And third, the director goes for several big, overly dramatic scenes between characters that feels unearned. If you are going to have a big 'connection across space and time' moment between characters, you better have established that connection earlier really well, or else it will come across as almost satirical instead of poignant.

But third act aside, the movie is still really solid and entertaining. It uses some very clever story crafting to develop a scenario that feels very fit to our times and sets the stakes in a believable way that keeps you engaged. The dialogue is in French, of course, so I used the English dubbing, which was automatic on Netflix and was pretty solid. If you have Netflix and enjoy submarine movies, I would certainly recommend giving it a watch.