Wolf follows a young kickboxer named Maj as he drifts into the criminal underworld ran by the Turkish mob. Wolf is a film jammed pack with genres. Sports Drama. Crime Drama. Family Drama. Take your pick, this film has it all. While that seems ambitious for one film, Wolf pulls it off with talent both on screen and behind the scenes. Shown in black and white, Wolf starts with Maj and his best friend stealing mopeds from a shop. A scene that starts right off the bat and let's you know what kind of film you're in for. Now, while the film's plot is clichè, Wolf makes up for its familiar path with a grand array of thoughtful performances and provocative subtext. Marwan Kenzari is perfect in the role of Maj. He's a brooding and vicious man played with a cold and brisk demeanor. Kenzari's skills are able to keep us going from start to finish as we see Raj's ups and downs with the utmost honesty. Despite these qualities, Wolf often drowns itself with repetitive scenes, including ones in which Maj and his terminally ill brother share brotherly bonding time. While these scenes are well acted and paced, by the end of the film, you're left with the feeling that it gave nothing to the story except drag it out. With a bloated runtime of barely over two hours, you begin to feel the effects of it in the middle of the film but quickly tries to get back on track with the more interesting plot of the mob and Maj's descent into his own personal hell. Wolf is very much so a character study of a violent man with a heart of gold. While he is no Carlito Brigante or Michael Corleone, Maj is a more disturbed individual with a dark past and family life that is more than estranged and borders on dysfunctional. The film features some brutal and abrupt scenes of violence that are very realistic and beautifully choreographed, despite some of them feeling as though director Jim Taihuttu went out of his way to shock us. Instead of shocking, some feel a bit drawn out and intended to add more character to Maj but instead makes the audience feel less sympathetic with his situation. There are great qualities to Wolf but some moments of greatness do not entirely forgive some of the weaker moments. One of which featuring Maj's old girlfriend jumping from one gangster to the next, which proves to be a bit more costly than Maj originally intends it to be. Again, another subplot that could have been cut down just a bit. Overall, Wolf is entertaining and features moments of sheer brilliance but the familiar and sometimes bloated story keeps it from achieving pure greatness.
