The Wolfman

"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright"

This is the repeatedly spoken line in the classic 1941 film The Wolf Man and is what director Joe Johnston uses to start off his 2010 remake.

In this retelling which takes place during the late Victorian era, director Joe Johnston and writers Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self stick close to the original story while expanding on a few things only briefly mentioned in the Lon Chaney Jr. version. Lead character Lawrence Talbot leaves his theatre work to return home after hearing of his brother's death. Talbot is seemingly reluctant to come back to his father’s estate in Blackmoor, England and is only there to see his brother for the first and sadly last time in many years. Benicio Del Toro plays Talbot a bit reserved and with little emotion but really starts to come through after the first transformation and when he begins to deal with his newfound curse. At first Del Toro seems like he’s not giving it his all but as the film goes on you see just how troubled and haunted his character is and why he isn’t full of energy.

The film has a great supporting cast consisting of Anthony Hopkins as Lawrence’s father Sir John Talbot, Emily Blunt as Gwen Conliffe, the late fiancée of Lawrence’s deceased brother Ben and Hugo Weaving playing a fictionalized version of Inspector Abberline of Jack the Ripper fame. With only seeing one other film with Blunt in it, I thought she did pretty well as the saddened fiancée who confides in Lawrence to find out who murdered Ben Talbot. The little romance that starts between Gwen and Lawrence is unnecessary though and feels a bit forced. Not to mention it happens rather quickly which I can assume is from the editing job this film had. While Hopkins does well and seems to have had a bit of fun playing the reclusive and somewhat sinister father, it’s Weaving that steals the show (the tavern scene alone is a great example) and is only rivaled by the Wolfman himself. The dialogue is nothing great but works for the most part and doesn’t have unnecessary humor thrown in at every turn to lighten the mood.

With the film being about a man who changes into a werewolf, you expect there to be some blood, violence, and scares. While The Wolfman doesn’t disappoint in the blood and gore department, the scares are cheap. Instead of using the atmosphere and shadows (which were well done by the way) to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, Johnston chooses to quickly throw things at the screen with loud sound effects and music cues. While I don’t have a problem with using a few cheap scares in films now and again, I think The Wolfman would have benefited using less of them, much like a lot of other horror films should have in recent memory.

In regards to special effects, it’s a bit disappointing to see they used CGI during some of the transformation scenes when they had makeup and effects master, Rick Baker. A few of the scenes that stand out the most are when he’s strapped to the chair and starts flicking his tongue out when changing and the other was during one of the last scenes involving Lawrence and his father, which I didn’t care for despite being somewhat entertaining. The sound effects during his transformation were great though, especially the snapping and shifting of his bones. Aside from the CGI used, Del Toro in full costume looks fantastic. It’s a great modern update to the classic look that Lon Chaney Jr. had.

Although I really enjoyed this film, the pacing could have been much better. With past reports stating the problems this film had in the editing room which led to the release date being pushed back, I’m not surprised with the final product. The movie doesn’t dwell enough on a good number of scenes, it just rushes through them for the most part which is sad considering how good the sets look, especially at night. You also don’t get to see much of Lawrence’s acting on the stage or his trip back to England. It just jumps from him on the stage for a second or two to quickly arriving at his father’s home. The editing problem is felt the most when it comes down to character development.

There are plenty of nods to the original film like Sir John Talbot’s telescope, as well as delving into what Doctor Lloyd (played by Warren William) said in the 1941 version, “I believe a man lost in the mazes of his own mind may imagine that he's anything.” to name a few. It was great that they went into Talbot’s mind a bit in the asylum thinking they could cure him as well as the flashback scene of him finding his dead mother and how over the years Lawrence forgets exactly what he saw that night.

All in all, this film (as well as Dog Soldiers) is one of the better werewolf films to come out in the last ten years. Despite its editing and character development problems here and there, it’s an entertaining horror film and in my eyes one of the few good (or decent) remakes we’ve had. Recently there was an interview with Johnston talking about an extended cut with 17 minutes of footage thrown back in, most of which is character moments as opposed to action and violence. Hopefully that can fix a number of this film’s problems.

 3/5

Comments

[PDGraphics]

I love how they took things from the old movie and expanded them.. it really made the movie more "meatier" especially if you know the original.