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The mist rising over the moors feels right, and so does the slant of moonlight coming over a Victorian village-scape. And if the moon is full, this must be The Wolfman, Universal's 2010 attempt to revive one of the crown jewels in its deservedly legendary horror stable. Benicio Del Toro takes on the old Lon Chaney Jr. role of Lawrence Talbot, an American visitor to his ancestral home in England. Talbot's brother has recently been torn to bits by a beast in the forest, leaving behind a grieving fiancée (Emily Blunt) and a not-visibly-grieving father (Anthony Hopkins). This central situation seems drained of blood even before the full-moon transfigurations begin to bloom, and Del Toro's Talbot--an actor by trade, which raises interesting possibilities for a story of a man divided by different personalities--is mystifyingly blank. The intriguing casting of Del Toro (what an opportunity for a cool werewolf!) comes to naught as Talbot seems to languish on the periphery of his own story. Hugo Weaving tries to generate some interest as the police inspector on the case, but he too is defeated by the combination of mechanical storytelling and bland computer-generated werewolves. The script skips from one exposition scene to the next, but nothing registers long enough to create character, tension, or the slimmest desire to see what happens in the next scene. Every once in a while director Joe Johnston (Jumanji) finds a grand staircase or CGI fog that conjures up the atmosphere of the old Universal horror classics, but otherwise this is a clueless affair--not as bad as Van Helsing, but flat-out dull. The movie can't even find a way to get the old Gypsy lady (Geraldine Chaplin stepping into Maria Ouspenskaya's tiny shoes) to deliver a proper recitation of screenwriter Curt Siodmak's great "Even a man who is pure in heart" doggerel from the 1941 film. Instead, it's thrown away in a voice-over at the beginning--one hairy way to start the movie. --Robert Horton
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Even a man who is pure at heart,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Wolfman (DVD)
Since vampires are the chic supernatural creature of the moment, it's nice to see werewolves getting some love. And despite being based loosely on the classic monster movie, "The Wolf Man" is surprisingly well-made and suspenseful horror-action story, draped in grey light, decayed backdrops and a growing sense of tragedy. Think of this as the "anti-Twilight."Lawrence Talbot (Benecio del Toro) receives a letter from his brother Ben's fiancee Gwen (Emily Blunt), telling him that Ben has vanished. By the time he arrives, his brother's body has been found. However, the body was so horribly mutilated that Lawrence is determined to figure out what killed his brother (especially since coming home has triggered some nasty flashbacks to how his mom died). While investigating Ben's last days at a local gypsy camp, Lawrence witnesses dozens of being people slaughtered by a monstrous wolflike creature. When he tries to kill it, it bites him -- and he nearly dies of blood loss and fever. Fortunately, Lawrence quickly heals from his wounds. But Scotland Yard's Inspector Aberline (Hugo Weaving) and the local villagers suspect that Lawrence himself either is a deranged maniac, or has acquired the curse of the "beast" (especially since he's completely healed). And on the night of the full moon, Lawrence discovers that there's some truth to those wolf-man superstitions -- and that his curse comes from someone very close to him. Ivy-draped crumbling mansions, grey skies over the moors, rainy London streets, misty stone circles and a forest haunted by a beast-man (or two). "The Wolf Man" is soaked in gloomy gothic atmosphere from beginning to end, until you almost feel like choking on all the gloom and greyness. In fact, the entire movie is like that -- it's SO relentlessly dark that it could give you SADS. And the storyline matches the gloomy atmosphere. Director Joe Johnston swings between haunting gothic suspense and gory gutsplattering action; the actual werewolf isn't very scary looking, but all the bloody dismemberment and lightning-fast attacks ARE very scary. To top it off, Johnston peppers the story with spooky flashbacks and some eerie hallucinations popping up to scare us out of our seats (including a wolf-boy who looks like Gollum). Fortunately Johnston also inserts some quiet, romantic moments for Gwen and Lawrence, especially that adorable stone-skipping scene. Downside? The asylum tortures and the whole "audience" scene were flashy and silly, and it feels like they were tacked in there for MGP (Maximum Gore Potential). Fortunately the movie settles back into its groove once everyone returns to Blackmoor, just in time for a harrowing climax of silver bullets, fire, and family strife. As for the actors, the movie rests on a solid square of them -- Benecio del Toro is a truly brilliant, tragic protagonist, whose entire life is turning into a nightmarish spiral of death and misery. Blunt is a delicate English rose with a core of steel; Anthony Hopkins is heartily creepy as del Toro's sociopathic dad. And Hugo Weaving is, as always, brilliant as a hard-edged inspector who is determined to bring down Lawrence no matter what he is ("We wouldn't have any silver bullets?"). "The Wolf Man" is a solid antidote to the drippily romantic werewolf/vampire stories out now -- it's grey, gothic, monstrous and ultimately heartrending. A solid horror movie, but rather heavy to digest.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Underrated Classic,
By
This review is from: The Wolfman (DVD)
This movie is better than the promoters knew it was to be. Bad poster, bad trailers, pulled from theaters before its time. It still mad over 61 million and is considered a failure???Anyway good acting, great set pieces and an interesting twist make this an improvement over one of the cheesier Universal outings (although the gypsy was great).
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Movie,
By
This review is from: The Wolfman (DVD)
It was really good, the story line was great, the cast was perfect, but it would've been a lot better if you never saw the werewolves... they looked kinda stupid...
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