The Wolfman «««
R, 102m. 2010
Cast & Credits: Benicio Del Toro (Lawrence Talbot), Anthony Hopkins (Sir John Talbot), Emily Blunt (Gwen Conliffe), Hugo Weaving (Abberline), Art Malik (Singh), Geraldine Chaplin (Maleva). Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self based on the 1941 motion picture screenplay by Curt Siodmak. Directed by Joe Johnston.
There is a lot to like about director Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman, his faithful remake of the 1941 horror classic, which starred Lon Chaney, Jr. Like the original, the new version takes place in Great Britain in the late 1800s. The forests still look ominous at night and when there is daylight, you never see the sun.
The casting is perfect with Anthony Hopkins as eccentric millionaire father, Sir John Talbot. Talbot’s faithful servant, Singh (Art Malik), is the only other person besides his master who resides in the candle lit, multiple roomed estate, who may be hiding a dark secret about some monster who’s been slaughtering people in the dead of night throughout the countryside. Some of the townspeople think it’s a madman. Others say it’s a wild bear.
Benicio Del Toro, with his tall menacing frame and wielding a wooden cane, looks every bit out of place as Hopkins’ son and Shakespearean actor Lawrence Talbot. When we first see him, he is on stage enacting a scene from Hamlet. I have to wonder if the character’s name and occupation was a nod to Lawrence Olivier who throughout his acting career did many Shakespearean film adaptations that included Hamlet.
When Lawrence returns to his native homeland to help bury and investigate the grisly death of his brother, he meets his kin’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt). She is the mourning damsel in distress who thinks she can tame whatever is out there in a tragic story that bears similarities to Beauty and the Beast. Lastly, there is Hugo Weaving’s Inspector Aberline on the hunt with silver bullets in hand.
The other weakness is for a horror movie meant to play along the lines of a tragedy, The Wolfman suffers from the same ailment other adaptations of the classic horror novels Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein have undergone. We don’t get any feeling for the tragic characters. In all three stories of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, there have always been a damsel in distress involved and all three lead characters went through some life altering event that caused them go to off the deep end.
Dracula lost his fiancée upon returning from battle and chose immortality. Frankenstein tried to be human and realized he was a monster. Not even his creator could make him happy giving him a bride. In The Wolfman, Lawrence’s life is plagued by tragedy since childhood, beginning with the mysterious death of his mother by something out there. I will find it to be a successful feat if any filmmaker can turn one of these classics into a suspenseful, emotional roller coaster ride one day.
Still, I cannot help but admire the overall foreboding look of The Wolfman in terms of visuals and the perfect casting. Call it the film’s howl. This is a real close call but I am recommending The Wolfman more so for its “howl” than its lack of bite when it comes the film’s inability to leave me on the edge of my seat.
R, 102m. 2010
Cast & Credits: Benicio Del Toro (Lawrence Talbot), Anthony Hopkins (Sir John Talbot), Emily Blunt (Gwen Conliffe), Hugo Weaving (Abberline), Art Malik (Singh), Geraldine Chaplin (Maleva). Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self based on the 1941 motion picture screenplay by Curt Siodmak. Directed by Joe Johnston.
The casting is perfect with Anthony Hopkins as eccentric millionaire father, Sir John Talbot. Talbot’s faithful servant, Singh (Art Malik), is the only other person besides his master who resides in the candle lit, multiple roomed estate, who may be hiding a dark secret about some monster who’s been slaughtering people in the dead of night throughout the countryside. Some of the townspeople think it’s a madman. Others say it’s a wild bear.
Benicio Del Toro, with his tall menacing frame and wielding a wooden cane, looks every bit out of place as Hopkins’ son and Shakespearean actor Lawrence Talbot. When we first see him, he is on stage enacting a scene from Hamlet. I have to wonder if the character’s name and occupation was a nod to Lawrence Olivier who throughout his acting career did many Shakespearean film adaptations that included Hamlet.
When Lawrence returns to his native homeland to help bury and investigate the grisly death of his brother, he meets his kin’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt). She is the mourning damsel in distress who thinks she can tame whatever is out there in a tragic story that bears similarities to Beauty and the Beast. Lastly, there is Hugo Weaving’s Inspector Aberline on the hunt with silver bullets in hand.
There is no doubt the one reason The Wolfman was remade was to improve upon the visual effects from over sixty years ago. Thankfully, in a time where filmmakers put a major emphasis on the million-dollar computer generated effects like Avatar (2009), The Wolfman’s CGI images don’t steal the show. Unlike, John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London (1981) where the lead character graphically resembled a four legged creature the moment the full moon came out, when Del Toro turns into the wolfman, he is exactly just that; half man – half wolf. Nor does Lawrence feel compelled to strip off all his clothes prior to going on his rampages. Whenever he returns to human form, Lawrence is always seen with remnants of his original clothing.If I have any real complaint with the film, which is also its greatest weakness, it is that for a horror movie that’s meant to scare audiences, there is very little suspense. Watching hunters and other citizens becoming the hunted as they try to escape the wolfman, I just knew it would be a matter of time before the creature caught up to them. There is nothing shocking watching such scenes where one moment, the prey is standing around with a gun and the moment the intended victim makes one step, he is attacked out of nowhere.
The other weakness is for a horror movie meant to play along the lines of a tragedy, The Wolfman suffers from the same ailment other adaptations of the classic horror novels Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein have undergone. We don’t get any feeling for the tragic characters. In all three stories of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, there have always been a damsel in distress involved and all three lead characters went through some life altering event that caused them go to off the deep end.
Dracula lost his fiancée upon returning from battle and chose immortality. Frankenstein tried to be human and realized he was a monster. Not even his creator could make him happy giving him a bride. In The Wolfman, Lawrence’s life is plagued by tragedy since childhood, beginning with the mysterious death of his mother by something out there. I will find it to be a successful feat if any filmmaker can turn one of these classics into a suspenseful, emotional roller coaster ride one day.
Still, I cannot help but admire the overall foreboding look of The Wolfman in terms of visuals and the perfect casting. Call it the film’s howl. This is a real close call but I am recommending The Wolfman more so for its “howl” than its lack of bite when it comes the film’s inability to leave me on the edge of my seat.
©2/12/10
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