The Wolfman

REVIEW: The Wolfman IMDB

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BASIC CREDITS

1. ACTORS:
   1. Benicio Del Toro - Lawrence Talbot
   2. Anthony Hopkins - Sir John Talbot
   3. Emily Blunt - Gwen Conliffe
   4. Hugo Weaving - Aberline (he wasn't on the 'primary list' in IMDB...interesting)
2. PRODUCTION
   1. Execute Producers - Bill Carraro and Ryan Kavanaugh
   2. Written By: Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) and David Self (Road To Perdition)
   3. Directed by Joe Johnston

INTRO STUFF

• Bioshock 2...sweet. Beat it in about 10 hours, story wasn't as good as first, but they still did a great job.
• Finally picked up Snow Leopard
• Top Gear on YouTube, why wait for them to cross the pond?

SYNOPSIS

• In a world where beasts rule the night, one man must solve his brother's murder until he, too, bears the mark of the beast.

WALKING IN F&T (FEARS & THOUGHTS)

• Fears - didn't really have a lot of fears, thought it was going to be great.
• Another period drama...remake of a remake of a remake...Classic Universal Monster Movie, 1941.

OPENING SCENE (INITIAL THOUGHTS)

• Seems like they are setting the stage with the opening moon scene and reading that 'love can save'...(spoiler) apparently not...
• Red letter credit opening - made me think I was about to watch a 60's horror flick: Wolfman is quite the horror, but with type casting and music similarities to Bram Stokers Dracula I'm expecting a more cosmopolitan movie.
• Kept thinking Del Toro looked like Frankenstein with his little dialogue and somber whitish appearance.
• An American doing Hamlet in England? He must really be good!

...OTHER SCENES

• Setting was very cool: Blackrock, England
  • Liked the rock formation fight scene (kind of expected the beast to leap from the top), but didn't see the boy
  • The house was great, spooky and included its own Indian servant
• Was hoping that the Seikh would have at least done a little damage being that he was a warrior and all...set up my expectation and then kill it.
• The Assylum
  • The doctor was definitely creepy and naive.
  • The 'ice chair', what the heck was that going to help?
• The little 'cave creature' looked like Hugo Weaver
• RANT!!
  • Why did they kill the story so quickly? They took away the intrigue from the hints that they began to give us (his father sneaking off, the chair in front of the shrine, etc).
  • His father tells him everything, hands him a razor and leaves?! And then his father walks out playing a harmonica?!! Who wrote this stuff?
  • The kid would not have remembered his dad looked like a monster and why wouldn't the monster have eaten him too.
  • Bah!! Who got out the 60s wolfman mask? They did such a great job showing the transition and then he ends up being a hippie with bad teeth. Werewolf in Paris, Underworld, Van Helsing and others have left the deep impression that I want more 'wolf like' werewolfs, not a lost actor from a 60s horror movie set. I don't know how this would be lost in this movie; they need to study the psychographics of their audience more.
  • She goes out of her way to find the gypsy and when the gypsy finds her, they talk, she seems to understand that she has to 'love' him, but still asks the gypsy to tell her how to save him. Was I the only one confused? It almost seemed like the poor gypsy was confused by her reaction too, maybe that was the intention.
• Ghosts in the house, interesting setting of the stately manor that has been rotted from the core.
• When it all comes down to it, all werewolf stories are mysteries...have to find who made you...(if progtagonist is infected)
• Agent Smith - Now with a mullet
  • interesting character who really does nothing in the story...anyone could have chanced after Lawrence in London...
  • I suspect serious recutting through the whole story, some things just don't make sense...
• Sure, it was not Freud, but it was Freud, and it was hilarious...
• Best psychotic dream sequence ever...

QUESTIONS:

• Why was the family dealing with the gypsies? Just to pay them not to steal?
• Why did the girl go through so much investigative work just to give up and shoot him? I guess she wasn't privy to the beginning of the movie in her super history books.
• Who was the son looking for in the woods? His dad?
• Other Deaths that are referenced...Dad's escape - explained for the death of his son and wife (man, this guy only goes after family) but then got out again to infect Lawrence, then to kill a series of other people (three in the last few months)...I am guessing that Sing is a awful "warrior."

THE MACGUFFIN:

• the necklace of the saint in the beginning of the movie?
• Eh...not really sure, the disease? Silver Bullet? I am going to go with Lycanthrophy...even though it really does not count in the classical sense of the macguffin...

CLOSING THOUGHTS

CHUCK Rating: 2.5

• Positives
  • Transformation was cool, love the setting (London, inside the asylum, etc)
• Negatives
  • ...then they ruin the movie; they crash the hidden plot too fast, let a couple of guys in monkey outfits with bad teeth battle, and don't finish with the girl saving his life by saying that she 'loves' him. I feel bad for Hugo Weaving for being in such a terrible version of wolfman that had so much potential. If they had kept the werewolf to like the one that seemed to be running around the gypsy's village killing everyone I would have ranked it much higher.

MIKE Rating: 3.0

• Positives
  • Slow but steady motion through the story, nice performances and a few surprises.
• Negatives
  • Surprises were not all good, worst third act in some time...