My Review: The Wolfman (4/10)

¨Terrible things Lawrence, you've done terrible things. ¨

(4/10) This is a remake of 1941`s Universal Studios monstrous creation named The Wolf Man. One thing that the original had going for it is that it was a creature that hadn`t been on screen before and it became a classic horror film. I can imagine audiences being blown away by this monster and scared to death. Now almost 70 years later they have decided to remake the film using all the technological advances and of course the effects are much better. The Wolf Man seems much more real than the one in the original, but we are already used to seeing these monstrous creatures and have already grown used to seeing these incredible effects. Audiences nowadays need a good story to go along with the effects. I can imagine people being more terrified with the original version because it was something that audiences weren`t familiar with. Nowadays we have been bombarded with all kind of creatures on screen, from aliens, to vampires, to gremlins, to predators, to dinosaurs, and so on. We have even seen a comedy about a teenage wolf man (starring Michael J Fox) so the unknown element that was present in 1941 now is gone. These creatures are not scary on their own; you need a decent script to aid with the frightening scenes. That is why director Joe Johnston (Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, and Hidalgo) brought two well known screenwriters to help him with the movie: Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven and Sleepy Hollow) and David Self (Road To Perdition). Unfortunately this time around I didn`t find the script very helpful and ended up with a movie that seemed to miss some important elements. By the way, the effects aren`t that great either (the werewolves in the Twilight saga are done a lot better than this).

The story takes place in a small town near London during 1890. Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) is a Shakespearean actor who has gone to America and left his father and brother after his mother`s death several years ago. Now he is back in England for a short while working on a play and he receives a letter from his soon to be sister in law, Gwen (played by the beautiful Emily Blunt from The Devil Wears Prada) saying that his brother is missing and wants him to aid in the search. By the time Lawrence shows up at his home his brother has been found slaughtered by some sort of beast or demented person. Lawrence promises Gwen that he will find the killer. Lawrence reunites with his father, Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) and memories from his troubled childhood begin to haunt him. All the while Sir John has a calm and serene attitude and he seems to be hiding some crucial information. Meanwhile Lawrence decides to investigate a gypsy camp because his brother dealt with them a lot. Several other murders continue to take place so a Scotland Yard officer (played by Hugo Weaving) is sent to investigate the strange occurrences. Somehow Lawrence becomes the prime suspect after recovering miraculously from the creature`s attack and the plot develops from that point on.

I didn´t have any problems with the cast, I thought that they all gave good performances and were actually above average for a horror film. Benicio del Toro is a great actor and he has proved that he can carry a movie. Anthony Hopkins is one of the best and even though he isn`t as great in this movie as he is in most of his films his average is better than most good performances from many other actors. Emily Blunt also does what she can with a character that didn`t seem to play an important role although she should have been key if the story was developed better. I think the true star of the film was Hugo Weaving. He had a minor role, but he stole every scene he was in as the Scotland Yard officer. The main problem I had with this film was that there were very few scares and the story was developed very poorly. Some moments were very entertaining, but others seemed to drag and the story lacked its effect. There is some gore in The Wolfman so fans of that genre will be pleased, but there are not many scares so don`t expect to be frightened by this movie. There were mixed reactions in the theater; the person next to me fell asleep in a couple of occasions, but then at the end there were a couple of people that ended up clapping and cheering for the movie. What really made me give this movie four stars out of ten was the ending which I thought was developed poorly and should have been done much better. It seemed to be missing something and it just didn`t convince me. I would recommend you to skip this movie unless you are a true fan of The Wolfman; and it will probably satisfy some blood thirsty gore fans as well.