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From the movie's website: " Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, a British expatriate who has returned to his homeland from New York City to inquire on the disappearance of his brother at the request of his fiancée Gwen (Emily Blunt). The village of Talbot’s home has been ravaged by brutal, unprecedented animal attacks. Talbot gets bitten by said animal and, of course, begins to endure a mysterious transformation while Aberline (Hugo Weaving), a Scotland Yard inspector, enacts a looming counter-investigation."
Like the revitalization of any franchise within the last few years, the story of The Wolfman is immediately recognizable. To me, what audiences want in films like this are two basic things, 1) creative but slight variations in their interpretation on this familiar material, and 2) a unique stylistic and entertaining approach to such familiar source material.
Don't believe the negative hype on this movie. The Wolfman is no way a terrible movie. It’s not a bad movie at all. Trade papers and movie reviewers will probably spin this movie to be the aborted realization of a troubled production, etc.
The Wolfman moves at a lightning pace at times, then slows down to a screeching halt at times. To me, the slow downs may be to allow the film to immerse the audience in – the world that it has created. The first half hour or so seems a little frantic and uncontrollable, which to me was kinda what I'd expect. A person with me stated he thought the movie looked good, but didn't care for the first few minutes of the film staing it was too confusing and frantic. To me, THAT'S the Wolfman. I could be wrong in teh grand scheme of things, though.
The film uses a lot of computer generated gore- kinda reminded me of all-too-familiar material, it becomes evident that the gore offers little more than a diverting replacement for where genuine suspense is supposed to be. The film is indeed entertaining in several moments, especially the first two scenes where Del Toro transforms into the creature. I was in pain too! I felt he pulled this off as good as anyone I've seen do so. I DID feel that the first few transformations were kind of rushed through – but still awesome to watch- especially seeing Del Toro’s fingers and joints become the Wolfman's appendages. You can’t help but become nostalgic for Rick Baker’s makeup talents utilized in 'An American Werewolf in London' thirty years ago. In my opinion, the CGI transformations were one of The Wolfman’s best sequences to see. The scenes involving the ice water pit were creepy and well presented too.
Though I'm not too smart or aware of technical or directorial methods or the ilk, my friend watching the movie with me said the direction at times reminded him of Francis Ford Coppola’s 'Dracula'. I liked that version of Dracula- it was closely related to the source material- from what I remember. Gee, now I've got ANOTHER movie to download and watch (Dracula).
I wanted to see the original "Wolfman" before I saw this one- but as usual, I failed to make the time to do so. My brother says this movie DID take a few liberties with the original. I'm too sleepy right now to remember those instances. But I DO agree with him that mine and his fears about this movie were unfounded. The scenery, acting, et al were superb. To me this is just as good as (I like it slightly better than)"Avatar" and you dont' need the 3-D glasses or the extra $3 to spend. Go see this movie or die realizing you missed a really good film.
OK, I'm rambling.. to see a much more authoritive, MUCH better written review by someone smarter and definitely more awake than I am, check out artvanhelsing.blogspot.com
