Movie Review: The Wolfman

Very disappointing. It’s never a good sign when a movies’ release date is postponed. The Wolfman was scheduled for release last Fall. Unfortunately, no matter how much re-shooting and re-editing was done, they could not save this movie. Riddled with problems; all the meddling simply made it very close to unwatchable. This blood and guts remake never elicits much more than a tiny little startle and it does it by using the oldest trick in the book; sudden loud noises. With all its savagery the director, Joe Johnson (Jurassic Park III, Hildalgo), never gets even close to the emotionally laden 1941, Lon Chaney Jr. production, which remains a favorite 7 decades later (absolutely no chance of that here). Interestingly enough, Benicio Tel Torro, an actor with significant talent (think Che, Traffic and 21 Grams), fails to bring any life to his portrayal of Lawrence Talbot: a man bitten and doomed to transform into a beast when the moon is full. Chaney, an actor with very limit ability, manages to impart the role with the anguish of a tortured soul; the point of this classic tale.
Talbot returns home after learning that his brother has disappeared. Once there, he meets up with his father, Sir John (Anthony Hopkins) and his brother's fiancée and soon to be love interest, Gwen (Emily Blunt). After discovering his brother has been murdered he heads out into the foggy moors to find the killer. It was adapted from Curt Soidmaks' original screenplay (1941). Revised by Andrew Walker (Sleepy Hollow, Seven) and David Self (Road to Perdition, Thirteen Days); they took what amounts to, unnecessary liberties with the hopes of bringing something more interesting to the story. By adding more they ended up with less. Thankfully, Blunt and Hugo Weaving (as the Scotland Yard detective) bring some energy to this otherwise very stale and lackluster remake. One stroke of genius by the producer: bringing Rick Baker, the fabulous makeup artist, on board. In 1981, Baker brought us the truly inspired movie-monster transformation in the unforgettable, An American Werewolf in London (none of us had ever seen anything like that before - a must see!). The Wolfman is not a computer generated image. Baker brings back the craft of make-up and physical effects creating a real living beast. When the camera was focused on the beast, I was moderately entertained. Wait for it to come out On Demand (if for no other reason than to watch the transformation) but in the meantime, try to see the original.