02/20/10: THE WOLFMAN (Joe Johnston, 2010) 
This was a long-awaited, thus much-anticipated, remake of a classic monster movie from the heyday of Universal Studios’ reign over the horror genre; the behind-the-scenes vicissitudes which saw a change of director early on were offset by an avowed reverence for the subject/source by its makers (star/co-producer Benicio Del Toro even holds vintage “Wolf Man” memorabilia in his personal collection!) that was clearly absent from THE MUMMY (1999). The decision to transpose the setting from 1940s Wales (or, more precisely, Hollywood’s idea of it) to Victorian England (even incorporating the real-life Scotland Yard Inspector in charge of the gruesome “Ripper” murders) works to the film’s benefit, resulting in an epic scale (where the originals were essentially “B’ movies) and oodles of fog-laden atmosphere (not forgetting shadowy candle-lit interiors). So far so good: the trouble starts when we get to the storyline and the characterization, and while the special effects were reasonably impressive (I honestly felt restless throughout the preliminary exposition as I was anxious to see how these were going to turn out and what the creature’s final look would be) – though I still prefer Rick Baker’s work on the as-yet-unsurpassed AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981) – they fell flat whenever CGI reared its ugly head; I was not bothered by the sight of the monster running on all fours, but the rapid-leaping-across-rooftops scenes did bring back unpleasant memories of the travesty that was VAN HELSING (2004)! It was perhaps inevitable but also unwise to pilfer 75 years of cinematic lycanthropy for this one movie, since this is pretty much done without rhyme or reason (so much for its would-be rigor towards Curt Siodmak’s 1941 script!): if you are to reference the legendary curse, why misquote it (“wolf(s)bane”) and have it come in at the very start and then never again?!; and where is the interaction – which was basically the heart of the old Universal series – between Lawrence Talbot and the gypsy woman Maleva (here played by a wizened Geraldine Chaplin)? That said, the forest sequences are indeed redolent of the Lon Chaney Jr. movies; however, the impossible love story (why does every horror legend have to be re-worked to this end?!), actually harks back to Hammer’s underrated THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961). As for the dream sequences, they would like to evoke the 1981 John Landis werewolf masterpiece mentioned above (another nod to it is the casting of tell-tale local David Schofield, now the constable who gets skewered through the mouth during the ill-advised gypsy caravan fracas) but actually come closer to the scare-for-scare’s-sake which typifies much of the recent “J-Horror” style! As I said earlier, there is much that is wrong with the plot: again, what was the point of making Del Toro’s protagonist an actor (unless it was to have Anthony Hopkins play around with the celebrated ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ line from “Hamlet” and, to be sure, the elder Talbot showed much greater flair for performance throughout – in spite of Hopkins’ atypical restraint – than our relentlessly glum hero!) if no association at all is made between this gift and the new-found duality of his nature?! What to make of the whole tragic back-story of the Talbots which, apart from the ludicrous (and apparently nonchalant) propensity for self-destruction, exhibits grave narrative lapses?! The asylum sequences, too, did not belong in this movie (they seem to have strayed in from one of Paul Naschy’s series of “Waldemar Daninsky” werewolf flicks and, who knows, maybe it was a deliberate nod in their direction!) – but, as with the afore-mentioned forest massacre, it is here that we get sole humorous respite from the overwhelmingly gloomy proceedings. The Danny Elfman score, while characteristic enough of his style, feels a bit too similar to Wojchiech Kilar’s powerful/melancholy soundtrack for BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992) – in which Hopkins had gone all-out with an incongruously batty Van Helsing! By the way, one more interesting point I picked up here is how the Welsh thespian’s role ends up being a variation not on the archetypal vampire hunter but rather his stab at yet another legendary figure in THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)! For a devotee` of classic horror, I did not mind the plentiful gore on display but I could have done without the climactic werewolf one-on-one (all-too-obviously citing the most conventional lycanthrope picture of recent times, WOLF [1994]) – though I would venture to say that the flaming monster was a first within such a prolific genre – and the frankly crap way a sequel is set up (again, how could they bring in the silver-topped cane from the original and not adopt it as the weapon with which to set Lawrence Talbot free?! As often happens with modern films, my overly-critical comments above somewhat belie the “Good” rating I bestowed upon it: truth be told, I considerably enjoyed the experience of watching THE WOLFMAN (which, I guess, is what really matters!) but it also does not seem to bear close scrutiny…
![The Wolfman [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/2/23/50x50px-ZC-23554e54_B001GCUO0C-51sTxzda+PL.jpg)
