THE WOLFMAN Review

An interesting update on the 1941 classic starring Lon Chaney Jr. THE WOLFMAN will satisfy every monster movie fans out there. Excellent production design, great art, set and costume as well. Masterful make up work by Rick Baker and his crew, not to mention the VFX transformation that’s so convincing,… it will send chills down your spine. Performances by all the lead actors are up to par. The only thing that doesn’t stand out is Joe Johnston’s direction but if you’re looking for an R-rated horror flick that goes straight for blood, graphic violent no mercy blood, then THE WOLFMAN won’t let you down.

Lawrence Talbot’s childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate.
As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself… one he never imagined existed.

First half the movie feels like you’re running a relay, some scenes are a bit short and choppy. Mainly because screenwriter Walker and Self want to explain to the audience why Del Toro and Hopkins could be related without wasting time, and why Del Toro is the only one out of the bunch not speaking in an English accent. All of that is done fairly quickly and to some it might be beneficial because you’ll get to the cool stuff right away while others may see it as impatient. It’s good in a way because then we’re not left wondering like back when we were asking why Kevin Costner was Robin Hood with an American accent.

The story is quite formulaic, you got the family with secrets and a mystery larger than their mansion, you got the female lead, the Scotland yard determined to bring down the beast and there’s a few jaw-dropping moments when Del Toro’s character Lawrence transforms into the beast that makes this movie worth watching. The beast wreaks havoc, the beast gets captured, the beast escapes and the beast has his final showdown. but one thing that this remake explores further is the relationship between Jon Talbot and Lawrence. It’s the story of the sins of the father. How one is consumed with such power and that he embraces the curse with blind pride while the son is motivated by rage, vengeance and regret.
To me this is a good approach. Walker and Self do fill the characters’ conversations with decent dialogue and poetic one-liners but I feel like they could’ve pushed the psychological element even further to add to the suspense instead of just your usual shock value.

I admit, I’m glad this is an R-rated presentation but I also don’t deny that some of the violent sequences can come off a bit comical. But Joe Johnston wants you to know that this.. thing.. is without a sense of right and wrong, it’ll bring destruction to everyone in its path, men women and children. The weakest link has got to be Emily Blunt, not so much because of her acting but because her character Gwen isn’t given enough depth and the movie’s attempt to force some kind of romantic feeling into the mix falls flat.
But once again, if you like this particular genre, THE WOLFMAN will satisfy you because the technical aspects don’t disappoint. I can watch Del Toro turning into a lycan over and over again, that’s how cool it gets.

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