The Wolfman (2010) Review

Before this review gets started, I must start with this. This movie does not deserve all the negative attention it is getting. It is a pretty good horror/thriller that delivers on most points, and only failing in a couple.

That being said, The Wolfman is the latest classic Universal monster to have a remake of the original film. With The Mummy already done, and The Creature From the Black Lagoon in the works, Universal Pictures has sure been busy with trying to recreate some of the the magic given to us by the original movies.

The Wolfman stars Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, who is a famous Shakespearean actor living in New York after excommunicating himself with his family in Great Britain. After finding out about his brother's disappearance through a letter sent from Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), Lawrence returns to his home in Blackmoor to get to the bottom of what is really going on. Upon arriving, he is greeted by his long estranged father John Talbot. (Anthony Hopkins) He learns however, he is already too late, and his brother has already died a very grizzly death by something extremely ferocious. Now on the hunt for vengeance, Larry is determined to find the truth. He goes to find the Gypsy camp that he believes is somehow tied with his brother. The camp is suddenly attacked, and Larry bitten by a mysterious creature that almost kills him, he is now cursed on the full moons to hunt as a werewolf. A Scottish inspector named Aberdine (Hugo Weaving) shows up to finally get to the bottom of all the attacks.

Going into this movie, I really didn't know what to expect. There have been many complaints that these Universal Monster movies should be left alone. I am partial to them. They are so legendary, they don't need remakes. However as ideas run out, sequels and remakes are made. For the most part it is getting trashed, so I didn't really think it would be too good of a movie. Possibly all the director/writer/staff changes were true. What I discovered though, was a highly enjoyable, very dark and moody film that as a whole pleased me.

From the beginning, the most enjoyable thing for me in this movie was the atmosphere. I think they really nailed the dark and industrial look of Britain in the late 1800's. This movie just oozes a brooding art direction. The visuals of the Wolfman transformation were also very impressive and convincing. It looked as it should have, very painful. In particular, the scene at the sanitarium was extremely cool to watch, one of the coolest in the movie. From looks of it, they combined CG as well as makeup to make the transformations as realistic as possible. They also seem to pay homage to the original Wolfman movie by keeping a similar style as far as the look of the beast goes. The makeup also shows just enough of the actor's characteristics to make them recognizable. I give Rick Baker (famous makeup artist in Hollywood) a lot of credit for the job he did here.

Another thing of note in this movie was the gore factor. I'm not sure whether to mark this off as good or bad. The original Wolfman didn't have too many deaths from what I remember. I guess they wanted to change that this time around, being a different generation and all. The gore was very well done, if not overdone. I think it was a bit too much at some points, mostly during the action scenes where The Wolfman is on a rampage. I guess they just wanted to get the point across of how visceral and feral of a creature it was supposed to be.

As far as the actors themselves, most do a fairly good job. I doubt any of them will win any awards for the acting, but they do a convincing enough job for the roles they play. At certain points, you can really feel for Del Toro, as he is a very emotionally scarred man. Again, scenes in the sanitarium with him were very convincing. Anthony Hopkins played his usual eccentric type of role that he handles so very well now. You're really unsure what to think of him, other than you know he's hiding something big. Emily Blunt was fairly uncharismatic and didn't add too much to the movie, other than a love interest. At some points during the movie however, some of the actors seem to be bored during their scenes, as if they were just reciting them with no real feeling. Hugo Weaving as Inspector Aberline was probably the worst of all. As much as I like him as V in V for Vendetta, Elrond in Lord of the Rings, and Agent Smith in the Matrix series, he seems to play almost the same role in every movie. He really shows no emotion or sense of regard for anything. It seems some actors more than others gelled with each other.

There were another couple of gripes I had that I do not wish to spoil, but were completely unnecessary, one moment almost should not have been included in the movie, it was fine without it. The moment is near the end in the Talbot mansion if you're looking out for it.

Aside from those gripes though, it was a very solid movie going experience. With great special effects, and such good atmosphere I really cannot complain too much. I would definitely recommend seeing the movie for yourself before making a decision. People can be overly critical, and this is no exception. It is a fun time, just don't bring any young ones along. It might be too much for them to handle. Out of 5 stars, I would give it a 3.5.