THE WOLFMAN
UNIVERSAL
RELEASED 12 February 2010
The last attempt at a ‘proper’ horror movie from the Universal stable was a complete let-down. A Frankenstein creation using some good bits, badly put together, resulting in a truly dreadful whole (yes 'Van Helsing', I'm talking to you). So with ‘The Wolfman’ I had my fingers crossed for some fun and some scares in a well-set, well-acted drama. So is it a magnificent beast, or just another shaggy dog?
Benicio Del Toro (who facially resembles Lon Chaney Jr - coincidence?) as Lawrence Talbot comes to investigate his brother's disappearance at the behest of Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), who we already know is his widow courtesy of a pre-title mauling in the woods. He is reunited with his father Talbot Snr (Anthony Hopkins), but relations are clearly strained and hints at things being badly wrong with Talbot Jnr’s childhood are exposed. Ignoring his father’s advice, Lawrence goes out on the night of a full moon to see if the local gypsies know anything, but he's not the only visitor that night. Fanged and furry mayhem ensues, and Benicio takes a nasty bite to the neck home. The film then charts a fairly familiar route, keeping quite faithful to werewolf legend, and we can quite easily see how this will, and must, end up.
Within this context, you've got quite a nifty Oedipal drama, and an unsettling performance from Hopkins as Lord Talbot (the most Welsh-sounding of the Northern-landed gentry). But sadly, it all goes a bit wrong. The main problem seems to be a lack of confidence in the narrative carrying the film. This is exemplified by the continued reference to the silver-headed cane - the type with which Claude Rains offed poor Lon Jr in the 1941 original - you have close-ups on it throughout the film, but in the end the cane has no bearing on events whatsoever. So, instead we have a not-particularly believable love story, with Benicio teaching Emily Blunt to skip stones (lifted from ‘Titanic’), some action sequences lifted entirely from ‘An American Werewolf in London’ (of yes, an American Werewolf, who happens to be in London) and a loss of nerve where a build-up to a full-on Wolfman vs helpless trapped crowd action sequence doesn’t pay out, presumably to keep hold of the 15 certificate.
It’s not all bad. You've also got a hugely entertaining Hugo Weaving playing Inspector Abberline, fresh from investigating the Ripper murders, there’s great use of the British countryside (no, really great), pretty good effects from Rick Baker (if you ignore the dodgy cgi in a climactic scene), and a host of fun character actors to play 'wasn't he in..?' with, not to mention some rollicking Wolfman attacks. I'm almost tempted to give it three out of five, despite the missed character development opportunities, a waste of the wonderful Emily Blunt, the leaden voiceover at the start and the finish, and the redundant sequel plug, but it's a full moon tonight and I'm feeling a bit beastly.
CHRIS GILES
TWO OUT OF FIVE