The full moon turns Benicio Del Toro into the titular
monster in Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman,
but in reality both he and costar Anthony Hopkins do little more than sleepwalk
through this misbegotten reimagining of Lon Chaney’s 1941 Universal classic. An
esteemed American actor who returns home to his perpetually mist-enshrouded
familial English estate after the disappearance of his brother, Lawrence (Del
Toro) soon discovers that a mysterious beast is on the loose, much to the
townspeople’s chagrin. When said creature bites him, he too assumes the
lycanthropic curse, though his CGI transformation is as tepid as his rampaging
is perfunctory and Lawrence’s friction with cold-hearted dad John (Hopkins) is
one-note. Director Joe Johnston mismatches numerous shots, stages action with a
leaden hand, and then, in an apparent effort to compensate, begins and ends
countless scenes with ominous shots of a computer-generated full moon, a device
that merely amplifies this wannabe-scary saga’s corniness. Assuming a cartoony
gothic guise that seemingly wants to recall not only prior werewolf tales but
also Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula
(an impression furthered by Hopkins’ participation), this Wolfman – from its father-son conflict to Lawrence’s romance with
his brother’s widow (Emily Blunt) – flounders in its stabs at epic
action-horror grandeur, with only Hugo Weaving (as an investigating Scotland
Yard sheriff) capturing the proper balance of solemnity and silliness.
Um...first of all I thought it was pretty good. Even though it was really not that scary. I admit, I was a little disappointed. But, it's not entirely that bad. It's a predictable plot, it's expected. This is coming from the guy who hates all the movies that are around =/
Posted by: C.m | September 13, 2010 at 06:41 PM