McGeesJabberwock
Posts: 16
Joined: 26/9/2010
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Tales of the werewolf have always been an intriguing component of supernatural legend. What draws so many people to write stories and make movies about the beast is how it seems to represent the inner monster so many people struggle with, as well as their most primal desires. Filmmakers have had a blast with the creatures, showing their inner struggle, contrasting them with the more elegant vampires, and of course, letting them loose to create a good old bloodbath.
So that might be one reason there was a temptation to remake the classic 1941 film The Wolfman. Another reason may be because, the Universal monster films, while famous and influential, haven’t aged well. They were well-made for their time and have helped shape horror as it is today, but they are unlikely to be entertaining for this generation, even if they are still held in high regard by the nostalgic.
With The Wolfman, Joe Johnston tries to create a story that pays homage to the monster movies of yesteryear, explores the inner conflicts of the werewolf, and has plenty of the obligatory gore.
The Wolfman is the story of Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), an actor who is summoned back to his home by his father (Anthony Hopkins) after learning that his brother has been murdered by a vicious beast. Talbot then encounters this vicious beast himself, and contracts the curse of the werewolf, becoming an uncontrollable killer during the full moon. Things are complicated when he ends up trapped at a sadistic asylum, and he learns his father’s dark secret.
This story allows the movie to have the aforementioned obligatory gore, as there are many brutal scenes to be found. The film begins with a man being slain by the first werewolf, and Lawrence gets to commit bloody murders during his lycanthrope periods. His transformations are also made to look suitably painful and the asylum he finds himself trapped in comes off as truly torturous and squalid. However, some of the brutality is more distractingly hilarious then effective, in moments like a hunter getting his head swiped off, and a doctor falling out of the window to be impaled onto a fencepost.
Johnston really wants to create a classic horror story, to take the genre away from the thin stories about teenagers being stalked by corny killers. Unfortunately, he seems to have confused classic with cliché. Some of the clichés work – who can resist the bleak forest illuminated by the skull-like moon? – but most of them, like the identity of the werewolf who cursed Lawrence and a scene where the movie’s token woman (Emily Blunt) tries to soothe the savage beast, just make the whole thing seem tired.
Moreover, in an attempt to distance this from the usual mindless horror stuff, there are scenes that just come off as pretentious, most of them coming from Lawrence’s odd hallucinations, which include odd things like a Neanderthal Gollum and a speaking statue.
Benicio Del Toro, who apparently is playing his dream role here, does a fine job with the material that he is given, as does Anthony Hopkins, even if the latter is playing a lesser version of his famous Hannibal Lector role. Emily Blunt plays the typical love interest, and basically does what her character should do; no more, no less.
While The Wolfman had its heart in the right place, the final product is a strange hybrid of Ang Lee’s Hulk and the 1999 version of The Haunting. Like the former, it tries to tell a tale of a man’s inner monster with pompous tricks and a sinister father, and like the latter, it is a horror remake too big for its own good. It could have been a fun spooky romp, but, while not as terrible as most remakes, is unlikely to arouse interest.
< Message edited by McGeesJabberwock -- 26/9/2010 6:53:21 PM >
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