The Wolfman

Released February 2010
Directed by Joe Johnston
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving

First Viewing March 7, 2010
Jolly: 3/5 stars

The Wolfman is classic monster movie story telling with modern day special effects. The movie starts with a caution that even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright. We then see a solitary man in the ominous woods, silhouetted by the rays of the full moon. Danny Elfman’s score underlines the suspenseful tone with the deep strings pulsing like a heartbeat. The man is shouting for someone, or something, to show itself. Needless to say that this man soon becomes the bloody prey to the growling, claw-clad figure in the shadows. We learn that this unfortunate prey was Ben Talbot when his fiancé (Emily Blunt) summons his estranged actor brother Lawrence (Benicio Del Toro) to the town for support. We learn that the Talbot family, with Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) as the patriarch, has some sort of traumatic history which caused a young Lawrence to leave the home and be raised in America. Lawrence is compelled to find his brother’s killer, driven by both the request of Ben’s fiancé Gwen to investigate and by the guilt of being absent from his brother’s life. At the next full moon Lawrence is savagely injured by the creature but is saved by the gypsies.

The mysterious and savage killings bring Inspector Francis Abberline (portrayed by the seemingly ageless Hugo Weaving) to the town. If Abberline’s character seems familiar you must be a Johnny Depp fan. Indeed, Depp played the same character in From Hell when Abberline was assigned to the Ripper case (which is referenced in The Wolfman). Weaving portrays a more accomplished and by-the-book Abberline compared to Depp’s green-fairy-chasing, opium enriched, unkept, unconventional and tragic character (love you Johnny!).

Getting back to the story, Abberline comes to town and immediately suspects Lawrence to be the killer due to his past, and at the next full moon Lawrence does indeed become the Wolfman through an impressive transformation sequence. The trick of this story is that there is more than one Wolfman in this town, there is still the mystery of Ben Talbot’s murder to solve, the hero of the story develops Lycanthropy, and there is a possible romance with the brother’s ex-fiancé. The story and the characters draw you into the movie, and gets you through the sometimes creepy, oftentimes gory film. Which brings me to my next point: whoever was in charge of Wolfman violence decided to crank it up to EXTREME GORE (in my opinion). “More intestines here, take another chunk of flesh there, rip off another limb” is what he was probably saying – I thought the Wolfman was just supposed to scare people not macerate them!

Overall the story is great, the characters are great, the imagery is spectacular, and the transformation sequences were quite cool (isn’t that the reason people go to see The Wolfman in the first place?).
I give this movie three Boris Karloffs out of five Bela Lugosis.