The Wolfman
Directed by: Joe JacksonStarring: Benicio De Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving Synopsis: England, 1906: Famed actor Lawrence Talbot (Del Torro) hears of his estranged brother’s disappearance and heads to his family estate in Blackwood to try and help find him. It is the first time he has been home since as a child, when he discovered his mother’s body. Arriving home, he learns from his father, Sir John (Hopkins) that Ben’s body has been discovered, mutilated by some sort of animal. Lawrence vows to stay until he discovers what had killed him... Review:The Wolfman, Universal’s latest revival of one of their classical monsters provides some solid old-style screams and modern thrills. The production design for this film is first-rate. The sprawling Talbot estate is depicted as neglected and decaying. The gardens are overgrown, the hallways musty and cobwebbed, while the village of Blackmoor looks like it escaped from the picture on a biscuit tin and 1900s London has a “murder by gaslight” feel to it. The main cast are all excellent. This has been a dream role for Benicio Del Toro for some time and his performance as Lawrence Talbot is very good, bringing the right amount of melancholy to the role. His deep resentment for his father has kept him away but it has also kept him apart from his brother, and you feel his sense of loss when he goes to visit the remains. Emily Blunt is stuck in the damsel-in-distress role but thankfully there is no attempt to modernise her and suddenly turn her into an action heroine. She is able to display her courage and resourcefulness in more realistic ways. She also manages to convey a strong undercurrent of sensuality., even beneath the stiff costumes she has to wear. For example, after the funeral, Edward comes across her lounging languidly by a waterfall – a very improper pose for a “lady”, and she straightens up accordingly when she notices Edward’s presence. 
At first glance, it would appear that Anthony Hopkins is “phoning in” his role as Lawrence’s father, but his aloof and detached attitude makes more and more sense as the film progresses. There’s a particular monologue he tells to Lawrence late on, about one of his experiences in India, where he is positively giddy from the release he feels about finally having someone to tell the tale to. Hugo Weaving plays Inspector Abberline – the same detective played by Johnny Depp in From Hell. Weaving has a lot of fun in the role. There is a great scene where Abberline goes to the village pub for a drink and is berated by the landlady for not being out on the moors trying to catch the killer of her husband. His reply is pragmatic, logical and just a little darkly hilarious. One of the many things I enjoyed about this latest incarnation of The Wolfman is the decision to use a mix of “real” and cgi fx, both in the transformation scenes and the transformed creature. Rick Baker’s creature design harks back to the classic Lon Chaney Jr look of the original movies, while the cgi transformation very much resembles the tortuous body horror in American Werewolf in London. On top of this we are treated to countless scenes of carnage and brutal murders, with limbs, heads, spleens (!) and intestines being torn out and tossed aside. The action set-pieces (all but one) deliver the required shivers and spills. A ferocious attack on a gypsy camp and Lawrence’s transformation while in an asylum are particular highlights. 
There are a handful of niggles. There are a couple of lulls between the action which the film seems to apologise for by interspersing them with sped-up shots of the full moon to show the passing of time, as if to say “don’t worry – more carnage soon!” However I feel these moments sell the drama short. There are some excellent speeches in these sections, especially by one of the villagers recalling what happened 25 years previously. In addition, one confrontation between two of the protagonists denigrates into a cgi-enhanced WWE Smackdown match. Thankfully it is quite short, and even more thankfully, the film doesn’t rest on it for its conclusion, which carries much more dramatic weight.Verdict: Joe Jackson has delivered a horrific thrill ride which delivers on scares and thrills in equal manner, and just enough characterisation to get by on 106 minutes, making a worthy update of the original. 7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest) 
|
