A remake of the 1941 horror film and set in Victorian-era Great Britain, The Wolfman is the story of Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro – Che, The Usual Suspects) a Shakespearean actor and nobleman, who is lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins – The Silence of the Lambs, The World’s Fastest Indian), Talbot sets out to find his brother and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable blood-lust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving – The Matrix, Lord of the Rings) has come to investigate. Vic’s Review:
This film has little in common with the original 1941 motion picture. In the original story, Lawrence Talbot comes back to Wales to reconcile with his father and falls in love with Gwen Conliffe. That night, Larry attempts to rescue Gwen’s friend Jenny from what he believes to be a sudden attack by a wolf, who actually turns out to be a werewolf the son of a gypsy fortune teller. In this remake however,
Spoiler Inside: SPOILER ALERT!
Lawrence returns to his father’s estate in Blackmoor after learning of his brother’s untimely death and receiving a letter from his brother’s fiancee, Gwen (Emily Blunt – Sunshine Cleaning, The Devil Wears Prada). The villagers all assume that the gypsies that have recently come into the area are to blame for the murder of Talbot’s brother and in an attempt to get the murderer, they converge on the gypsy camp at night only to be attacked by a werewolf. In the confusion that follows, Lawrence gives chase and is attacked and bitten by the monster. During his recovery from his wounds, he has vivid nightmares and hallucinations of monsters and of his mother, of whom he sees in the arms of his father having just sliced her own throat with a razor. His recovery is fast and the wounds disappear leaving the villagers to believe that he is the monster responsible for all the recent attacks. His father saves him from his persecutors only to later reveal himself as a werewolf and the cause of all the incidents that have occurred. The full moon approaches and Lawrence becomes the werewolf for the first time and kills those hunting him. He is caught the next day by Inspector Aberline and taken to the asylum he spent time at as a child. The full moon rises again and Lawrence transforms in front of an audience of doctors and quickly escapes into the streets of London. He encounters Gwen in her antiques store and then escapes back to Blackmoor to confront the source of all the trouble, his father. They both have words and then transform into werewolves and then battle it out. Lawrence kills his father and then pursues Gwen, who has followed him to Blackmoor, into the woods. Inspector Aberline who also followed Talbot back gives chase and in the process is injured by the werewolf (leading way for him to become cursed as well perhaps?). Talbot soon traps and catches Gwen at the edge of a cliff and just as he is about to kill her succumbs to her pleas and we see the wolfman grasping at his humanity. Gwen takes this brief lapse in the Talbot’s conscience and shoots him with a silver bullet, ending his struggle with the monster.
Make-up artist Rick Baker is still a master of his art and it shows in this film. There was a lot of CGI, but the closeup of the actors looked amazing. Although the movie didn’t have me hanging on the edge of my seat with suspense, it did have a lot of sudden “jump out at the screen” moments and the film was definitely not short of any gore. They tried to incorporate a bit of mystery into the film, but I found that it was quite easy to deduce from the beginning who the main culprit was. And similar to 1992′s Bram Stroker’s Dracula (which also starred Anthony Hopkins… hmm… horror film coincedence?), the film had a bit of drama and romance which included the uneasy passion between Lawrence and Gwen. All these moments did tie the movie together, however the film had a tendency to linger and drag on. Overall, if you’re a fan of old school monsters, I’d watch this in the theater, otherwise wait for the DVD.
I’d give this movie a 7.5, I feel it deserves a little more than just a 7. I enjoyed the poetic use of the parallels they drew between Hamlet and the main characters. I also enjoyed seeing an honest to goodness tragedy in the theaters for once. Hollywood isn’t all bad, now, is it?
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I’d give this movie a 7.5, I feel it deserves a little more than just a 7. I enjoyed the poetic use of the parallels they drew between Hamlet and the main characters. I also enjoyed seeing an honest to goodness tragedy in the theaters for once. Hollywood isn’t all bad, now, is it?
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