If you’re one of the many who fell in love with monster classics like The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein and even The Creature from the Black Lagoon, then you’ll be less than happy to know that this revamp of the horror tale is somewhat of an underwhelming experience. There’s greatness here, but it never comes together to make for a particularly good film but simply a watchable one.
After the death of his brother, Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) decides to head back to London to unravel the mystery of his death. Upon his arrival he hears stories of a psychopath running a muck, but once he sees his brother’s body he knows the killer is more than just a psychopath. It’s ripped to shreds and was obviously the work of some type of beast.
But once he’s there he winds up dealing with more than just the murder of his brother. He’s stuck with confronting his past demons, his emotionally closed-off father John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins), and the feelings he starts to have for his brother’s widow Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt). One night while searching for the monster, Lawrence stumbles upon a pack of gypsies. It is here that the beast strikes, killing countless. Lawrence gets away alive, but is left with the cursed bite mark. Sure enough, when a full moon strikes Lawrence- just like anyone else bitten by a werewolf- turns into a ghastly wolf who’s an unstoppable killing machine.
The main problem lies in the choppy and unfocused narrative that never truly comes together. Nearly every plot point is rushed through, featuring half-baked relationships and leaving interesting ideas untouched. The set up is more or less cliff notes. It offers character motivations and their feelings, but you never genuinely feel them.
Gwen starts to have a thing for Lawrence and he does back, so what? Does this come off as natural? No. It more so comes off as Lawrence being a backstabber to his brother instead of it being a heartfelt and tragic relationship. Lawrence was highly sympathetic in the original film and here one barely gets to know him. He’s one note and he never comes close to being a “tragic” monster. (Spoiler Warning) What’s truly disappointing is how the dynamic between John and Lawrence is mostly wasted. John happens to be a werewolf too, but John embraces the darkness while Lawrence obviously doesn’t. They’re the polar opposite and this idea never reaches the height of its potential, the only thing that comes out of it is a cartoonish face off at the end. (Spoiler Over) The only reason this relationship isn’t completely wasted is because of how menacing Hopkins is. While his final moments are a bit cheesy, he’s still the most understandable and engaging character to be found here.
There’s also the whole love story going on with John and Gwen that is nearly cringe inducing. It’s a terribly generic love interest subplot that feels purely formulaic. Perhaps if the set-up was a bit stronger their relationship could have worked but instead it’s completely unbelievable and contrived. It’s either underwritten or terribly edited, and from what’s been said, it was the ladder. Del Toro and Blunt, despite their efforts, don’t share any chemistry.
Del Toro, unfortunately, is a fantastic actor stuck in a hollow role. You’re never able to feel the pain or confusion he’s going through since he’s completely underwritten. All of his emotional scenes fall utterly flat. He’s suppose to be a tortured soul, but his pain is never felt. Blunt is good enough not to be an annoying love interest, but isn’t written well enough to be a compelling one. They’re both talented actors- especially Del Toro- who are nothing short of wasted. As a quick side note, Hugo Weaving is unsurprisingly excellent as Detective Abberline. While his mannerisms and charisma deserves much more screen time, his involvement in the climax should put a smile on the face of every Weaving fan.
Director Joe Johnston makes plenty of great choices. He also makes a handful of bad ones. For one, his decision in making the Wolfman’s transformation CG is beyond puzzling. Make-up effects genius Rick Baker proved almost thirty years ago with An American Werewolf in London that he’s capable of making a believable transformation. Even the original has a more convincing transformation, here it’s laughably bad. Plenty of CG shots look unfinished, especially a shot including one of the goofiest looking bears in film history. It’s irritating that Baker wasn’t allowed to handle the transformation considering the fantastic job he did with the make up.
On the upside, Johnston presents a classical goth horror feel that isn’t seen too often. Similar to the much mangled but actually enjoyable Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this is at times a very beautiful-looking film. Johnston’s use of shadows and the darkly lit pallet adds plenty to the already surreal feeling. There’s a countless number of great scenes due to Johnston such as a lovably bizarre insane asylum sequence to whenever Wolfman is ripping innocent civilians to shreds.
The Wolfman isn’t by any means a bad film or a lackluster one for that matter, but it never comes together to make for a truly good one. There’s plenty of moments that hint at a much better film being made. It’s Baker’s make up, the gothic surreal style and Weaving and Hopkins’s performances (and even the gloriously bloody kills) that save this film from being completely mediocre. It’s the half-baked script, the poor editing and the off-putting CGI that holds this film back. Call it a missed opportunity, but at least it’s not an abominable piece of trash like Van Helsing.