THE WOLFMAN REVIEW

After suffering a bit of delay (originally, it was due out in November) due to special effects taking longer than anticipated, the Wolfman finally arrives on cinema screens from this week.
Starring Benicio Del Toro and Antony Hopkins, the Wolfman is a modern day version of the old Wolfman who made up part of the Universal Monsters way back in the day when werewolves looked more like dodgy wookies than anything else. So not necessarily a reboot, but more of a reimagining. 
 
Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, who returns to the family estate after his brother vanishes. As things go, Talbot wanders around the woods late at night trying to fathom out what happened his brother, and its not long before the original brother killer takes a bite off Talbot and every other villager in sight. It’s from this point that Talbot’s transformation begins. His bite wound heals miraculously, much to the amazement of the local doctor and when the full moon comes out, he grows big claws and teeth and looks like he could do with a full packet of Mach Power 3. After running around the woods, yanking off heads and arms as he goes, Talbot is eventually brought back to an Asylum, where he spent some time as a younger man. It’s here that more limb carnage continues when a full moon turns up and a fantastic chase scene transpires across the rooftops of Victorian London. Can Talbot be cured by love? Can he rid himself of this terrible curse? Or will he decide to go and get a shave? There’s a blatantly obvious twist in this film and I won’t delve into spoiler territory, but the movie more or less climaxes MIGHT BE AN IDEA TO SKIP AHEAD with a bit of dog fight and is left wide open for a sequel!

Now, for the performances. Hugo Weaving plays the suspicious cop from Scotland yard and does a decent enough job of, being a suspicious cop from Scotland Yard, but you can’t help feel this is Agent Smith with a bloody beard. Anthony Hopkins on the other hand, puts in by the numbers, not breaking a sweat type of performance here. Not a great deal wrong with it, but it doesn’t exactly lift him to a higher plane, as he meanders around a big house and has a few choice, eccentric lines. And as for Benicio Del Toro, well who else would be more suitable to play the Wolfman. Del Toro has got the look of a Wolf anyway. Big, masculine and hairy like. His performance, as Talbot is fine, but at times, it can seem a little flat. But when he transforms into the Wolfman, using a combination of prosthetics and digital effects he is very good, as the Wolfman. And finally they other big name here is Emily Blunt who actually puts in a very respectable performance and is quite convincing as the love interest.
The story is what it is, buts its the special effects here that will have you convinced you really are looking at a snapshot in time. Victorian London looks absolutely amazing, and its surrounding little villages look equally superb. Granted the whole place seems to surrounded in fog on a constant basis, but this adds to the eerie look and feel of the Wolfman. The effects and makeup for the Wolfman are also of superb. There’s a great sense of respect from Joe Johnston of what's gone before him, as the Wolfman has the same feel as the original Wolfman and for the headshots, its quite apparent that Johnston has put in a tribute to days gone by. And that’s where the tribute ends, as the Wolfman bounds across buildings in fantastic chase scenes, rips bodies from limb to limb and generally is a very frightening character. There’s no shortage of gore here, as legs, arms and heads all go flying in big bloody messes. Intestines and body parts litter the landscape and it certainly will bring the popcorn back up if you have queasy stomach. Couple all of that with the transformation scenes of man to Wolfman and its quite easy to see that an incredible amount of time, effort and attention to detail has gone into this movie. And on a number of occasions, there’s plenty to make you jump out of your seat, as a number of scenes are filled with plenty of tension, all complimented by a half decent soundtrack.

The special effects here, far outshine the individual performances of its actors and when the movie finished, I was left wondering what have I just watched. As great as the set pieces are and so on, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of actual quality content here. The movie is quite sporadic and moves along quite quickly, but I feel there wasn’t enough time for character’s to evolve into their roles. Its just like they’re on screen and that's it. Its certainly entertaining and full of fantastic special effects, and at times it delivers the terror, but the Wolfman, much like his victims, just left me feeling a little bit empty.