The Wolfman

reviewed by Marc Glassmna

The Wolfman
Joe Johnston, director. Andrew Kevin Walker & David Self, script based on the story by Curt Siodmak. Makeup: Rick Baker. Music: Danny Elfman.
Starring: Benicio del Toro (Lawrence Talbot/The Wolfman), Anthony Hopkins (Sir John Talbot), Emily Blunt (Gwen Conliffe), Hugo Weaving (Francis Aberline), Geraldine Chaplin (Maleva)

The Wolfman is back but the howling that’s being heard seems to be coming from critics, not terrified cinemagoers. Rumours of a production gone wildly off the rails have been rampant for months as the film’s release was delayed from the fall of 2008 to the summer of 2009 to last fall to now. Way cool music video director Mark Romaneck left the project to be replaced by Spielberg underling Joe Johnston, whose biggest successes have been Jumanji and Jurassic Park 3. Yep, three.

To Johnston’s credit, The Wolfman’s prestigious cast and crew didn’t bolt when he arrived. Benicio del Toro and fellow Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins are allowed to chew up scenes and people throughout the film. The lovely Emily Blunt looks good once again in Victorian attire, especially when she lets her dark hair flow, but she’ll hardly recall this film as fondly as Young Victoria. Hugo Weaving graces another genre film with the focused presence one remembers from The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings and V for Vendetta. Make up wizard Rick Baker, the stylist of creatures from Star Wars to American Werewolf in London to X-Men, has made del Toro even hairier and scarier than he is normally. And Danny Elfman provides a characteristically dramatic and evocative score.

There’s quality in this film, clearly. But what’s lacking is direction and purpose. The producers appear to have panicked during the making and editing of the film. There’s no build-up to the film’s big scenes and precious little character development despite the excellent cast. From the beginning, viewers are immersed in over blown scenes, shadowy sets and huge, violent set pieces. The audience isn’t allowed time and space to let its imagination go with the flow of the characters or settings. Perhaps the problem lies with the film’s main man, the Big Bad Wolf.

The Wolfman never had the literary cachet of Frankenstein or Dracula but it’s certainly true that back in the Golden age of Hollywood, the creature was one of the icons of horror and fantasy. Like those other famous monsters of filmdom, the werewolf could wreak havoc on villages and threaten its beautiful maidens, but he lacked the mysterious essence that truly set the imagination stirring.

Dracula, after all, was really a metaphor for repressed sexuality and, as such, represents urges in society that were deeply disturbing. And Frankenstein, the “modern Prometheus,” according to its author and creator Mary Shelley, expressed fear about science going rampant without moral restraints. It’s a concern we still feel today in a nuclear age.

But what about the Wolfman? Scary, yes—but has he ever had a deeper meaning? Whether he has or not, this film won’t raise interest in anyone serious about our society’s fantasies. This Wolfman won’t truly disturb anyone’s sleep—except the accountants at Universal Pictures.