The Wolfman is a 2010 horror film that is a remake of the 1940s film of the same name. I personally watched the unrated version rather than the theatrical version so that is the one I will review. The film tells a good story, presents complex characters, and makes use of cheap scares and effective special effects. Nevertheless, the movie holds its own the whole time and proves to be a good one to watch if you like werewolf movies.
Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) returns to Blackmoor, England, his homeland, after receiving a letter and a visit from his brother Ben's (Simon Merrells) fiance about his recent disappearance. When he gets back home, he finds out that his brother has been savagely killed by something. Lawrence decides to stay at home with his father Sir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins) and Ben's fiance Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) to see if he can find out what killed his brother. While back at the house, horrible memories from his childhood haunt him. When he was a child, he woke up to strange noises outside and when he went to look, he found his father holding his mother in his arms, having killed herself. It is because of this that Lawrence had left home in the first place. While investigating his brother's death, finds out that the Talbot family has a special deal with the gypsies and he thus believes that they may have had something to do with Ben's death. As a result, he visits the gypsies but the wolfman attacks once again and bites Lawrence. Now, he must live with the curse of becoming the beast when the moon is full. Meanwhile, him and Gwen are falling for each other and when she finds out what he is, she must decide whether to kill him and set him free or let him live with the curse. Also, Inspector Aberline (Hugo Weaving) suspects Lawrence is a lunatic going on a rampage and thus tries to hunt him down for the entire film (especially after he finds out Lawrence is a werewolf).
So overall, the story is well-written. Although it starts out very slow, it really begins to pick up during the movie's second half. There is a lot of time where there isn't much happening until Lawrence becomes cursed and I found myself dozing for a bit of a time. There is a lot of dialogue between the characters but it's actually quite relevant to the story actually. By listening to the characters talk, we learn about Lawrence's childhood, we learn how the townspeople dislike the Talbots and believe they are cursed, and we learn about the gypsies in the area and how they contribute to the story line. So although the dialogue seems to drag on a bit, it helps us learn more about the characters and the town of Blackmoor so I found it useful. Now, the werewolf's identity is revealed halfway through the movie after Lawrence is bitten and I know that sounds like a rip-off but it's actually good because through his explanation of why he does what he does, you come to learn how evil this character is and the audience looks forward to the confrontation that is bound to take place between these two (as werewolves by the way) at the end of the movie. So it creates excitement and suspense! It also works because the audience feels bad for Lawrence. He doesn't deserve to be cursed, he hasn't done anything to anyone. Thus, the person who did this to him becomes even more unlikable and we root for Lawrence to overcome him. Also, despite Lawrence's curse, Gwen still loves him and protects him from the authorities who want to kill him. The audience will root for them to get together and live happily ever after at the end. Their romance adds to the already rich and entertaining plot.
The cast did an excellent job. All of the characters were very believable and they used facial expressions and tone of voice to convey the emotions associated with the situations they were win. Emily Blunt and Del Toro did a nice job selling their romance throughout the film as well- the audience can clearly tell the characters feel deeply for each other. Anthony Hopkins put in an outstanding performance; his character was effectively intimidating (hint, hint). Although there isn't much character development, they do show some admirable qualities. Gwen doesn't reject Lawrence even after he is cursed which is always touching, sort of a Beauty and the Beast type of thing. I love that in any type of film. It shows that Lawrence is not evil and enhances the sympathy the audience feels for him. Lawrence himself is a good character as well- he never wants to hurt anyone but all they do is torture him so who could blame him for wanting to tear them limb from limb? Inspector Aberline plays hero as he tries to save the town. We don't really get to know any of the other characters well but these are the only ones who are important.
The special effects are pretty well-done, but the scares are cheap and cliche. Nevertheless, I didn't think this was a bad thing. The werewolf design used in this movie has been used in countless other werewolf movies but its a werewolf, so how many possible designs could there really be? The original werewolf that eventually bites Lawrence is really swift, strong and ferocious. Lawrence himself is not as good, he is actually quite slow for a werewolf but the kill scenes are still very grisly so it does work. The scenes where Lawrence changes from man to wolf are actually fantastic and dramatic! They are graphic and show a lot of detail. In addition, the movie is a gore-fest when the werewolves attack which is always fun to watch. Make sure you watch the unrated version so you get this to its fullest extent. The scares are cheap, but they work!! There's those cliche jump scenes where Lawrence is lying in bed and the wolf pops up out of nowhere and rushes towards him (he was imagining it, it wasn't real) and as unoriginal as this is, I jumped every time. So kudos to Director Joe Johnston for that!
After I watched the movie, I checked out some quite humorous deleted scenes that actually could have been a nice addition into the movie to add some dark humor to the action. Maybe one of these scenes would have been effective perhaps if added, but they would have cut into the action. You watch them and decide whether they should have been added.
BaD BiRdS: GREAT MOVIE!
~MJ Aufiero
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