Wolfman Review

So I just got done watching the remake of the Wolfman. This 2010 remake stars Benecio Del Toro, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving. Below is the official trailer for the movie. (If the video is cut off, right click and say "show all")



Upon watching the trailer, I was fairly excited to see this take on a classic horror character. After a little under an hour into the movie, my excitement really started to dwindle, and I still had around an hour left to sit through in hopes that it will pick up. The make up on the wolfman just was not as great as I would have liked it to be and the story seemed recycled. I mean, the visuals of the werewolves in An American Werewolf in London were much better, and that movie is at least 25 years old. It didn't seem like there was anything original added to this movie.

Now, I am no animal trainer or expert or anything. Hell, I can barely get my own dog to stop barking at a cool breeze in the air, but I am pretty sure that predatory animals kill out of necessity, or for food, or whatever. For some reason, when Del Toro (or the original wolfman) turns into the wolfman (to me, meaning part wolf) there is an abundance of killing for no other reason than because a person is there. He doesn't even feed off of the people that are killed.

At the 29 minute mark, where there is the final confrontation between the protagonist and antagonist, the special effects looked sloppy, almost laughable. The actors or puppets or whatever the hell they were, were being tossed around almost like it was a comedy. There was even a fire that was lit that started to completely consume the 19th century, brick mansion in no time at all. I know some basic chemistry and physics to know that brick doesn't catch fire, but here we were, with a brick mansion completely engulfed in fire.

I guess I have to add some positives. The picture quality was fantastic. I especially like period pieces, where the costumes and buildings look authentic. The sound for this movie was fantastic and just lit up my speakers. It was aurally pleasing.

It is sad when there is a movie that I was really jonzing to see, and it turns out to be a let down, especially when it stars some big names, but I guess a bad movie happens to even the best (I am looking at you SIR Ben Kingley in Bloodrayne. I will never forget that. Never!)

I usually rate movies by whether I would purchase the movie to add to my collection or not, and I rate this as a "not to add" to my collection.

-d