The Wolfman Movie Review by Mike Giongo

     The Wolfman bites, and no, I do not mean the title character of the movie. I am referring to the dull and cheesy remake of the original 1941 horror classic, which begins with Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), a traveling actor who has been living in America since the childhood death of his mother. He returns to his native England at the request of his brother’s fiance, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, Ben. Talbot’s investigation leads him to a gypsy camp, where, under a full moon, the same creature that killed Ben attacks and bites Lawrence, leaving him near-death. Lawrence survives, but emerges a changed man, as he finds that he now transforms into “The Wolfman” whenever there is a full moon. The rest of the film focuses on Talbot’s struggle to withstand the curse, which is complicated by a police inspector investigating the mysterious happenings (Hugo Weaving), Lawrence’s budding romance with Gwen, and his distant, bizarre relationship with his father, Sir John (Anthony Hopkins).

     Disaster strikes, and so does a gamut of horror cliches. Love interest? Check. Police inspector who suspects something fishy? Check. Mysterious deaths of people related to the main character? Check. The Wolfman is nothing more than a slapdash assortment of hackneyed plot twists, all of which can be seen from miles away. You don’t need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows, and you surely don’t need a film critic to tell you how the plot of this movie evolves. Writers Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self clearly never learned the definition of subtlety, as it seems that they make extra efforts to telegraph every crucial concept. (Potential Spoiler Alert-skip to end of paragraph) Does it really surprise anyone that Gwen and Lawrence fall in love? Is it Sixth Sense shocking when Sir John is revealed to be cursed as a werewolf and the murderer of his wife and son? (Watch Hopkins’ performance and Lawrence’s flashbacks and you will know what I mean.) Does the audience even care about the plot by the midway point of the movie?

     It also does not help that The Wolfman shifts gears more often than a mountain bike. Perhaps the filmmakers realized how turgid the plot was and tried to spice it up by including excessive storylines, but they only succeed in transforming the movie into an incoherent jumble. Not only does the movie include the requisite “horror” scenes (if  excessive gore and CGI can be considered horror), it manages to combine police procedural, 19th-century mental health exposé, and sappy romance into one awkward mess. At one point, the movie blatanly shifts from a “Law and Order”-esque confrontation between the inspector and Lawrence to a scene of romantic bonding between Lawrence and Gwen, which seems straight out of a Nicholas Sparks novel. As for the overdone scenes in the mental instiution, they provide unintentional comedy. When Lawrence is institutionalized and tortured, the audience is supposed to feel pity for him, but the torture scenes are so outlandish and extreme that one can only laugh at the circumstances.

     Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Wolfman is its waste of a quality cast. In particular, Hopkins and Del Toro seem embarrassed by the proceedings. Del Toro’s drab performance has “paycheck” written all over it, as he fails to invest Lawrence with any fervor or life. Heck, he never even attempts a British accent! Hopkins at least attempts to invoke personality in Sir John, but seems overwhelmed by the absurdity of the plot and overacts relentlessly. In addition, Blunt is totally wasted in the thankless role of Gwen, as she provides love interest and nothing more. At least Weaving seems interested in the movie and creates a effectively haunting character in the form of Inspector Francis Abberline. Despite a one-dimensional role, Weaving manages to evoke a sense of true menace, which The Wolfman itself fails to capture,  and steals every scene in which he appears.

     One quality piece of acting and some solid CGI, unfortunately, do not make a entertaining movie, and The Wolfman is such. Wolfman was not expected to rewrite the history books, but it could have provided an entertaining popcorn flick. It is anything but, as mostly poor acting and a predictable plot without coherence or spark render Wolfman a waste of 102 minutes.