Title: The Wolfman
Studio: Universal
Director: Joe Johnston
Actors: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving
In a world of remakes and rip-offs, it was only a matter of time before the focus turned to a classic story like The Wolfman. Since the original production in 1941, there have been many movies cashing in on the werewolf mythos (most recently and regrettably, the crap-fest known as New Moon). Though the various versions took their own spin on the origins and storyline, few have been able to top the simple and classic story of Lawrence Talbot and his wolf-perm.
Starring Benicio Del Toro as the unlucky lupine and Anthony Hopkins as his father, The Wolfman (2009) tells the story of the Talbot family, a wealthy family living in an isolated village. When Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) comes back to town after a long absence, he learns of his brother’s death at the hands of a mysterious beast. The hunt for this monster leads to an attack and his own eventual transformation.
The 2010 version has many similarities to the 1941 version, but merely in namesake. Characters have the same names, basic plot points remain intact and similar props and locations are used. However, the core of the story – the soul, if you will – is completely absent from this hollow, money grab.
What made the original so good is that it was less a horror than it was a tragedy. For all the simplicity of early filmmaking, the film demonstrates a complexity of tone and theme, and is about more than a monster terrorizing the civilians of some remote town. The story is about a good man being tortured with unfortunate circumstance, human nature and the metaphor of the beast within, and all kinds of other heady shit that the film brilliantly makes more than apparent.
Flash forward to 2010 and you’ll see a re-imagined gothic gorefest, more content to disembowel its extras for no reason than to actually have any sort of narrative or basic reason for anything.  Sure, the original had killing and death, but every instance merely served as a plot point, and even then, it was always played down to avoid sensationalizing the violence and distracting from telling a good story. Del Toro’s version on the other hand loves to have people torn limb from limb in what seems to be an attempt to cover up the fact that the retold story has very little else going for it.
The good things in the film come in the form of fairly passable CGI effects (for the transformation scenes) and Hugo Weaving rocking some absolutely amazing mutton chops. Unfortunately, there’s very little else to applaud in what will easily be forgotten as the subpar werewolf remake that debuted on Valentine’s Day weekend.
The Wolfman (2009) is an poorly paced, plot hole-filled snoozer, with moments of random maiming and gore. If gore is what you’re after, there are far better movies to choose from but if you and your sweetheart have your hearts set on some Valentine’s Day gore in the theatre, then this is the only game in town.
Could not have said it better!……. complete utter trash
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Thanks for the comment.