The Wolfman Review

There were rumors of production problems with The Wolfman on the internet towards the end of last year. If there needed to be any evidence to substantiate these rumors, it can be seen in the films release date, with February and the other early months of the year being a general dumping ground for films that have gone wrong. When critics finally got a look at the finished product, it is probably unsurprising that they generally wrote it off as a failure of a film. Due to all these reasons, I was a definate skeptic going into The Wolfman. However, I was nicely surprised that I ended up having a pretty good time with the movie.

The story concerns a man named Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) returning to his hometown of London after he finds out that his brother has just died. Lawrnce begins investigating into what exactly happened to his brother and it isn't long before he comes into contact with a werewolf. Of course, much madness and mayhem follows.

The casting for this film was great. Del Toro looks like a wolf before you even apply any makeup and is totally believable in the title role. Hopkins plays the father of Lawrence, and although some critics have accused him of taking this role as a cash in, I disagree. Hopkins most famous role is Hannibal Lecter, a horror villain, and a film like The Wolfman is always going to be able to use his creepiness effectively. Hugo Weaving is also good as a Scotland Yard inspector that tries to stop the beast from doing more damage.

Being a period piece set in the 1890s, the film has a nice, appropriately dark, vintage look to it. In contrast to this, the man to werewolf effects are very much 21st century. This essentially means that they are very cgi in there appearance, but that't not necessarily a bad thing. I was certaintly entertained and impressed when the full moon came out and the hair and fingernails began to grow.

Was the transformation effect as good as An American Werewolf in London? I wouldn't say so. To be honest, The Wolfman is nowhere near as good as that film or The Howling, the two titles that I would say are the real werewolf classics (I haven't seen the original Wolf Man but I am curious to check it out).

However, this does not mean that The Wolfman is a terrible movie. Once the action started it delivered the goods. In a time when we have a series like Twilight turning vampires into pathetic little wussies, its good to still have a werewolf movie that features multiple decapitations in a murderous rampage. After all, these mythical creatures are meant to be dangerous, aren't they?