The year has begun with a strong start in the field of monster horror films, with dystopic Vampire flick Daybreakers. Now we move onto another classic movie monster who re-emerges onto the screens, being the Werewolf. While it may have less film exposure than Vampires, rest assured, it has had a long and colourful history. From the original, classic and iconic 1943 Lon Chaney Jr. film, The Wolfman, which was followed on by a series of cheesy monster-mash films and eventually falling into numerous forgettable films, until 1981, where the monster came back with a vengence, with three modern horror classics, John Landis’ comedy horror An American Werewolf In London, Joe Dante’s The Howling (which spawned numerous ridiculous sequels) and Michael Wadleigh’s Wolfen starring Albert Finney, soon falling again into silliness with the Michael J. Fox comedy Teen Wolf and another monster mash in The Monster Squad. Aside from the 1994 Mike Nichols directed/Jack Nicholson starring Wolf, the Werewolf remained in obscurity, only to return in great style with Neil Marshall 2002 horror Dog Soldiers. The story of the werewolf soon became lost in a way, with the idea of the werewolf appearing in Big Fish, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, the quite crappy Underworld series, the horrid Cursed from Wes Craven and again falling back into another monster mash, the insulting and excrutiatingly bad Van Helsing, making a mockery of the legends of all these Universal studio monsters. Skipping over the “werewolves” in the dross that is the Twilight Saga, in 2010, finally the story of the Werewolf finally returns to the screen in director Joe Johnson’s remake of 1943 classic, The Wolfman.
I have to admit, i was not that excited to see this film, despite a pleasing trailer. The reason i had read and seen nothing but trouble for this film, being in production since 2007, with constant rewrites, reshoots and replacements, the most recent being composer Danny Elfman replaced by another no-name composer, only to be put back. In a way, all this turmoil had clouded any form of excitement i could feel for this film, which boasts a fantastic cast and a competent director in Joe Johnson.
However, upon seeing the film, especially with such low-expectations, i was in turn given a wildly entertaining, dark, graphic and well told story that suitably honours the best traditions of the legends and literature on the Werewolf. The film follows and extends extensively on the original 1943 film, following protagonist Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio Del Toro, an actor who recieves a letter from his brother’s fiance, Gwen Conliffe, played by Emily Blunt, stating his brother has gone missing, causing him to his childhood home, reuniting him with his father, Sir John Talbot, the ever-awesome Sir Anthony Hopkins, and discovering in his search that his brother has been brutally and gruesomely murdered, by what some Blackmoor residents believe to be something inhuman with brute strength and great blood lust. This causes Talbot to dig further, finding himself victim of the culpret in a bloody massacre, a Werewolf, a curse to which, by the next full moon, would enslave Talbot. Thus, with the authorities on his back, his eccentric father, a mysterious detective Aberline, Hugo Weaving, as well as a growing love affair with Conliffe, Talbot attempts to deal with his curse and also attempts to find a cure. It is rich storytelling, that harks back to the classic monster yarns of the 20th Century. It adds greater depth, and with the contempory age, great believability in the period, as well as some thrilling and gory sequences.
Director Joe Johnson (apprentice to both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, noted for helping the visual effects on Raiders of The Lost Ark and Star Wars, as well as the final designs for Boba Fett and Yoda, BADASS!) shows growth as a filmmaker here, seeming an odd choice for this violent fare, whose other films included 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, 1991’s Rocketeer, 1995s Jumanji and 1999’s October Sky. Possibly after all these child friendly movies Johnson wanted to edge towards more confronting material. 2001’s Jurassic Park III and 2004s Hidalgo provided a slight more edge, but nothing compared to force displayed in The Wolfman, which he handles as well, mixing it with his expertise with adding adventure. Hopefully continues with this trend in future films.
Another seemingly odd move is the casting of Benicio Del Toro in the main part of Lawrence Talbot, due to the trends of his previous films, mostly dark hardhitting dramas such as 2000s Traffic, 2003s 21 Grams and the recent Che Guevara epic 2008s Che. But if one were to look further through the looking glass, you will discover that Del Toro is perfectly cast. First and foremost, people with knowledge of the original would discover Del Toro’s scary likeness to the original Wolfman, Lon Chaney Jr., thus his casting plays as a reminder and respect for his role. The second being, Del Toro is a fantastic actor with great range, who also provided one of the more entertaining parts in the psychotic Jacky Boy in the brilliant Sin City in 2005, as well as Dr Gonzo in Terry Gilliams warped masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Franky “Four Fingers” in Guy Richies awesome Snatch. He is a man of many faces, thus fitting the role of Talbot, a sublime role that grows into something grand and violent, and he does this with great conviction.
The other parts work well too, with Emily Blunt looking absolutely radiant and vulnerable in the delicate Gwen. Sir Anthony Hopkins is always great value as he is considered one of the greatest actors in the history of film, and he works as expected as John Talbot, he is imposing, he is eccentric, filling it full of great Hopkinsness, and is thus a joy to watch, he seems like he is having fun and feels right at home, especially it being his second foray into the classic monster genre (the first being 1992s Bram Stokers Dracula, where he portrayed an eccentric Van Helsing).
It is also pleasing to see Hugo Weaving in another major Hollywood role, seemingly falling back from the spotlight created from The Matrix and The Lord Of The Rings trilogies to more local Australian fare (with an exception from a fantastic, albiet masked, turn in V For Vendetta in 2005) which is not a negative thing in the slightest. It is nice to see the heavyweights, and also the world see his acting talents in yet another role for the world to enjoy. He gives his Det. Frederick Aberline (who is a ficitonalized version of the real “Abberline”, famed for investigating the Jack The Ripper murders, who has also been portrayed by Johnny Depp and Michael Caine) a fantastic smugness which he instilled in his famed Agent Smith, but makes a more British rift, a more human rift, one who seems to be rational, but has an underlying believe in the irrational, like the existence of the werewolf.
The film is shot in glorious dark gothic style, creating the perfect world for the wolfman to thrive and kill. Danny Elfman score fits, but lacks the signature magic that he would instill in his earlier scores, making it rather forgetful on the whole. A great positive element to the piece is the inclusion of multi-oscar winning makeup effects specialist Rick Baker, famous for numerous creature effects in film, foremostly his Oscar winning work on An American Werewolf in London, that was so good, it caused the Academy to actually create an award for him to win in 1981. Here he adds his magic to this werewolf, mixing both live action and CGI into to detailed, bonecrunching, traumatic creature transformations. Another one of my concerns with the film would be the possibility that CGI would overflow the creature effects, yet it is used to minimal and smart effect, opting more for the classic makeup and costume, thus making the werewolf seem more believable, and thus more terrifying.
In all, it is fantastic to see the Wolfman redeemed yet again on the big screen. It makes for an entertaining time at the movies that will give what you should expect and want in such a monster movie, excitement, horror, violence, mystery and heart. When you leave the cinema, you too, will be howling at the moon!
4/5
