Yes, I was there to see The Wolfman on opening night, and it was certainly a scary movie, continue on to find out why…

I went into this film not really expecting too much, (which turned out to be a good thing) but surprisingly it was a little more gory and a little less story than I had hoped for.  The film boasts quite a decent cast; Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving all point towards some serious acting potential, but it’s not entirely necessary.  The way remakes have become epic visually appealing fan-fests, should indicate that this movie would have a lot in common with the original, which I was only able to ever see some of in my past. This being the case, I cannot expertly compare the two.

Seeing the trailers for this movie, with such dramatic actors in the cast, led me to believe that the characters would be deep masterpieces of modern story-telling.  This was not the case at all.  The characters in this movie, as well as the overall storyline, are more shallow than that of ‘Dude Wheres My Car?’ or ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’.  It has a very dark atmosphere and story.  It turns out that this movie, although not as campy as the original tries to be a pure thriller/horror movie at heart and thus doesn’t feel a need for expert emotional portrayal, back story, or character development.  Don’t expect too much in that department…

Another thing that was crazy, Del Toro, although known to me as one of the homeliest men alive, was actually one of the better looking folks in the film.  This really makes me not want to jump into a time machine to England anytime soon.  There were certainly some very nicely done makeup and special effects in the film though.  One of my favorite parts of the film was when Inspector Abberline walks into an area where the Wolfman has gone nuts and absolutely destroyed a large group of men.  He wades through piles of organs and limbs that look like steaming cow patties in the cold night air.

One thing of note, the sets, costumes, and atmosphere were all very well put together.  I really felt like the movie brought me into the feeling of the time period.  Whether it was the spooky, foggy forests, the bland old England attire, or the hanging pigs in the slaughterhouse/morgue, it really delivered in that department.

All in all it was a very entertaining film.  There were only a few parts I felt that I could look around and move around in my seat, indicating that it kept my attention very well considering how little I cared about what was going on.  I would probably write more about it if it left more of an impression on me.  If I have to use stars, it would get a 2.5 to 3 out of 5 at the most.  My suggestion is that if you haven’t, you would spend your money better by going to see Avatar before it leaves theaters.  Heck, even if you have seen it, just go see Avatar again and wait for The Wolfman to make it’s way to FX or the Syfy channel…

This entry was posted by Andy on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.