Kirkkitsch’s Blog

Like, Fur Sure

I saw The Wolfman a few weeks ago. Being an avid fan of the Universal Monsters, I have to admit I’d been looking forward to the movie. Even though I don’t seek out reviews of movies, I had heard through the grapevine and even from a couple of friends that the movie was not that great. Various reasons were sited, but this didn’t deter me from going. If I wanna see something, bad reviews are not going to keep me from it. ‘Good’ is relative.

First the pros: Though I don’t necessarily find Benicio Del Toro classically attractive, I DO think he looked pretty darn sexy in the movie. Not unlike my mini rant about Tom Hanks‘ hair circa Da Vinci Code, I didn’t like Del Toro’s hair in this movie either (and that was BEFORE he turned into a werewolf!). It bothered me so much I couldn’t take my eyes off his bangs. They just seemed so strategically-placed in each and every shot, it just seemed unreal. I’m honestly not a ‘hairstyle’ person, but some things just bug me.

I loved the overall look of the film. It was dark and moody and just felt right. It had the right atmosphere. I also thought the set designs and locations were great. Everything from the interior of Chez Talbot to the asylum; excellent.

I LIKED the werewolf makeup and was content with the transformation sequences. A friend of mine made the comment that the makeup was lacking and that the whole transformation scene had been done before and that the look of the film was derivative of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with either. I thought the makeup and the transformation were a good mix of old school F/X and CGI. It wasn’t over the top, but it got the job done while being consistent with the type of werewolf movie it’s trying to be: classic. I wasn’t really looking for any new ground to be broken, F/X-wise, I just didn’t want it to be so achingly CGI that it took you out of the moment. It didn’t. As for the Bram Stoker’s Dracula comparison, I can kinda see where that observation comes from: Anthony Hopkins is in both, the house environment is similar in it’s grandeur and the music DOES sound heavily influenced by the score of Stoker’s Dracula, though both are done by different composers. Overall, I think the movie created its own environments without rehashing anything done in previous films.

I enjoyed the asylum and the ‘werewolf amok in London’ scenes a lot. It was classic and set itself apart from it’s counterparts, while harkening back to the classics of horror.

SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read past this point if you haven’t seen the movie

Now for the con: My one singular problem with the movie, which I KINDA saw coming, but hoped wouldn’t happen, was the climax of the movie, where Del Toro’s werewolf battles Anthony Hopkins’ (his father in the film) werewolf. Lame with a capital ‘L.’ I’ll explain why I didn’t like it: First off, I was fine with the fact that Del Toro’s father (Hopkins) was a werewolf. I saw that one coming a mile down the road. I was fine with that knowledge, but didn’t want to see him “transform.” It felt like it was the bargaining chip that got Hopkins to take the role in the first place. I can see him thinking “Oh, it’ll be COOL for me to turn into a werewolf, therefore making me cool by association. Even though I’m 72, I can still be considered “cool” by a younger demographic.” Um, no. Just the opposite. Lame. I’m not going to see The Wolfman because I’m rooting for the geriatric werewolf. I want to see the actual cool guy turn into the werewolf. The whole concept of his father turning into a werewolf was just ill-conceived. I would have been fine with a showdown between two contemporaries, but the whole son vs his “old man” concept fell flat. Hopkins could have revealed his lycanthropy along with his sordid history and Del Toro could have slayed him BEFORE he turned, THEN there could have been some kind of ‘battle’ climax, if that’s what they were looking for, AFTER he’d settled the score with his father. I didn’t dig the ‘my old man’s a monster TOO’- vibe. Lame, and definitely was a deciding factor in me having no interest in purchasing the DVD. Yes, I felt that strongly about it.

Entertaining movie. Visually beautiful. Great characters. Weak climax. Might buy it if it were under $5, but wouldn’t actively seek it out.

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