It is a sizable undertaking for Universal to attempt the
remake of their monster movie classic, The Wolfman.
In remaking a classic horror film of the early 40s the
challenge exists in somehow retaining the enjoyable
schlock, the black-and-white camp that made the original so
damn enjoyable. But doing so while still pandering to the
oft times stunted minds of today's CGI-addled audiences.
Add to this the jumbled departure of original director Mark
Romanek (One Hour Photo) and the passing of the torch
to Joe Johnston (Jumanji, Hidalgo) and what you have
is a film struggling too hard to string together its
disparate halves. In the process sacrificing the sheer joy
of its source material and rendering itself near toneless.
Review - The Wolfman
This story of Lawrence Talbot (Benecio del
Toro in an almost non-existent performance) is a fairly
straightforward if not rushed take on the original. When
Ben Talbot (Simon Merrils) is savagely murdered by a monster
in the woods, his brother Lawrence (a prodigal son turned
actor) returns to his long forgotten home. While
investigating his brother's death Talbot, and a whole slew
of gypsies, is, in a delightful bit of gore, savaged by some
sort of wolf-creature in the woods. Talbot survives, but
when the moon starts getting full, he begins to experience
some decidedly unique changes. Toss in the appearance of
wolf-hunter/Scotland Yard investigator Abberline (Hugo
Weaving steadily proving that he is a positive addition to
any and all genre picture) and a few torch-wielding mobs,
and you've got all the makings of a classic bit of horror.
Yet in crafting a film like The Wolfman, one with
such beloved and distinct origins, there's a difficult
balancing act between the past and the present. The
Wolfman certainly shows that strain. The film seeks to
be a gothic horror film in vein with the original, the type
that features brooding, scene-chewing fathers (Anthony
Hopkins), wide shots of cobwebbed manors named Blackmoor,
and a family curse/mystery that lurks near its center. When
it sticks to these classical guns, it works. A scene with
Talbot strapped to a chair, begging the doctors who surround
him to release him before the full moon rises, is downright
tense, each second ticking towards a full-on wolf-massacre.
But Johnston ratchets up the suspense in an way that makes
your stomach tense while giving you goosebumps, reflective
of the ideals of an older cinematic time.
Unfortunately, the movie tends to lean towards the modern.
The slow-burning chills are jarringly paired with flashily
cut montages and booming jump-scares, creating the
appearance of two vastly different films visually.Aside from this reliance on present day
aesthetic horror standards, the film feels too
modern. Bereft of story and character development,The Wolfman hurtles forward plot wise, jettisoning
the juicy ideas that lurk behind the concept of the beast
that lurks within us all. Seemingly in an effort to quickly
get to the "big" ending and wrap it all up with a truly
horrible fight scene and a cop-out of an ending that lends
itself towards an unwanted sequel.This is a film at war with itself: is it a
building bit of gothic horror or a jumpily cut allusion to
the shock films of the early 2000s? Is it the visual
complexities of Mark Romanek or the more classic
storytelling of Joe Johnston?
And sadly, maybe it's all these things. There's no way of
telling which director worked on what scenes, but there's
certainly two very different approaches to the film at hand,
and their attempt at collusion is less than seamless.What we're left with is a toneless bit of a
fluff that leaves this reviewer at least wondering what
could've happened if the unique visions of either of these
talented directors had come, untampered, in to existence.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
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