The Wolfman (2010)

The Wolfman...2010...103 minutes...rated R...starring Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving...written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self...directed by Joe Johnston

Lawrence Talbot, famous stage actor, returns to his ancestral home of Talbot Hall upon hearing the tragic news of his brother's demise. At the urging of his brother's widow, he hunts for the beast or madman that killed his sibling, only to be injured by the beast personally. The wounding passes on the curse of the Wolfman, and now Lawrence Talbot finds the beast within himself as well as out in the wilds of Blackmoor and the city streets of London.

I'll admit that I was excited when I'd heard that they had redone this movie...every once in a while I do think that the classics need to be retold, with hopefully a bit of new life breathed into the story. when I saw the cast and crew invoilved with this release, I was even more hopeful. Now that I've seen it, I understand why the film didn't have as long of a run as I would have wanted for it to.

Let's talk about the pros first. I will say that cinematically, this is a beautiful movie. As a period piece, it's got a wonderful look to it, and of course, the CGI effects on the transformation are all that could be asked for. There's a scene where Lawrence is hunting the creature in the misty moors and finds himself inside a ring of standing stones that I found simply gorgeous. Another plus is indeed the cast that got brought into the movie; though this cast marks where the film starts taking its fatal flaw.

For a movie with such people like Del Toro and Hopkins, I just expected to -care- more about Lawrence Talbot, and the movie itself. Instead I found myself bored and distracted at times. Part of it is in the dialogue; I think that Hopkins (as the elder Talbot) gets most of the best written lines in the script. Part of it is that some of thee writing which could have been interesting never gets followed through. Hugo weaving's character is a Scotland Yard inspector who worked on the Ripper case; so much more could have been done with that, but after saying it, that thread just gets left.

Most of it, though, rests on Del Toro. Unlike the Larry Talbot of before, the only emotion I got out of this "renowned thespian" (character and actor) is exhaustion. He's as wooden and dry as I've ever seen an actor, and while the character of Talbot is certainly one that is haunted, especially when it comes to his family, where is the passion that made this man such a known performer? Why should we care about this guy, in short? It's a question the movie fails to answer, and sadly not the only one either. The main action in the film comes from the very violent werewolf attacks, which are made all the more striking due to the lack of energy from Talbot as a man, but the savagery really doesn't make you feel any more concerned for the guy's fate either.

I would recommend this movie as either a discount movie or as a cable selection, but I can't endorse any serious money being spent on this one. It's nice to look at, but doesn't really leave you with anything, except maybe a senseof disappointment as it did me. I give it 2.5 icy asylum dips out of 5.