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Thursday, February 18, 2010
Stars shine in full moon horror
By David Looby
REVIEW: The Wolfman
IN The Wolfman, director Joe Johnston has bitten off more than he can chew in taking on one of the classics of the horror genre.
Thankfully, the film is far from a howler, thanks to the performances he gets from his stars.
The Wolfman plot is inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror. It brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. In a rundown mansion set in the middle of a moor he is reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins), before setting out to find his brother’s killer.
Action adventure director Johnston (who brought us the Chronicles of Indiana Jones) sets the tone nicely at the start, stealing a few ideas from Bram Stoker’s Dracula director Francis Ford Coppola, while the first glimpse we get of a Wolfman makes for grisly viewing.
As scriptwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self flesh out the back-story of the Talbots, suspicions are aroused as to who the wolf-man is. When Lawrence is bitten and emerges the following morning covered in blood, we start to get a real idea of how dysfunctional the Talbots really are, Hopkins informing his son (with inimitable menace): “You’ve done terrible things.”
Johnston pulls off the whole Sherlock Holmes in the country setting, with the petrified locals, the mysterious gypsies and a bloodthirsty beast on the prowl, well. Although lacking in visual flourishes, he manages to provide plenty of thrills. His characters loom on the screen larger-than-life, while all too often he lets Danny Elfman’s score set the mood.
In trying to recreate a classic horror, he has remained true to its conventions. The Wolfman, (for all his ferocity in making spaghetti out of his victim’s entrails), is somewhat B movie comical when seen in the hairy flesh in the middle of London.
The plot, though unoriginal, does make for suspenseful viewing, while the lead actors, make the most of their parts, Emily Blunt being a surprise package as the widow of the murdered Ben Talbot. Hugo Weaving of the Matrix fame is also excellent as the Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline who has come to investigate the death of Ben Talbot.
As with almost all horror remakes, the director delves into psychology a bit too much and the film falls down a bit in this respect. Another flaw is the way the film is paced.
Johnston nearly gets it right, but The Wolfman moves too fast at times and too slow at others, with the character development hinging on old stereotypes for the most part.
The door is left open for a sequel but I, for one, hope it’s a bloody lot better.
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