Hannibal Lector + Ewok = A Cuddly Wuddly Werewolf ~ Movie Review of ‘The Wolfman’

Heavens to Betsy, this was one of the silliest films I saw this year.  I saw it in the theaters in February 2010 so I’m sure it has to be playing on one of the cable stations by now or at least On Demand and/or Netflix.  It is the sort of film that works better as an unintentional comedy than it does a horror film.  Perhaps it was done as a tribute to the old Hammer films that were made in Great Britain in the 60s through 70s  but with so many big names starring in the ‘The Wolfman’ I think the studio was hoping for a huge hit.  At least the ending indicates they left room for a sequel. 

 

                First let’s start with the most blaring inconsistency – Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro as father and son.  They get around the issues by having Del Toro’s mother be of Mexican-Spanish extraction and after her death Del Toro is shoved off to the states to develop an American accent and to then grow up and become an actor.  Listen, I like Del Toro as an actor, but he tends to mumble his words, which makes the idea of him playing some classically trained thespian all the more humorous.  Further, his character is a bit of wimp and because of that his father is fast to point a disapproving finger.  Del Toro’s character has been estranged from his father for reasons the audience assumes is because the old man is generally unpleasant, but Del Toro comes back into the family fold after the finance of his only brother writes him of the untimely death of his sibling.  From the ashes of tragedy a new romance is born between Del Toro and Emily Blunt (who needs to work in projects that are going to enhance her film career, not derail it).  Speaking of which let’s take a moment and talk about the actors shall we?             

 

                It has been a few years (ten actually) since Del Toro won an Academy Award for his role in ‘Traffic’.  He has a reputation for playing in interesting projects, but not necessarily being the leading man.  I can understand his desire to be in a role where he plays the title character, but why oh why did he pick this project?  Surely he could tell by reading the script that it was going to be an entrée with three sides of hot mess?  Maybe the script wasn’t so bad to begin with, but because of the non-believability of making Del Toro and Hopkins father and son the script was tweaked past the point where it could be saved.  Yet, let’s not kid ourselves, the real freak of nature in this movie is Anthony Hopkins.  I don’t doubt he loves these supernatural/villain roles because he has played enough of them.  Even before he became a household name with Hannibal Lector, he starred in some creepy themed movies like ‘Magic’.   Perhaps at this stage of the entertainment game he doesn’t care and can phone in his performances, but what he can’t dial up is his costuming and makeup.  I think I have seen scarier wolf like creatures in a Muppet movie.  If you don’t laugh out loud over the scenes where he is transformed into a werewolf than you aren’t really human and I suspect you might not be able to see your reflection in a mirror.  That’s right, I’m calling you a vampire!  Of course, I wrote all of this forgetting that one of the biggest ‘reveals’ in the movie is that the lord of the manner has a fondness for red meat and kibble, but honestly if you haven’t determined as much within the first five minutes of watching ‘The Wolfman’ than not only are you a vampire, you are a lame vampire who probably sparkles but still can’t get a date. 

 

                It was fun seeing Geraldine Chaplin doing the old gypsy bit, she is an actress that I would like to see more of in movies.  Hopkins palatial estate looked like it needed some spiffing up, which although it made it creepy it also made audiences wonder why Emily Blunt’s character agreed to live there.  There was a scene with a feral child whom I thought was probably the most frightening character in the whole film.   Listen; if they made a movie about that child I might have been having nightmares instead of laughing myself into a headache.  As I mentioned earlier, the movie left room for a sequel but I don’t think one will be coming down the pike any time soon.  See ‘The Wolfman’ if you want to see a silly movie that on one level is fun, but don’t see it if you don’t want to laugh at things that are supposed to go bump in the night.

 

Westerfield © 2010