Well, since everyone is now seeing the frame-ad for The Wolfman, I figured I'd give my impressions from watching it last night and I'm here to say it's pretty good!
The general idea: Benicio Del Toro is Lawrence, a Shakespearean actor originally from Black-Moor England, returning from his long residence in America to Anthony Hopkins, the patriarch of a troubled family cursed by a long string of grisly deaths. After attending the funeral of his brother Ben, he goes into the woods to investigate the monster that killed him when he himself is attacked. After a remarkably quick recovery he is visited by Hugo Weaving as the suspicious inspector who has reason to believe he is the infamous monster. Pretty soon after this, on a full moon, his suspicions are confirmed and Lawrence turns into a howling beast and kills a bunch of people.
The Wolfman is an odd case in that it does a great job of being a bad monster movie. All the cliches are in place and it even suffers from a couple bouts of dated-looking CGI, but everything else about the movie is redeeming. Fans of Benicio Del Toro will love seeing him in this uniquely restrained performance: I hadn't realized before what a touch he had for body language and facial expressions, and the way his silhouette plays within the frame lends a great deal to the look of this movie. Anthony Hopkins is a slight disappointment at first, not bringing the usual fire to his role, but by the end of the movie you see what kind of evil lurks beneath and the dead-pan delivery is completely appropriate. I'd describe his performance in the first half of the film as efficient. Emily Blunt is compelling as the grieving widow of Ben, and Lawrence's only friend by the film's conclusion. And Hugo Weaving is stellar as the bitter, no-nonsense inspector.
What made this more than just an average reboot of a B-movie property for me was the cinematography: most of the film is cast in darkness with a silvery glow, invoking the quality of moonlight and even the silver bullets that will eventually be the film's end. I'd recommend seeing this in a theater with digital projection, but if you must skip it in theaters make sure when you watch it at home that you turn out all the lights. When the screen does will with light and color it's very deliberate and it will splash across the entire room and pierce your vision, adding to the horror of this classic tale.
Rating: I'd say this is a classic case of an "above-and-beyond" 3-star film. Highly recommended to horror and fantasy fans, and fans of the star cast. Cinema geeks will see a lot of familiar stuff and wonder why Anthony Hopkins is on a respirator for part of his performance.
TL;DR = Last night, went to the pub and drank scrumpy, then saw Wolfman at midnight. Was surprised as anyone when I really enjoyed it.
The general idea: Benicio Del Toro is Lawrence, a Shakespearean actor originally from Black-Moor England, returning from his long residence in America to Anthony Hopkins, the patriarch of a troubled family cursed by a long string of grisly deaths. After attending the funeral of his brother Ben, he goes into the woods to investigate the monster that killed him when he himself is attacked. After a remarkably quick recovery he is visited by Hugo Weaving as the suspicious inspector who has reason to believe he is the infamous monster. Pretty soon after this, on a full moon, his suspicions are confirmed and Lawrence turns into a howling beast and kills a bunch of people.
The Wolfman is an odd case in that it does a great job of being a bad monster movie. All the cliches are in place and it even suffers from a couple bouts of dated-looking CGI, but everything else about the movie is redeeming. Fans of Benicio Del Toro will love seeing him in this uniquely restrained performance: I hadn't realized before what a touch he had for body language and facial expressions, and the way his silhouette plays within the frame lends a great deal to the look of this movie. Anthony Hopkins is a slight disappointment at first, not bringing the usual fire to his role, but by the end of the movie you see what kind of evil lurks beneath and the dead-pan delivery is completely appropriate. I'd describe his performance in the first half of the film as efficient. Emily Blunt is compelling as the grieving widow of Ben, and Lawrence's only friend by the film's conclusion. And Hugo Weaving is stellar as the bitter, no-nonsense inspector.
What made this more than just an average reboot of a B-movie property for me was the cinematography: most of the film is cast in darkness with a silvery glow, invoking the quality of moonlight and even the silver bullets that will eventually be the film's end. I'd recommend seeing this in a theater with digital projection, but if you must skip it in theaters make sure when you watch it at home that you turn out all the lights. When the screen does will with light and color it's very deliberate and it will splash across the entire room and pierce your vision, adding to the horror of this classic tale.
Rating: I'd say this is a classic case of an "above-and-beyond" 3-star film. Highly recommended to horror and fantasy fans, and fans of the star cast. Cinema geeks will see a lot of familiar stuff and wonder why Anthony Hopkins is on a respirator for part of his performance.
TL;DR = Last night, went to the pub and drank scrumpy, then saw Wolfman at midnight. Was surprised as anyone when I really enjoyed it.
