The Wolfman: This is a remake of the 1941 original of the same name, this time around with Benicio Del Toro in the lead, with Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt in support. Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) is a stage actor that returns to his family’s estate in Blackmoor. Seems that something is roaming the woods of Blackmoor at night, eviscerating the locals, including Lawrence‘s brother Ben. As Lawrence looks into the circumstances surrounding his brother’s death, he soon finds out that it’s a werewolf stalking the countryside and he becomes one of its victims. The film attempts to be visually very faithful to the original, complete with make-up based on what Lon Chaney Jr. wore, but there are several deviations in the plot that provides for a much different climax. Special effects by Rick Baker here, who also did “An American Werewolf in London” lo, these many moons ago, are simplified (for Baker), as well as CGI-ed, which tends to give the transformation a visually fake quality. Del Toro is a very distant Talbot, barely sympathetic (not to mention the “Hamlet” performance shown at the beginning of the film is ATROCIOUS). Weaving has the best lines. It’s gory to no real great effect and overlong (just shy of 2 hours). The film gets better as it goes along, but it’s no great shakes. Woodchuck sez, “Pretty plain.”
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