Oh, what promise the idea of a newly updated Wolfman feature brought to me upon hearing the news of the production! As a fan of the classic 1941 feature, as well as other classic monster movies of the same time period, I could not wait for what modern special effects and a new edge could bring to the table. What I did not expect was a mixture of a horror, thriller, and action thrown together in the blandest of ways and sprinkled with some of the best actors going around today just to make them look bad in this setting. The film looks beautiful in its 1891 richly crafted setting and it is such a shame that this film couldn’t just be “all bad” or “all good”, but instead is just a forgettable story that had massive potential.

Lawrence Talbot is our hero who has been bitten by the mysterious “wolf-man” that has been killing many of the villagers, including his brother. Having survived this attack, the bite has caused him to become our tragic villain, the Wolfman. Benicio Del Toro plays Talbot with such a one-note style that I did not know whether to care what was happening to him. I mean sure, any audience member feels upset that this poor character is suffering the fate of becoming a raging uncontrollable killer anytime the moon is full. But geez, could we have at least had more time getting to know him? Anytime he’s on screen, the other characters have all the lines and anytime he shows any real presence, he’s a wolf! Lawrence literally seems devoid of human emotion towards the entire film except one scene that stood with me, where he wakes up after his first transformation as the beast and is told he has gone on a killing spree by his father, played by Anthony Hopkins.

Hopkins is another problem. He is a screen legend and is regarded with such praise that is well deserved due to the number of great performances he has given in his lifetime. But this sure isn’t one of them. As John Talbot, he delivers his lines with such a quiet bore that everything felt uninteresting. And just to add to the problem I felt with this character, my friend was able to predict a character trait within the first five minutes of his presence that I probably wouldn’t have guessed but now seems to be completely obvious. I, of course, do not want to spoil this for anyone, but Hopkins’ character is very secretive and quiet and if my friend was able to so boldly guess his intentions within the first few scenes, something was definitely not executed correctly.

The film does have much praise worthy elements to it. Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt are terrific in their roles and only leave you wanting more out of them. Director

Joe Johnston also deserves praise. Johnston chose to keep actual sets and use just the right amount of C.G.I. for the action sequences so nothing feels unrealistic. The lighting becomes a character in itself with the hard shadows and silhouettes around the characters that sets the mood perfectly. Heck, the entire time I was marveling at how beautiful everything was. The scenes with the Wolfman in the woods were excellent and towards the end, the trees are so noticeably tall and far apart, it adds such an element of terror. Johnston really gives his characters a playground to have fun in and his team could not have done a better job creating the makeup, sets, and effects necessary for pulling those elements of film off. If there is anything to be noted as amazing in this film and worth seeing, it is any time Del Toro turns into the Wolfman. The detail into showing his bones and skin shift into the weirdest and most disjointed places in order to complete the transformation is work well done.

The 2 disc Bluray features definitely added to the film itself. The Bluray comes with an Unrated version and the Theatrical version. I chose to check out the Unrated version, seeing how it is in all the advertisements for it. All you will get out of this is more gore and blood when the Wolfman chooses to dismantle his victims. If that is your style, I say check it out but I went back to a few scenes just to see how it was in the Theatrical release, and honestly it didn’t do anything for me. In some Horror films and some Thrillers it is much more fun to leave the violence to the imagination and in some instances, it would have been nice to have the Wolfman be an ambiguous foe instead of a hairy slasher-film juggernaut.

Another element of the Bluray disc you will receive is the excellent sound, but this can sometimes be utilized in the wrong way. You will probably notice while watching that the dialogue seems a little too low, so you will adjust it by making your television’s volume higher. Bad idea. Anytime the Wolfman enters, the film always goes for the shock value by blasting the audio to the highest it can without blowing out your speakers. And it doesn’t try it once, it’ll try it again and again, sometimes within two seconds of each other. Nothing like playing with the remote too much to ruin a good DVD experience!

The Special Features are what to watch. After the film ended, I gave them all a shot and it definitely made me see how much work and detail went into every element of the production. You will get a featurette entitled “Return of the Wolfman” showing how they connected this film to the 1941

original so closely, along with the main actor’s interviews. You can see how the make-up was done for the Wolfman costume as well as the computer effects necessary for the transformations in “Beast Maker” and “Transformation Secrets”. Also, a featurette on the stunts, deleted and extended scenes, and two alternate endings complete the list, which can all be accessed on the “U-Control” panel. This Bluray should not be taken lightly. It is a little over-complicated so keep that in mind while working your way around it.

Overall, there is plenty to be appreciated technically about the latest entry into the werewolf film-lore, but I couldn’t see this standing the test of time by any stretch of the imagination. But hey, Joe Johnston definitely got a good audition in for directing his latest film Captain America: The First Avenger with the action sequences he showed in this. I trust that film will come out with much more life and energy than this was able to offer.