Image from the Orlando Sentinel.
Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, an American returning to his ancestral home in Blackmoor, England, where he finds that the old mansion looks like it was bombed and is inhabited by just his father (Anthony Hopkins) and a few servants. His brother has been brutally murdered, leaving a widow (Emily Blunt) who implores Lawrence to look into matters more closely, as everyone in the village seems to think a beast or a bear or something did it.
The movie follows the legendary 1941 movie’s script fairly closely, and that may be the problem: there’s just not a lot new about this version. The atmosphere’s the same, the scenes are virtually the same, and so it lacks that sense of newness that original movies have. Now, of course, it’s a remake, so it shouldn’t be a reinvention of the story, but it might have been better served as a slight reimagining. Instead, what we get is largely familiar territory, so much so that Andrew Kevin Walker’s screenplay explicitly includes Jack the Ripper as part of the Wolf Man’s universe; Talbot and his family are investigated by none other than Inspector Abbeline, well played here by Hugo Weaving and played in the Ripper film From Hell by Johnny Depp. Abberline’s appearance, rather than that of a generic inspector type, is an attempt to add even more to the spooky turn-of-the-century-Britain atmosphere, and it just feels like a stretch instead of an enriching detail.
The entire cast is effective, particularly Blunt as the only one who can (predictably) save Lawrence Talbot from himself and his family’s curse. Blunt’s work here is better than you might expect for the role. She’s pretty and has a strong screen presence, which is more than you can say for your average ingenue. Del Toro, too, is much better than you’d expect him to be, as well; he’s always been a pretty good actor, certainly (Traffic, The Usual Suspects), but he’s more evocative here than usual. And Anthony Hopkins is Anthony Hopkins, although he does occasionally lapse into uncharacteristic hamminess.
Here are two caveats. For one thing, Del Toro doesn’t become the monster until well, well into the film. You don’t get to see any monster until the movie’s well underway, and what’s the point of that? It’s not terribly scary without there being a monster. Secondly, and this is weird, but the makeup for Wolfie himself looks a little artificial. That’s weird because it was concocted by none other than the well regarded Rick Baker. It’s 2010, and the effect of man changing into beast looked straight out of An American Werewolf in London.
Bottom line: The Wolfman is not a bad film; it’s just not particularly memorable, more of a footnote to otherwise well-remembered careers, except for the director’s.
The Wolfman: **1/2
