The Wolfman
Feb. 16th, 2011 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelda_queenHello I'm ZeldaQueen, and if there's snark, I'll take it.
I can't help it, I love werewolves. I don't know why, but they're just my favorite supernatural monsters. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.
So what with all of the imprinting on toddlers and whatnot, I've been rather depressed over what's become of my favorite movie monsters. In fact, what I really needed was some sort of awesome, silly movie that harkened back to the Werewolves of the Days of Yore.
Ah, that's the ticket.
Released in 2010, The Wolfman was of course a remake of the 1941 classic, which starred Lon Chaney Jr. as the titular werewolf. Touting an impressive cast and a rather different plot, the movie was released to mixed reviews. And yes, let us not forget the idiot who thought that it plagiarized New Moon.
So, how does this movie hold up? Let's take a look! Grab some silver bullets, and let's have a look at The Wolfman.
We start the movie with Some Nameless English Guy, who is, for reasons unknown, wandering through the woods alone at night. Clearly, no one told him what sort of a movie he is in. He hears a noise and calls out, demanding that whoever it is make themselves known. As luck would have it, it's a werewolf, who makes himself known by slashing the Nameless English Guy's stomach open. The Nameless English Guy quickly decides to haul ass and runs off, with the werewolf snarling after.
Cut to a young lady writing a letter. She is Gwen, played by Emily Blunt, and she was the fiance of one Ben Talbot until quite recently, when he went missing. She writes to Lawrence Talbot, and indirectly informs the audience via voiceover that Lawrence is an actor who is temporarily in England, before he plans to return home to America. She hopes that he will be able to come visit his father and see if there's news of Ben before leaving.
And thus we are introduced to our lead, Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio del Toro. He arrives back at the charming-named town of Blackmoor, where he hasn't lived since he was nine, sporting a lovely silver-handled cane. We're given very little about this cane (besides the fact that it's clearly a nod and a wink to the original Wolfman movie), but apparently there was a cut scene in which he is given it during the train ride, by a man who says it's from Gévaudan, France, and how that town is infamous for a string of werewolf murders in the eighteenth century.
Lawrence enters his ancestral Talbot Hall, to be greeted by ominous stuffed hunting trophies, dark rooms, a hell of a lot of dust, and a large, growly dog named Samson. He's also greeted by his father,Hannibal Lector Sir John, played by Anthony Hopkins. Sir John refers to Lawrence as "the prodigal son" returning and is generally distant and creepy. He also says that Lawrence is a bit too late, and that they just found Ben's mutilated corpse a few days ago. And so we find out that Ben and that Nameless English Guy were one and the same.
Lawrence goes to visit his brother's remains, which are being kept in the village slaughterhouse, and collects Ben's affects, which he hands over to Gwen. She's all teary-eyed over her fiance's death and wants to know what happened. There's a bit of comforting from Lawrence's side, and then he heads off to the tavern to get drunk in despair and figure out what's going on.
At the tavern, there's a loud debate going on as to what exactly killed Ben. Opinion is divided between the gypsies (Ben visited them and they have a tame bear which might have done the job) and a madman who made it look like an animal attack. One fellow recalls how a similar murder happened a decade ago, and how his father responded by casting some silver bullets and not leaving the house on the nights of a full moon.
Lawrence decides to check up on the gypsies, as do a number of townspeople. As luck would have it, they all go out on the night of a full moon. Okay, I have to ask, why is it that when there's viscous maulings going on, everyone goes outside to explore during the full moon? Why not during the day? Or during the rest of the thirty-day cycle? Is this the same phenomenon that makes idiot teenagers want to swim in a lake after a large, mutant crocodile takes up residence in it? Ah well, I guess we need a story. Anyway, as expected, the werewolf shows up and starts gnawing and ripping everyone to bits. The gypsies and townsfolk start trying to shoot it, but regular bullets do nothing. This doesn't stop Lawrence from grabbing a rifle, shooting at the wolf, saving a little gypsy girl with an amazing dive, and generally being badass.
Sometime in all of this, a gypsy boy decides to flee for safety...by running into the foggy countryside, where you can't see two feet in front of your face. Okay then. Lawrence notices this and goes running after. And what a good thing he does, because wouldn't you know it, the werewolf goes after both of them as well! It leaps off of a rock and gets a good bite out of Larence's neck, before the other gypsies catch up and manage to get rid of it.
Lawrence, who is really have a bad time, all things considered, is dragged back to the gypsy camp. There, he lies sweating and bleeding while the gypsy lady Maleva (Geraldine Chaplin) sews up the gaping wound he acquired. The gypsies are well aware that he's rather fucked and start discussing whether or not they should kill him, or at least just not bother to sew him up and just let him bleed to death. One gypsy woman argues that there's no crime in killing a beast, but Maleva says that it is a crime to kill a man, and "where does one begin and the other end?" So they patch him up and drop him off at Talbot Hall. For some reason, they don't see fit to tell him the teensy fact that he might be turning into a werewolf in a month or so. Instead, they just get the fuck out of town. Of course, given what happens later on, that's still one of the smarter things to do.
For his part, Lawrence spends most of the month bedridden, having a number of nightmares about a weird Gollum-like creature. He also has a flashback to a night when he was a child, when he took a walk outside and saw that his mother had slit her throat with a razor and his father was cradling the body. So yeah, if it isn't obvious, the Talbot family has all kinds of issues.
Lawrence finally recovers, and Gwen is right by his side, taking care of him. They start taking walks around the grounds on Talbot Hall, where he teachers her to skip stones and tells her how he was sent to an asylum at age nine for help recovering from his mother's death, before being shipped out to live in America. Things are far less cheerful for the townsfolk, who start trying to invade the grounds and drag Lawrence off before he turns into a werewolf, only to be held off by Sir John.
And speaking of law enforcement, we are also introduced to Detective Abberline, played by Hugo Weaving, otherwise known as Mr. Elrond Smith. Unfortunately, he doesn't use his bullet-time dodging skills to fight the werewolf. Instead, he interviews Lawrence, heavily implying that he thinks Lawrence is mad as a hatter. For his part, Lawrence is insulted and implies that Abebrline is still pissed off about not solving "the Ripper case". Fun fact - Abberline was based off of Inspector Fredrick George Abberline, who really did head the case for Jack the Ripper. I have to say though, I'm not entirely sure why Abberline is suggesting insanity here. It does tie in later, when Lawrence starts insisting that he's a werewolf, but there's nothing now to suggest that it's of any relevance. And unlike in the original movie, it's not even like Lawrence killed a wolf that later turned into a human. Near as I can see, Abberline's just being a dick.
Also, is it just me, or does Detective Abberline look uncannily like Jude Law as Dr. Watson?
Sensing that Something Bad Will Happen, Lawrence gets Gwen to pack up and leave Talbot Hall. And then bam, we're at the night of the full moon. *blinks* Well, at least they were kind enough to show us time montages, as opposed to Van Helsing, the "We get a full moon every third day" movie. Weirdly, Lawrence doesn't show any symptoms in the time leading up to transforming. I don't know, for some reason I just expect the werewolf to start to sweat or get aggressive or at least really uncomfortable before turning.
What does happen is Lawrence sees his father heading out to the family tomb in the middle of the night. He goes running after and finds a hidden room, complete with a chair set with restraints. There's also Sir John, who gives a really bizarre speech on how he regrets the death of Lawrence's mother, finishing with "But I'm dead all the same. Look into my eyes Lawrence, you see that I am quite dead". He locks himself in the room, leaving Lawrence to leave the tomb all confused-like. He takes about two steps before getting the perfect "WTF?!?" look on his face as his hands start to crack.
I can't help it, I love werewolves. I don't know why, but they're just my favorite supernatural monsters. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.
So what with all of the imprinting on toddlers and whatnot, I've been rather depressed over what's become of my favorite movie monsters. In fact, what I really needed was some sort of awesome, silly movie that harkened back to the Werewolves of the Days of Yore.
Ah, that's the ticket.
Released in 2010, The Wolfman was of course a remake of the 1941 classic, which starred Lon Chaney Jr. as the titular werewolf. Touting an impressive cast and a rather different plot, the movie was released to mixed reviews. And yes, let us not forget the idiot who thought that it plagiarized New Moon.
So, how does this movie hold up? Let's take a look! Grab some silver bullets, and let's have a look at The Wolfman.
We start the movie with Some Nameless English Guy, who is, for reasons unknown, wandering through the woods alone at night. Clearly, no one told him what sort of a movie he is in. He hears a noise and calls out, demanding that whoever it is make themselves known. As luck would have it, it's a werewolf, who makes himself known by slashing the Nameless English Guy's stomach open. The Nameless English Guy quickly decides to haul ass and runs off, with the werewolf snarling after.
Cut to a young lady writing a letter. She is Gwen, played by Emily Blunt, and she was the fiance of one Ben Talbot until quite recently, when he went missing. She writes to Lawrence Talbot, and indirectly informs the audience via voiceover that Lawrence is an actor who is temporarily in England, before he plans to return home to America. She hopes that he will be able to come visit his father and see if there's news of Ben before leaving.
And thus we are introduced to our lead, Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio del Toro. He arrives back at the charming-named town of Blackmoor, where he hasn't lived since he was nine, sporting a lovely silver-handled cane. We're given very little about this cane (besides the fact that it's clearly a nod and a wink to the original Wolfman movie), but apparently there was a cut scene in which he is given it during the train ride, by a man who says it's from Gévaudan, France, and how that town is infamous for a string of werewolf murders in the eighteenth century.
Lawrence enters his ancestral Talbot Hall, to be greeted by ominous stuffed hunting trophies, dark rooms, a hell of a lot of dust, and a large, growly dog named Samson. He's also greeted by his father,
Lawrence goes to visit his brother's remains, which are being kept in the village slaughterhouse, and collects Ben's affects, which he hands over to Gwen. She's all teary-eyed over her fiance's death and wants to know what happened. There's a bit of comforting from Lawrence's side, and then he heads off to the tavern to get drunk in despair and figure out what's going on.
At the tavern, there's a loud debate going on as to what exactly killed Ben. Opinion is divided between the gypsies (Ben visited them and they have a tame bear which might have done the job) and a madman who made it look like an animal attack. One fellow recalls how a similar murder happened a decade ago, and how his father responded by casting some silver bullets and not leaving the house on the nights of a full moon.
Lawrence decides to check up on the gypsies, as do a number of townspeople. As luck would have it, they all go out on the night of a full moon. Okay, I have to ask, why is it that when there's viscous maulings going on, everyone goes outside to explore during the full moon? Why not during the day? Or during the rest of the thirty-day cycle? Is this the same phenomenon that makes idiot teenagers want to swim in a lake after a large, mutant crocodile takes up residence in it? Ah well, I guess we need a story. Anyway, as expected, the werewolf shows up and starts gnawing and ripping everyone to bits. The gypsies and townsfolk start trying to shoot it, but regular bullets do nothing. This doesn't stop Lawrence from grabbing a rifle, shooting at the wolf, saving a little gypsy girl with an amazing dive, and generally being badass.
Sometime in all of this, a gypsy boy decides to flee for safety...by running into the foggy countryside, where you can't see two feet in front of your face. Okay then. Lawrence notices this and goes running after. And what a good thing he does, because wouldn't you know it, the werewolf goes after both of them as well! It leaps off of a rock and gets a good bite out of Larence's neck, before the other gypsies catch up and manage to get rid of it.
Lawrence, who is really have a bad time, all things considered, is dragged back to the gypsy camp. There, he lies sweating and bleeding while the gypsy lady Maleva (Geraldine Chaplin) sews up the gaping wound he acquired. The gypsies are well aware that he's rather fucked and start discussing whether or not they should kill him, or at least just not bother to sew him up and just let him bleed to death. One gypsy woman argues that there's no crime in killing a beast, but Maleva says that it is a crime to kill a man, and "where does one begin and the other end?" So they patch him up and drop him off at Talbot Hall. For some reason, they don't see fit to tell him the teensy fact that he might be turning into a werewolf in a month or so. Instead, they just get the fuck out of town. Of course, given what happens later on, that's still one of the smarter things to do.
For his part, Lawrence spends most of the month bedridden, having a number of nightmares about a weird Gollum-like creature. He also has a flashback to a night when he was a child, when he took a walk outside and saw that his mother had slit her throat with a razor and his father was cradling the body. So yeah, if it isn't obvious, the Talbot family has all kinds of issues.
Lawrence finally recovers, and Gwen is right by his side, taking care of him. They start taking walks around the grounds on Talbot Hall, where he teachers her to skip stones and tells her how he was sent to an asylum at age nine for help recovering from his mother's death, before being shipped out to live in America. Things are far less cheerful for the townsfolk, who start trying to invade the grounds and drag Lawrence off before he turns into a werewolf, only to be held off by Sir John.
And speaking of law enforcement, we are also introduced to Detective Abberline, played by Hugo Weaving, otherwise known as Mr. Elrond Smith. Unfortunately, he doesn't use his bullet-time dodging skills to fight the werewolf. Instead, he interviews Lawrence, heavily implying that he thinks Lawrence is mad as a hatter. For his part, Lawrence is insulted and implies that Abebrline is still pissed off about not solving "the Ripper case". Fun fact - Abberline was based off of Inspector Fredrick George Abberline, who really did head the case for Jack the Ripper. I have to say though, I'm not entirely sure why Abberline is suggesting insanity here. It does tie in later, when Lawrence starts insisting that he's a werewolf, but there's nothing now to suggest that it's of any relevance. And unlike in the original movie, it's not even like Lawrence killed a wolf that later turned into a human. Near as I can see, Abberline's just being a dick.
Also, is it just me, or does Detective Abberline look uncannily like Jude Law as Dr. Watson?
Sensing that Something Bad Will Happen, Lawrence gets Gwen to pack up and leave Talbot Hall. And then bam, we're at the night of the full moon. *blinks* Well, at least they were kind enough to show us time montages, as opposed to Van Helsing, the "We get a full moon every third day" movie. Weirdly, Lawrence doesn't show any symptoms in the time leading up to transforming. I don't know, for some reason I just expect the werewolf to start to sweat or get aggressive or at least really uncomfortable before turning.
What does happen is Lawrence sees his father heading out to the family tomb in the middle of the night. He goes running after and finds a hidden room, complete with a chair set with restraints. There's also Sir John, who gives a really bizarre speech on how he regrets the death of Lawrence's mother, finishing with "But I'm dead all the same. Look into my eyes Lawrence, you see that I am quite dead". He locks himself in the room, leaving Lawrence to leave the tomb all confused-like. He takes about two steps before getting the perfect "WTF?!?" look on his face as his hands start to crack.
ZeldaQueen: Also, I do believe that's the pentagram that shows up on his left hand for a brief moment. I'm not sure what's up with him sticking his nose into the candle though. Does werewolfism make one weirdly attracted to heat sources?
So we get our werewolf! And I have to say, the end result is impressive! At the very least, it's very respectful to the werewolf look of the original.
And so Benicio Del Wolfo sets out to eat some stuff. This is when we see one of the other awesome things about the werewolf design - the wolf walks around on two legs like a person, but it can also run on four legs if it builds up some speed. So it goes racing off into the forest and goes charging at a deer and...goes falling into a pit which was dug by some rather prolific townsfolk. They quickly lose any brownie points they might have scored though, when they promptly turn into the standard Too Dumb to Live Victims. Here's an idea - one of the guys actually leans down the side of the pit, just so he can get a better look at the werewolf. Instead of just, I don't know, shooting it! So of course the werewolf grabs hold and yoinks him down and that's the last we see of him. The werewolf then leaps out of the pit in a single bound and starts killing folks right and left. I feel I ought to mention that one guy died because another fellow missed the werewolf and shot him. I do have to give a different random guy (there are a lot of them, okay?) credit for creative use of a gun: when the werewolf got too close, he brained it with his rifle. Oh, and there's some poor sod who falls in a bog and tries to shoot himself to be spared Death By Werewolf, only to find that he's out of bullets. He loses his head figuratively and, when the werewolf catches up, literally.
Fast forward to the next morning, when Lawrence is human and really messy. His confusion isn't really helped when his father shows up and starts going on about all the terrible stuff that went down last night, all with this little grin on his face. Lawrence is promptly captured by the local police and carted off to London, where he's thrown in Lambeth Asylum. Hmm, given his upbringing in America, I guess this makes him an American Werewolf in London! *rim shot* He wakes up in a straitjacket, where he's greeted by the Obligatory Evil German Doctor, who clearly remembers him from his last stint there. We then get a lovely montage of him being dunked in freezing water, undergoing electroshock therapy, and having a number of disturbing hallucinations. Ah yes, insane asylums. If you aren't bonkers when you go in, you are when you get out.
At the end of the montage, Sir Hannibal Lecter shows up to pay his chained-up son a visit. He tells about how he went on a hunting trip in India and was bitten by a feral child, which has caused him to turn into a werewolf ever since. Also, he killed Lawrence's mother and shipped him off to the asylum until he forgot about it. Also, also, it's implied that Sir John has a thing for Gwen and was furious at the thought of Ben and her leaving him alone, so he wasn't locked up that full moon and killed Ben. And I must take a moment to say, Anthony Hopkins is fantastic here. He's perfectly despicably evil. He just has this little embarrassed smile, all while he's talking about how he killed most of his family and had the rest locked up and tortured.
So yeah, to recap, Lawrence has just found out that (A) his father killed his mother, (B) his father sent him to an asylum when he was nine years old, where he went through all the same tortures before shipping him off to America, (C) his father killed his older brother, and (D) his father infected him with lycanthropy.
Understandably, this really does not sit well with Lawrence, who starts shouting how he'll kill his father, while trying to get at him. Sir John basically responds by saying that he has no intention of locking himself up anymore, because it's so danged fun to run around on the nights of the full moon, eating people. Oh, and he leaves Lawrence a razor, "in the event you don't find life as glorious as I find it to be... or not to be". Damn, but he's a bastard.
Jump forward to the night of the full moon, where the Obligatory Evil German Doctor have chained Lawrence to a chair and have brought in a vast number of spectators to watch him most assuredly not turn into a werewolf, thus proving that he's delusional. This ought to end well. Lawrence does his best to tell everyone to run, are they freaking idiots, but everyone just laughs because dude, you're in an insane asylum, no one will believe you if you say you're a werewolf!
Much to the surprise of everyone in the room and no one in the audience, Lawrence does turn into a werewolf and promptly frees himself from the chair and tosses the Obligatory Evil German Doctor out the window, where he is impaled on the iron fence. Not since The Lovely Bones has the death of an asshole been so cheering.
Abberline makes his way to the scene and does his best to kill Lawrence. Unfortunately, it's rather hard to slow down a target when one's target can leap clean over a police blockade. The ultimate result is that Abberline realizes that Lawrence really is a huge threat to the public and orders back-up from the Scotland Yard, with orders to kill Lawrence on sight. Benicio Del Wolfo, meanwhile, settles down under a bridge after dining on a number of screaming bystanders.
Cue morning, and Gwen is just entering her antique shop in London (another nod to the original). Lawrence is there, and he tells her about the whole werewolf thing and how he has to go kill his father so that no more people get eaten. Gwen continues to insist that he stay with her (what, in an antique shop? He turns into a werewolf!), but he keeps going on about No! I must do what's right! and she keeps saying No! Stay with me! and they kiss passionately before the police start pounding on the door to interrogate Gwen. And by "interrogate", I mean they drag her out of the shop and hold her in the streets while they go searching through the shop.
Fortunately, Lawrence has escaped in some way or another and we see that he has set out for Blackmoor. Detective Abberline also sets out for Blackmoor at about the same time. Gwen tracks down Maleval for a cure for werewolfism, but is basically told "Yeah, no, out of luck, hope you can shoot your sweetheart". Of course. So she also sets out for Blackmoor. I feel I ought to tell you all that Lawrence is traveling by foot and away from the roads, Abberline is traveling by carriage, and Gwen is traveling on horseback. They all get to Blackmoor at about the same time.
Coincidentally, they also get there just in time for the full moon! Lawrence grabs his father's gun and goes to shoot him, but that doesn't work because Sir John sabotaged it. Thus, there is only one other way to partake in the climax - Epic Werewolf Battle. Both transform and Benicio Del Wolfo and Anthony Wolfkins start clawing and biting at each other, and it's all kinds of awesome. Oh, and there's a bit where they rip off their shirts, tackle each other, and start clawing at each other's backs in a way that fanfiction writers are sure to love.
Of course Benicio Del Wolfo wins, via tossing Anthony Wolfkins into the fireplace and decapitating him. Abberline appears at this point, toting a gun loaded with silver bullets. Gwen also arrives and messes up his aim, giving Benicio Del Wolfo a chance to catch up and bite a huge chunk out of Abberline. Instead of killing the guy though, the werewolf opts to chase Gwen out of the house and into the woods. She gets cornered on a cliff and starts trying to reach him and danged if it doesn't seem to be working...and then the angry mob shows up. Damn. While the werewolf is distracted by them, Gwen shoots and kills. Lawrence turns human and is happy because he's dying and his father's dead and the curse of the werewolf is over and no one else will be brutally murdered. Then, just after he dies, Abberline shows up with the gaping werewolf bite on him and everyone gives a collective, nonverbal "Oh shit, not again!"
And that's The Wolfman. Was it a great movie? Well, depends on what you expect from it. The acting is very good, and I was particularly impressed with the work of Del Toro, Hopkins, and Blunt. I have to say, it was very refreshing to see the love interest actually do something (or as much of something as she could), instead of just getting chased around. Props also to Del Toro, if only for keeping up a very impressive American accent. He really did play a great tragic part there.
Unfortunately, the leads are also pretty much the only ones who get much development. The backstory with Lawrence's mom and brother was interesting, but we hardly knew anything about them, so there's really very little emotional stock placed on them. The same goes for the villagers, who are all pretty much werewolf fodder (though one could argue that that's simply another staple of monster movies). Fans of the original movie will also be disappointed to hear that Maleval has very little screentime, with most of her role moved over to Gwen.
I have heard that there's about twenty minutes of cut footage, which was removed because the Higher Ups thought that viewers would want to get to the werewolf sooner. This footage is available on the DVD, and apparently gives a bit more backstory to the Talbot family. I don't know for certain, as I haven't seen it.
On a more positive note, the makeup effects were very good (bizarro Gollum-things aside). I personally loved the werewolf design and thought the transformation sequences were well done. I also thought that the changes to the plot worked very nicely. Folks will probably see the twist some time before it happens, but it still is great watching Anthony Hopkins be so beautifully despicable. The score was also nicely creepy, though it relied a bit too heavily on scare chords. Danny Elfman did a good job. It didn't hit the same level of epic as, oh say, Lord of the Rings, but it still served for what went on in the movie.
Ultimately, I suppose it depends on what you're looking for in this movie. If you want something revolutionary that brings something new to the table, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a fun movie that is a great horror-fest, you'll probably enjoy it. At the very least, it's a great addition for a Halloween movie marathon.
Note: The Wolfman is property of Universal. That is all
Back to Medival-Pirate Reviews
So we get our werewolf! And I have to say, the end result is impressive! At the very least, it's very respectful to the werewolf look of the original.
And so Benicio Del Wolfo sets out to eat some stuff. This is when we see one of the other awesome things about the werewolf design - the wolf walks around on two legs like a person, but it can also run on four legs if it builds up some speed. So it goes racing off into the forest and goes charging at a deer and...goes falling into a pit which was dug by some rather prolific townsfolk. They quickly lose any brownie points they might have scored though, when they promptly turn into the standard Too Dumb to Live Victims. Here's an idea - one of the guys actually leans down the side of the pit, just so he can get a better look at the werewolf. Instead of just, I don't know, shooting it! So of course the werewolf grabs hold and yoinks him down and that's the last we see of him. The werewolf then leaps out of the pit in a single bound and starts killing folks right and left. I feel I ought to mention that one guy died because another fellow missed the werewolf and shot him. I do have to give a different random guy (there are a lot of them, okay?) credit for creative use of a gun: when the werewolf got too close, he brained it with his rifle. Oh, and there's some poor sod who falls in a bog and tries to shoot himself to be spared Death By Werewolf, only to find that he's out of bullets. He loses his head figuratively and, when the werewolf catches up, literally.
Fast forward to the next morning, when Lawrence is human and really messy. His confusion isn't really helped when his father shows up and starts going on about all the terrible stuff that went down last night, all with this little grin on his face. Lawrence is promptly captured by the local police and carted off to London, where he's thrown in Lambeth Asylum. Hmm, given his upbringing in America, I guess this makes him an American Werewolf in London! *rim shot* He wakes up in a straitjacket, where he's greeted by the Obligatory Evil German Doctor, who clearly remembers him from his last stint there. We then get a lovely montage of him being dunked in freezing water, undergoing electroshock therapy, and having a number of disturbing hallucinations. Ah yes, insane asylums. If you aren't bonkers when you go in, you are when you get out.
At the end of the montage, Sir Hannibal Lecter shows up to pay his chained-up son a visit. He tells about how he went on a hunting trip in India and was bitten by a feral child, which has caused him to turn into a werewolf ever since. Also, he killed Lawrence's mother and shipped him off to the asylum until he forgot about it. Also, also, it's implied that Sir John has a thing for Gwen and was furious at the thought of Ben and her leaving him alone, so he wasn't locked up that full moon and killed Ben. And I must take a moment to say, Anthony Hopkins is fantastic here. He's perfectly despicably evil. He just has this little embarrassed smile, all while he's talking about how he killed most of his family and had the rest locked up and tortured.
So yeah, to recap, Lawrence has just found out that (A) his father killed his mother, (B) his father sent him to an asylum when he was nine years old, where he went through all the same tortures before shipping him off to America, (C) his father killed his older brother, and (D) his father infected him with lycanthropy.
Understandably, this really does not sit well with Lawrence, who starts shouting how he'll kill his father, while trying to get at him. Sir John basically responds by saying that he has no intention of locking himself up anymore, because it's so danged fun to run around on the nights of the full moon, eating people. Oh, and he leaves Lawrence a razor, "in the event you don't find life as glorious as I find it to be... or not to be". Damn, but he's a bastard.
Jump forward to the night of the full moon, where the Obligatory Evil German Doctor have chained Lawrence to a chair and have brought in a vast number of spectators to watch him most assuredly not turn into a werewolf, thus proving that he's delusional. This ought to end well. Lawrence does his best to tell everyone to run, are they freaking idiots, but everyone just laughs because dude, you're in an insane asylum, no one will believe you if you say you're a werewolf!
Much to the surprise of everyone in the room and no one in the audience, Lawrence does turn into a werewolf and promptly frees himself from the chair and tosses the Obligatory Evil German Doctor out the window, where he is impaled on the iron fence. Not since The Lovely Bones has the death of an asshole been so cheering.
Abberline makes his way to the scene and does his best to kill Lawrence. Unfortunately, it's rather hard to slow down a target when one's target can leap clean over a police blockade. The ultimate result is that Abberline realizes that Lawrence really is a huge threat to the public and orders back-up from the Scotland Yard, with orders to kill Lawrence on sight. Benicio Del Wolfo, meanwhile, settles down under a bridge after dining on a number of screaming bystanders.
Cue morning, and Gwen is just entering her antique shop in London (another nod to the original). Lawrence is there, and he tells her about the whole werewolf thing and how he has to go kill his father so that no more people get eaten. Gwen continues to insist that he stay with her (what, in an antique shop? He turns into a werewolf!), but he keeps going on about No! I must do what's right! and she keeps saying No! Stay with me! and they kiss passionately before the police start pounding on the door to interrogate Gwen. And by "interrogate", I mean they drag her out of the shop and hold her in the streets while they go searching through the shop.
Fortunately, Lawrence has escaped in some way or another and we see that he has set out for Blackmoor. Detective Abberline also sets out for Blackmoor at about the same time. Gwen tracks down Maleval for a cure for werewolfism, but is basically told "Yeah, no, out of luck, hope you can shoot your sweetheart". Of course. So she also sets out for Blackmoor. I feel I ought to tell you all that Lawrence is traveling by foot and away from the roads, Abberline is traveling by carriage, and Gwen is traveling on horseback. They all get to Blackmoor at about the same time.
Coincidentally, they also get there just in time for the full moon! Lawrence grabs his father's gun and goes to shoot him, but that doesn't work because Sir John sabotaged it. Thus, there is only one other way to partake in the climax - Epic Werewolf Battle. Both transform and Benicio Del Wolfo and Anthony Wolfkins start clawing and biting at each other, and it's all kinds of awesome. Oh, and there's a bit where they rip off their shirts, tackle each other, and start clawing at each other's backs in a way that fanfiction writers are sure to love.
Of course Benicio Del Wolfo wins, via tossing Anthony Wolfkins into the fireplace and decapitating him. Abberline appears at this point, toting a gun loaded with silver bullets. Gwen also arrives and messes up his aim, giving Benicio Del Wolfo a chance to catch up and bite a huge chunk out of Abberline. Instead of killing the guy though, the werewolf opts to chase Gwen out of the house and into the woods. She gets cornered on a cliff and starts trying to reach him and danged if it doesn't seem to be working...and then the angry mob shows up. Damn. While the werewolf is distracted by them, Gwen shoots and kills. Lawrence turns human and is happy because he's dying and his father's dead and the curse of the werewolf is over and no one else will be brutally murdered. Then, just after he dies, Abberline shows up with the gaping werewolf bite on him and everyone gives a collective, nonverbal "Oh shit, not again!"
And that's The Wolfman. Was it a great movie? Well, depends on what you expect from it. The acting is very good, and I was particularly impressed with the work of Del Toro, Hopkins, and Blunt. I have to say, it was very refreshing to see the love interest actually do something (or as much of something as she could), instead of just getting chased around. Props also to Del Toro, if only for keeping up a very impressive American accent. He really did play a great tragic part there.
Unfortunately, the leads are also pretty much the only ones who get much development. The backstory with Lawrence's mom and brother was interesting, but we hardly knew anything about them, so there's really very little emotional stock placed on them. The same goes for the villagers, who are all pretty much werewolf fodder (though one could argue that that's simply another staple of monster movies). Fans of the original movie will also be disappointed to hear that Maleval has very little screentime, with most of her role moved over to Gwen.
I have heard that there's about twenty minutes of cut footage, which was removed because the Higher Ups thought that viewers would want to get to the werewolf sooner. This footage is available on the DVD, and apparently gives a bit more backstory to the Talbot family. I don't know for certain, as I haven't seen it.
On a more positive note, the makeup effects were very good (bizarro Gollum-things aside). I personally loved the werewolf design and thought the transformation sequences were well done. I also thought that the changes to the plot worked very nicely. Folks will probably see the twist some time before it happens, but it still is great watching Anthony Hopkins be so beautifully despicable. The score was also nicely creepy, though it relied a bit too heavily on scare chords. Danny Elfman did a good job. It didn't hit the same level of epic as, oh say, Lord of the Rings, but it still served for what went on in the movie.
Ultimately, I suppose it depends on what you're looking for in this movie. If you want something revolutionary that brings something new to the table, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a fun movie that is a great horror-fest, you'll probably enjoy it. At the very least, it's a great addition for a Halloween movie marathon.
Note: The Wolfman is property of Universal. That is all
Back to Medival-Pirate Reviews