The Wolfman

The remake of The Wolfman has been in production for what seems like the last 5 years. It’s lucky enough that the final product is at all watchable. What was lost in the convoluted production was held together by the skills of Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving.

It was clear from the outset that The Wolfman was going to be an old-fashioned monster movie. Very little CGI; instead the werewolves will be done using make-up and guys in suits. This made it feel different from recent movies where everything has been shunted off to the computer folk. It also left it up to the cast to make the werewolves work on camera and thankfully they succeeded. The plot wasn’t anything special; it was all in service of getting del Toro, Hopkins, and Weaving into position. There were no shocking twists. The werewolf was introduced and you followed del Toro as he dealt with his condition and tracked down the source. Along the way, there were lots of strewn body parts and disembowelings. Lots and lots of diembowelings.

Everything good about The Wolfman was dependent on how serious everyone was taking their roles. Benicio del Toro was willing to go wherever needed. He went from clean-cut stage performer to bloodstained rags and made each step believable. It was his emotions that shone through the makeup and effects during the transformations. The overacter of the trio was Anthony Hopkins. Usually that would be a negative but it worked here. He was supposed to be flamboyant and slightly crazed. Hopkins pulled that off with room to spare. And Agent Smith was Agent Smith just in the nineteenth century and slightly less evil. But much better facial hair.

The Wolfman could have been great. You have an A-list cast and you fricking werewolves taken seriously but instead there was a weak story barely holding the movie together. It was still fun to watch.

7 out of 10