The Re-Visit: The Wolfman
By Mitchell Foglesong
Plot: Academy Award® winners Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) tear up the screen in this action-packed thriller. Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) is lured back to his family estate to investigate the savage murder of his brother by a bloodthirsty beast. There, Talbot must confront his childhood demons, his estranged father (Hopkins), his brother’s grieving fiancée (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada) and a suspicious Scotland Yard Inspector (Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Trilogy). When Talbot is bitten by the creature, he becomes eternally cursed and soon discovers a fate far worse than death. Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins.
Review:
I just bought the Blu-Ray of The Wolfman remake starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins featuring the theatrical version and a new Director’s Cut of the film, and all I have to say is that each version gives a very different feel to the movie.
Now the idea of a Director’s Cut has lost its meaning recently with the onslaught of so called “unrated” versions of movies that sport just a few seconds of harsh language or some extra gore that typically adds up to about five or so minutes. But the Director’s of The Wolfman is sixteen minutes longer, and to me it makes the movie more successful and also a little bit lesser than the theatrical run. Let me explain this for you….spoilers may lie ahead so read at your risk please.
The theatrical version feels much more Hollywood than the Director’s Cut, it starts out with Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) making his way home back to London with a voice over explaining that his brother has gone missing. Once he gets there we are introduced to the three leads of the film, John Talbot (Hopkins) and Gwen (Emily Blunt) giving only a brief twenty minutes before Lawrence is bitten by the werewolf at a gypsy camp as he investigated his brothers death.
After that encounter with the wolf we watch as he begins to heal at an unnatural pace and starts having vivid hallucinations about a weird looking boy and we learn that he stumbled upon his mother who has committed suicide. There is very little back story to help us really sympathies with Lawrence other than the fact that he is dealing with the death of his younger(?) brother. It was a decent first act that did what it had to do to introduce the characters and set up the carnage that was about to be seen.
The entire mid-section of the film is pretty much seen it the trailers and commercials, he turns into the wolf and runs a rampage; killing everyone in his way, leading to his capture, and eventual escape and even more mayhem as he runs around the city killing mindlessly.
That pretty much sums up the second act of the film.
The films final act is all about revenge, I am not going to say who the revenge is towards but it is pretty obvious and predictable that Lawrence was going to go down that dark road. The films final act is an all out chase scene that involves ***SPOILERS**** a fight scene between two werewolves that could have lasted a bit longer but was still very entertaining. And an obvious set up for a sequel ***END SPOILERS****, the last twenty minutes or so was the most exciting part of the movie watching as The Wolfman laid waste to all that stood before him. The ending of the film was very cliche but it fit in with the whole tone of the movie (in my opinion it did anyways).
All in all the theatrical version of the movie is much more of an Action/Horror film. Which isn’t a bad thing whatsoever it just would have been nice if there was a little more meat to the movie other than the quick set up and predictable ending. Luckily the Director’s Cut gives a more dramatic version of the film.
The sixteen minutes that the Director’s Cut has put back in gives more character time and helps the viewer connect with them easier, making you care what happens to them as the film plays out. The best part about this version is that it is MUCH more character and story driven than the theatrical cut, which some might be turned off by because it is after all a monster movie. But the added scenes between Lawrence and Gwen are more meaningful and we see that they begin to fall in love, but neither of them are going to follow their desire because they both know that it is wrong.
One of the films biggest differences is that the lead doesn’t get bitten until about forty or so minutes into the movie, and he doesn’t turn into the titular beast until about an hour into the movie. I for one enjoy the fact that Director’s Cut takes the movie a bit more serious and doesn’t rush the story along just to get into the action. While there is more character time, that also means that the werewolf action seems to be even less leaving about fifty minutes of real werewolf craziness going on, as in the theatrical he turned into the wolf about halfway through (45 minutes) and it was pretty nonstop werewolfdom until the end. Same can be said, for the DC, once he becomes the werewolf it turns into the Action/Horror vision that the theatrical cut was.
Overall I respect both versions of the film, the theatrical as a fast paced Action monster movie and the DC as a strong character and story movie that has the big payoff of Action monster movie that the theatrical had to offer. Neither version is perfect but they are both entertaining to watch. It really depends on what kind of movie mood you are in when it comes to choosing which version to watch.
I give the Theatrical Cut 7/10
I give the Director’s Cut 8.5/10
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Picture Quality
The film is framed in 1.85:1 with nice dark colors, the city of London looks great with the moonlight flowing over it as The Wolfman ran across the rooftops. Some scenes seemed a little bright..too bright for night scenes, and some were too dark for a night scene. I couldn’t notice any grain in the picture so I am going to say that I give the Picture Quality 9/10
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Audio Quality
Danny Elfman’s score was pumpin me up and it couldn’t have sounded better. The bass was nice and the heavy breathing of the beast sounded great. Only one thing caught me and bugged me, towards the final moments of the films a character is breathing rather heavily and there is some ringing as he does it. It only lasted for a few moments but I still expected more from a Blu-Ray, especially a new released movie such as this one. I give the Audio a 9.5/10
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Special Features
Some deleted scenes and extended scenes that don’t really add up to much, I can see why they were taken out of the movie.
Two alternate endings, both leaving the film more open for a sequel than the actual ending that ended up in the film.
A making of feature
A make up feature
And for a limited time the Blu-Ray is offering a streaming of the original The Wolfman, which I suggest everyone checks out, because it is awesome.
6/10 for the special features.
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OVERALL
9/10
I highly recommend this movie, both versions to anyone who loves horror, or for someone just looking for some quick monster action (go for the theatrical if you are)!
Pop the movie in and just sit back and have a howling good time……..bad pun, but I had to.
Petemc
January 30, 2014 @ 11:52 pm
Great revisit review. I liked this movie too