johnlink ranks THE WOLFMAN (2010)
Despite hearing mostly negative feedback about this film, I was still mildly excited when it popped up on HBOHD. What I had seen of it in theaters was sure nice to look at (though I was usually seeing it from the booth with no sound), but I had heard the CGI was rough, taking away from everything else. But I gave it a go anyway!
I watched THE WOLFMAN (2010) on 2.23.11. It was my first viewing of the film. TRAILER HERE
I was exchanging texts with one of my projectionists, Brad, as this film was wrapping up in my living room. He has a similar feel for movies and we got to discussing THE WOLFMAN. He used a word which perfectly summed up how I felt, but which I couldn’t cognitively express until he said it. Unnecessary.
He’s right. THE WOLFMAN remake was entirely unnecessary. It got me thinking: If you are going to remake a classic horror film which is fondly remembered, but which is now sort of dated and cheesy, then why remake it as a film which is cheesy, and with CGI which is instantly dated? It makes no sense. The gore in the film made no sense. It felt like a PG-13 movie which added eighteen seconds of gore to force it into an R rating. I’d never seen a film which would have been better off as PG-13… this was it!
The acting isn’t bad. Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins do their thing. Emily Blunt is sort of given nothing to do, same with Agent Smith. But the acting would never be described as bad.
The script might be, but the dialogue is workable. The scenarios are fair. The ‘twist’ could be figured out just by watching the trailer, so I have to think that it was never meant to surprise anyone. The script may have been slightly below average, but not BAD.
The biggest problem this film has are it’s action/gore sequences. They are laughable. They should be frightening, but instead they are eye-rolling. A chase through the city should be awe-inspiring, but instead it reminded me of the horrendous opening to VAN HELSING.
The makeup, the non-CGI stuff, was actually very good. That’s what makes it all the more infuriating. Just let the makeup and trick shot guys do their work. Either that, or spend the extra ten million on the CGI. Just don’t go half-assed on both. That’s just brutal.
What is even more unfortunate is that you can pause this film (at any non-CGI moment) and see beautiful shot composition, wonderful use of texture and shadowing and cinematography. The picture above is a still from THE WOLFMAN. Seriously, this is a film which should be heralded as a beautiful film to look at, but instead we just remember shitty, shitty CGI. See it once, I guess. But, there is no reason I would ever watch this again.
SCORES
FILM: 5; MOVIE: 6; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 4; BONUS: -1
Guess what the negative point is for. I’ll give you a hint. I referenced it 4 times above.
5+6+5+4-1=19
FINAL SCORE: 4.75
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