Reviewed by: Emanuel Caros

Much has been said about the expectations for Joe Johnston's The Wolfman.  Early directorial troubles threw the film off-track after Mark Romanek dropped out due to budget concerns.  Following the firing, and re-hiring of Academy Award winning composer Danny Elfman, and continuous delay of  the release date there was great concern regarding the film's quality.  Let me be one (of the few, so far) to say that The Wolfman doesn't suffer at all  from any production troubles, and actually turned out to be one of the most suspenseful and exciting movie experiences of late.  The film quickly tells the audience what the deal is with the Wolfman, as Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) gets bit in the first major action scene.  He changes during the next full moon, and begins to terrorize the town.  The real questions arise next, as a plot line full of gypsies and Talbot's allegedly cursed family picks up, without allowing the audience to easily guess what comes next.  Having been mildly desensitized by my love of horror films to that "edge of your seat" feeling, I was delightfully shocked when I caught myself tensing up with suspense.

The audience meets the cast of characters rather quickly, being introduced to Lawrence, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), and the mysterious Sir John Talbot (played with a wonderful creepiness by Anthony Hopkins) early on in the film.  About a quarter of the way through, Inspector Aberline (Hugo Weaving) shows up to figure out who, or what, is ravaging all of the townsfolk.  Del Toro's acting, which has been nothing but superb in the past, falls flat here as lines seem to come out a bit awkward.  Aside from that, Blunt does a great job as the grief-stricken sister-in-law to Lawrence, and Anthony Hopkins shines as the estranged father of del Toro's character.

The entire movie has a foggy feel to it, being masked in hues of dark brown, black, and gray.  Adding to the darkness were scenes depicting extreme "medical" techniques in an asylum, crazy hallucinations, and the Wolfman's gruesome transformation from human to beast.  The willingness to display such imagery made me so happy for two reasons: the studio didn't sell out to reach mass viewership, and it gave credibility and grit to a heartless beast that does nothing but kill.  An interesting note to point out is that the Wolfman himself was created using limited CGI, which seemed like a nice homage to old monster movies that didn't have such technology.  Despite the fact that it was CLEARLY a costume and makeup, I felt more comfortable with that then having a cartoon running through the trees.  One of my biggest issues with the Spider-man franchise is that he looks like rubber whenever his computer-generated stunt double is on camera.  The decision to stick to makeup was a good one in my opinion, if only they had avoided close-ups, in which the plastic-ness really stuck out.

This 2010 remake of the classic monster movie surprises by being a thrilling journey to a small, English village literally torn apart by a beastly killer.  While the ending was underwhelming, The Wolfman is a very suspenseful and fun deviation from today's "gore-porn" trend of horror.

6/10