The Wolfman Review...Finally!

After begging, pleading, and a bit of tearing up...I finally got to see The Wolfman. Yes, I am a girl but I have a HUGE obsession with werewolf movies. Once I got to the theater, I was incredibly excited and now I'm glad to give my feedback. I didn't do it in my regular form with the plot and my review over the acting because I also did a review for my journalism class and decided to go ahead and use the same one. You still get the jest of what I'm saying but less funny than what I usually have (I hope) and is constructed differently.

The Wolfman is a remake of the 1941 version, The Wolf Man. Even though the cast is filled with award winners (like the old one), the amazing movie was done adequately.

The Wolfman is about a Shakespearean actor, Lawrence Tabolt (Benicio Del Toro), who goes back to his ancestral home to go to his brother’s funeral. His brother, played by Simon Merrells, was found torn to pieces by what some of the villagers call a “beast”. Lawrence is determined to find who…or what killed his brother. Lawrence befriends his estranged father, Sir John Tabolt (Anthony Hopkins), and his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt) to get as much information and answers as he can. His search leads him to a gypsy camp where after trying to save a boy from a “beast”, werewolf for us in the theater, he is bitten. He becomes a werewolf himself and begins to reek mayhem and kill villagers in little, old Blackmoor.

After viewing the 1941 version and being excited to see a remake done with amazing visual effects and an award-winning cast, I was slightly disappointed. The effects were amazing and seemed realistic but the movie seems to have been over edited. You could not sympathize or know the characters or get in depth into some of their personal lives. After seeing Lawrence as the main character, I expect to empathize with him and side with him, no matter how bad he gets. I didn’t get to experience that. It seems as though the movie ran by too quick and hurried to jump to him being turned into a werewolf.
Del Toro played his character flat even though Lawrence is supposed to be an actor. Hopkins gives an amazing performance, as always, but is a role I have personally seen him play one too many times. Blunt does an amazing performance with such a small role to play, but Gwen seems to be unnecessary to the movie anyways.
Even with the okay acting from the cast, the scenery was amazingly beautiful and the effects were incredible. Johnston chose his stage very well and came out with a great piece to show us at the end.
In a small sum, go out and see the movie. The acting is alright and the Gothic setting is amazing but the gasp-worthy moments are the reason to see it. The movie does have a nice, deep plot but we never got to go into it. The Wolfman is incredible but could have been done better.

I give the movie 3 1/2 out of 4 nail polishes for the amazing effects, okay acting, and amazing setting. The acting was okay and the plot never went indepth as I wanted it to, so it loses it's full four!