- They played this one very straight. It's an entirely respectful reimagining of the original. They didn't grab for Twi-tween cash or camp it up at all.
- It has a fantastically gothic period look, and I mean they really did a wonderful job on that aspect of it.
- Wow, Emily Blunt is beautiful here.
- I wouldn't say they struck a perfect balance between horror and action, but at least it looks like they understood the challenges of such a balancing act and took a coherent approach to trying to meet them.
- Unfortunately, CGI still looks like CGI.
- Anthony Hopkins turns in a frustratingly hammy performance--about the only kind he seems capable of, anymore.
- I thought Del Toro acquitted himself well in the role. It's not his best performance by a long shot, but he nails the doomed, dour hauntedness at the heart of the original character, which Paul Naschy was always struggling to convey in his performances, too.
- Bottom line: Thanks to Van Helsing, we know how bad this could have been, and fortunately it's nowhere in the neighborhood of that epic fail. Given the current state of Hollywood, this is about as good as we could have hoped for, and it was plenty good for me. I look forward to giving it a rewatch, hopefully before it leaves theaters.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
THE WOLFMAN
Just a few quick, random thoughts:
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7 comments:
Thanks, Curt! I have been waffling about seeing this movie - for the very Van Helsing reason you mentioned, but if it passes muster with you, I'll give it a shot!
I did enjoy it as well, even though I wouldn't have minded the lack of everything after the bit in London, I found the movie was stronger up to that point.
However, I think if they needed a bear they could have STILL found people who raise and train animals for movies SOMEWHERE around Hollywood.
Based on your review, I went last night. I started to fall asleep in the final fight scene, but I never understand why these have to be so long. This could have been A LOT worse but all in all it was really pretty good.
FYI: The DVD/Blu-ray release (this summer) will be a "director's cut" restoring 17 minutes of footage trimmed for the theatrical release.
I believe that the bulk of this footage is concerned with characterization (Lawrence, Sir John, Gwen) -- not "werewolf action".
I thought it was great. Not sure what people were really expecting. It was good, gory, gothy fun.
The bear, indeed, was shitty though.
Btw, am I the only one who thought the movie was actually a bit more like AWiL than Wolf Man?
I kinda missed the hazy time-frame of the "Univesal Gothic World" that served as the time and place for the original films. I see why they chose to go with a straight-up period piece, but I liked the weird mix of 1800s and "modern" sensibilities of the old films.
(BTW, the movie dork in me was amused by the nod to the original Universal werewolf flick, "Werewolf of London," that was contained in Sir John's back story.)
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