Donna Rodriguez
The Wolfman is a thrilling movie of a man, Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio Del Toro, who becomes cursed after he gets bitten by the wolf.
The movie takes place in England during the 1800’s. It begins with the horrific death of Lawrence’s brother, Ben Talbot, played by Simon Merrells.
The death of Ben Talbot causes Lawrence to face his past, as well as, his awful memories of his childhood and come back to his father’s home to investigate his brother’s death.
Even though the film is a step up from other werewolf films since the original The Wolf Man, some of the acting was moderately poor and the film was predictable from beginning to end.
The camera work was perfect. It gave a suspenseful and gruesome feeling to the film. It moved in at the right moments and it gave a rush to the wolf when he began to circle his victims.
The bloody scenes were really dramatic and the camera captured them at the right angles.
What was interesting was to see what they retained from the original.
The film kept to its roots in some scenes and theme of the original 1941 film, but the remake gave it it’s own creativity.
The Wolfman preserved the image of the wise gypsies from the original film but they were just a small part of the film compared to the original. The film also stuck with the drama and romance between the wolf and Gwen Conliffe.
Del Toro’s acting was dull and he didn’t accomplish his characters goal of a tortured person.
Lawrence Talbot’s character was meant to be troubled with such a dark past but Del Toro didn’t seem to pull it off. He seemed to be in the clouds during most of his scenes.
Anthony Hopkins’ character, John Talbot, tried too hard to be mysterious that he soon became predictable. Hopkins played the creepy old man well but his character was too much of a suspicious and secretive person that it just became obvious what he was up to.
The scenes that were suspenseful had a lot of help from the music and the cinematography. The music and the sound effects kept the movie filled with anticipation.
Even the moments when everything stayed quiet minus the wind, it gave the feeling of not knowing what to wait for.
The camera shots skimmed through to give the attack more of an impact. The rush of the camera made the wolf’s sneak attacks shocking and frightening.
They purposely made the camera lose track of the wolf to keep the people wondering when and from where the wolf will jump out.
The film not only focused on the shock attacks but also the gruesome images of the attacks. The camera really centered in on the bloody deaths of the wolf’s victims.
The images of the claw scratches to the body parts flying through the air made it difficult to watch.
The camera wasn’t shy to get really close in on those missing body parts. It showed the bone breaking transformation from man to wolf with ferocity.
Even with all the blood and violence, it still managed to successfully put a little laughter in the film as well.