Wolfman

By Jeff Niesel

With his furrowed eyebrows, Benicio del Toro practically looks like a wolf. And he has such great intensity, you could imagine him tapping into his animal instincts. So del Toro is well-cast in The Wolfman, a remake of the 1941 horror classic, in which he plays Lawrence Talbot, a Shakespearean actor who returns to the manor on which he grew up to investigate his brother’s mysterious death. But after a wolf bites Lawrence one night, he transforms into the Wolfman when the moon becomes full. The transformations are Hulk-like as his eyes bulge and his feet and hands extend and grow claws. Make-up artist Rick Baker did spectacular work here as the transformations are quite remarkable. The overly dramatic storyline that involves Lawrence’s father (Anthony Hopkins) and his brother’s widow (Emily Blunt) isn’t very engaging, however. Set in turn-of-the-century England, the film is a period piece but that doesn’t explain why the prose is so stilted. And the sequence in which Lawrence is institutionalized doesn’t contribute very much to the plot. While the make-up and visuals are generally striking, the storyline isn’t. Even the fine ensemble cast can’t save this dog.