BEFORE: I couldn't proceed without including this year's remake of the original 1941 film (though they deleted the space in the title between "Wolf" and "man"...hmmm...) even though it cost me $4.99 to Movies on Demand. I had figured this would hit the premium channels by now, but I guess I was wrong. Hey, I hope a lot of people get in the Halloween spirit and shell out the five bucks, assuming the film is worth it. If not now, then when?
This seems like good casting, with the occasionally bestial Benicio Del Toro (last seen in "21 Grams") stepping into the (furry) shoes of Lon Chaney Jr. Who can forget his role as the dog-faced boy in "Big Top Pee-Wee"? Not me, apparently.
It's also a great night to watch a spooky film, since we've got a nice lightning storm going on over Long Island. Too bad there's no full moon to go with...
THE PLOT: Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf.
AFTER: In this updated version, Lawrence Talbot is an actor, not a telescope repairman. I still don't know why they took such pains to point that out in the original film, just to discard it as a plot point - was it just so he would see the pretty girl through the telescope? If so, that was lame! An actor just works better - they make a living through a form of deception, plus haven't they all got dark sides and evil cravings?
Note: it's strange to see "Hamlet" as the play-within-the-film, considering that "Hamlet" is so well known for its own play-within-the-play. End of note.
This film combines the set-up from the original "Wolf Man" with the concept of the "Hulk" film (the first one, not the 2nd), in the setting of Victorian (?) London (as seen in "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"), with the transformation effects of "American Werewolf in London", and the four-legged bestial running effects from the "Planet of the Apes" remake. Somehow, it all fits together, right as rain.
Then there's a game-changing plot twist, and it's a good one. In the original, Talbot was bitten by a gypsy named Bela (as in Lugosi) who liked to party on all fours. There's got to be a werewolf already, to infect the main character. (2nd note: So who was the first werewolf? There's got to be an untold story there...) For a while it looked like it might be the mysterious stranger on the train - he did have the classic wolf-shaped walking stick, after all...
But no, the movie goes in a different direction, one that hearkens back to more classical fare, Shakespearean-style stuff and even a certain Greek tragedy of note. For me, this is the winner of the week, the movie gets everything mostly right - including the idea that when two werewolves fight, it's got to be shirts vs. skins so the audience can tell them apart.
There doesn't seem to be a way to tell this classic tale with an upbeat ending - it's just the nature of the beast. But they did find a way to leave room for a sequel - clever, clever. Now see if you can get Gary Oldman as Dracula and De Niro as Frankenstein's Monster, throw in Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing - oh, wait, that's all been done before, hasn't it?
Also starring Anthony Hopkins (last seen in "Mission: Impossible 2"), Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving (last un-seen in "V For Vendetta") and one of my faves, Max Von Sydow (seriously, how many people have been in Bergman films, the "Exorcist" series, "Hannah and Her Sisters", James Bond films, "Flash Gordon", "Dune" AND "Strange Brew"? The guy can do it all...) as the mysterious stranger....ooohhh....
RATING: 8 out of 10 gypsy wagons. 1 point off for a slight cheeziness factor, and another for completely removing all pentagrams from the film - wazzup with that?
SPOOK-O-METER: 9 out of 10. Werewolves, insane asylums, psychological torture, and the creepy English moors - this one's got it all.
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