Ruff production, decent film

The Wolfman
DIRECTED BY: Joe
Johnston
STARRING: Benicio
Del Toro, Anthony
Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving
CERT: 16

Never a good sign when a director walks out just weeks before filming starts and his replacement – with a committee of suits looking over his shoulder – presides over rewrites, reshoots, new endings, budget wars and several rescheduled release dates.
Such is the story behind Wolfman, with Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, Honey I Shrunk The Kids) stepping in at the last minute for the departing Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and swiftly proceeding to help concoct a mess.
Now that it’s finally seeing the light of day, well over a year behind time, it’s hardly surprising that Wolfman is a disappointment. The surprise is that it is watchable at all and even, occasionally, very good.
A remake of the 1941 Lon Cheney flick, The Wolfman, is set in Victorian England  and stars Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, an English nobleman who’s been plying his trade as an actor in America for years, but has returned to perform in Hamlet on the London stage.
There he receives a letter from a young lady called Gwen (Blunt), whose fiancé, Ben, who also happens to be Lawrence’s estranged brother, has disappeared.
And so the prodigal returns to the family home, a grand country house that’s seen better days, where his father, Sir John (Hopkins), spends his time prowling around in gloomy shadows.
By the time Lawrence arrives, Ben’s body has been found and it’s not a pretty sight. Word in the local village is that only some class of lunatic could have done the deed. Or that the gypsies had a hand in it. Or that there’s some unearthly beast prowling about the place – the kind who won’t be stopped by your average lead bullet.
Ben’s grieving lady friend, meanwhile, is developing a soft spot for the dark and brooding Lawrence, whose reacquaintance with the old homestead has brought with it some particularly tormenting memories, especially of his late mother.
But he soon has a lot more to concern him as the beast strikes again and, to Lawrence’s horror and misery, he discovers some strange new skills and appetites when the moon hits the sky in a certain fashion. Then, to make matters worse, Detective Abberline (Hugo Weaving) of Scotland Yard turns up, sniffing around for the culprit.
It’s a bit late to be wondering what might have been if Mr Romanek – or any other director with a bit of art and vision in his veins – had been let have their way with this production. And there’ll be no prizes for guessing who the clowns and accountants at Universal will be blaming when their latest resurrected monster surely fails to match the success of The Mummy. Though I’d gladly settle for The Mummy with a brain.
Joe Johnston and screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) and David Self (Road To Perdition) don’t deliver on that front, either. Not consistently anyway. They seem to be going for a mix of modern frights and gore and a semi-humorous homage to the style and tone of the old horror classics. When it works, it’s a hoot. When it doesn’t – which is most of the time – it just looks silly.
Still, with Del Toro and Hopkins on board, the central characters do at least have a certain depth that would have been missing in a less gifted and respected cast.
Both are in good form. Del Toro does melancholy in his sleep and his natural hang-dog (har har har) expression is put to excellent use – and he gives it plenty of welly once the real action starts. And it’s a pleasure to see Hopkins getting his teeth into some funny dialogue and a couple of fine good rants.
The film looks good too, for the most part, Johnston giving it plenty of ominous atmosphere – though I’m not sure about all that mist. There’s nothing like a bit of good old-fashioned fog on the moors, but you don’t want the smoke machine man getting carried away with himself altogether.
The make-up effects are mostly excellent too – the lupine transformations coming courtesy of Rick Baker, whose legendary creations rightly caused a stir in An American Werewolf In London, nearly 30 years ago now.
The Wolfman isn’t in that league and it’s a big letdown for the horror fan. But it isn’t a total dead loss.