The Wolfman is about Lawrence Talbot (Benecio Del Toro), an actor who must return to his home in the English countryside when his brother vanishes under mysterious circumstances. When he finds the body of his brother in a slaughterhouse, word gets out that a werewolf has done the attack. Lawrence himself is bitten one night and transforms not long afterwards. Pursued by Inspector Aberline (Hugo Weaving) and turned away by his father (Anthony Hopkins), Lawrence finds himself tortured by his curse. Will true love set him free? Will doctors in an insane asylum ever believe he is a werewolf? Will Aberline get off his jock for just a minute? You'll have to watch.
This movie started out being directed by Mark Romanek, the acclaimed music video director. He made all the aesthetic choices for the film and, my goodness, it looks beautiful. Joe Johnston was brought in to finish the movie and he handles things fine. I wonder if Romanek's vision would have turned out more contemplative. As it stands, the whole thing is sort of an action adventure movie. The werewolf scenes are more action scenes than horror. By the end, when you have two werewolves clashing on the moors, it almost feels like the end of a video game.
Movies like this are why I feel it is so hard to do werewolf horror correctly. The beast does lend itself to intense action scenes but the mood of horror should dominate. Still, very pretty to look at. I can't recommend this movie unless you are just dying for some werewolf action.
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