Blu-Ray Review: THE WOLFMAN  By Dave Dreher - FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK	Email this article  Printer friendly page
Source: Jun 6, 2010, 7:30 PM

On the surface this 2010 remake of the classic UNIVERSAL staple THE WOLFMAN appears to have it all going on.  Big stars, huge budget, one of the best make up artists in the world, you get the picture.

That is why I find it hard to believe that I am actually sitting here writing a review to let you all know that the film is just not that good.  Plain and simple.

When I look at the film in segments as opposed to a whole feature I find myself raving about it but when you put all those segments together and look at the film as a whole, it just don't work.

I know, it makes no sense.  I'm hoping that as I write this maybe it will all come to light, but don't hold your breath.

Of course, SPOILERS AHEAD SO STOP NOW IF YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS!

The film opens with a man being attacked in the foggy woods. 

We quickly learn that it is the brother of Lawrence Talbot, an actor who is asked to return to his family home by his brothers wife to help search for his brother.  Talbot reluctantly returns only to find that earlier that day his brothers body had been discovered and had been ravaged by some kind of wild animal.

Talbot has been at odds with his father (played by Anthony Hopkins) since he had Lawrence placed in an asylum as a child after breaking down having seen his mother killed, we see all this via flashback.

The family home has fallen into great disrepair over the years  and Lawrence is suspicious over his brothers death so he hangs around to investigate.  After a little sleuthing he discovers that a band of gypsies have been hanging around at the edge of town and some suspect has been cast that they may be involved with his brothers death.  He shows up at the camp, conveniently on the night of a full moon, just in time to witness a wolf like creature attacking the camp.  He goes after a child that runs into the woods in all the confusion and ends up getting himself bitten.

You can kind of figure out the middle of the film for yourself. 

Where things veer off a bit is when Talbot's father again has him admitted to the asylum, the same one he was at as a child and he is submitted to inhuman testing and one night while being used as a demonstration, of course during a a full moon, turns into the WOLFMAN in front of a group of witnesses, promptly kills a bunch of folks and escapes.  He heads back to the family home

He there discovers the truth about his family and a fiery battle ensues.  The ending is what you would expect.

Trying not to give away all the details but I think you get the idea of where this one heads.  It follows the Lon Chaney Jr. original close enough to be recognizable but makes enough changes, particularly at the end to stand alone as its own film.

I wish I could accurately put my finger on just why this film falls so short for me.  I don't know if it's pacing, cause this sucker drags like no ones business or just poor writing, I don't know.  I just don't all click.

I actually watched the disc twice. The first time I watched the unrated version, the second time I watched it with the U-CONTROL feature enabled.  It made the film more enjoyable.  It's kind of a POP UP VIDEO feature where videos and little graphic factoids pop up from time to time.  It greatly enhanced a so so film.

By all means I urge you to pick up this disc and judge for yourself.  It wasn't what I was hoping for but it might just turn out to be the one film you've been waiting your whole life for.  But I doubt it.

THE WOLFMAN Blu-Ray is out now.  The film is also available on DVD.  Here's all the specs for the Blu-ray disc:

Over all this is one mean Blu-ray package.  It's a shame the film isn't a little better.

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