The Wolfman (2010 Version)

Reviewed by Drav3n

Format: Blu-ray

Release: June 1, 2010

Rated: Unrated

Runtime: 119 Minutes

The Movie:

I really had high hopes for this movie. From the moment I heard about the cast, and when the first images got released, I was very excited. Damn, was I ever let down!

Lawrence Talbot has been lured back to his family estate to investigate the savage murder of his brother by a mysterious bloodthirsty beast. Talbot must confront his childhood demons, his estranged father, a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector, and his brother's grieving fiancee, with whom he has begun taking an interest in. When Talbot is attacked and bitten by the beast, he becomes eternally cursed and discovers a fate far worse than death. This remake is inspired by the 1941 classic Universal film that had went on to launch a legacy of horror.

On paper, the cast is amazing. You have Academy Award winning actors Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro. And then add Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt as your supporting actors and you should have a hit movie on your hands. Well, unfortunately, you have Joe Johnston as your director. In my opinion the man has only done a good job directing two movies, and those were Jumanji and The Rocketeer. And now he is going to be the director for the Captain America movie? Uh oh..

But back on subject, this should've been good, but its far from it. The entire movie feels rushed. Even the Unrated version, which is 17 minutes longer and "slows" the early pace of the film, still can't save this movie. Plus it didn't help that the movie kept pushing back its release date, change of director's, editor's, composer's and even Danny Elfman's score was replaced by Paul Haslinger. Yet, before the film was released, they decided to not use Haslinger's score and just use Elfman's instead. The studio really didn't seem to know what they were doing at all.

What I will give him credit for was going for the old Victorian England look to the film, instead of a modern day version. I was glad that the story stayed close to the same as the original. Adding Rick Baker to be in charge of the special effects makeup was a huge plus. While I didn't like that 90% of the film was CGI, after watching the bonus features, it was refreshing to know how much of Rick Baker's work actually made it into the film. The actual look of The Wolfman I liked because it felt like it was paying homage to the classic version. I thought the attach scenes and the blood/gore scenes were done well. And the scene in the asylum was still the only scene in the movie that I really enjoyed.

Now onto what I didn't like. How could actors like Hopkins and Del Toro come off so lifeless? Neither of them put on a performance that was worthwhile. Luckily, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving, brought some power to their character and made their scenes worth watching. The biggest complaint I had (SPOILERS AHEAD) was the HORRIBLE father-son fight towards the end. Like it wasn't obvious enough that the father was behind the death of his wife and other son, but this fight was so terrible and the CGI was so over-the-top it was unwatchable. And then you have the climax of the movie, which by that point, was worthless. I didn't like that as soon as something happened, something else was already happening next. There was no "cool down" moments. Oh yea, and did you really need to CGI that bear and deer?

If you enjoyed Van Helsing, and are a fan of the original Wolfman, I guess this is worth checking out. The film has good intentions, just very poorly executed. Atleast if you are a fan of blood and gore, you will definitely get your fix from this movie.

Presentation:

Considering that most of the action is done through CGI, and a good amount of the backgrounds are being shot on a green screen, this transfer is naturally very impressive. But that doesn't mean the scenes that were shot on location are bad, they are equally as impressive. The overall, dark and cold, look to the film really comes through well on the blu-ray. The image is often clear and clean, but in some of the darker images, the scene really softens. The grittiness and occasionaly grain adds to the tone that the movie was hoping to accomplish. Black levels do look strong, and the amount of details on facial features and objects will defeinitely these the viewer impressed.

Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is phenomenal. As you can imagine this film has alot of sounds effects rangining from Talbot's howling, to the always pleasant sound of body dismemberment. And everything that comes through the speakers sounds sharp and clear. The score sounds great, and makes me wonder why they would even have thought of not using Danny Elfman's score for this film. The only minor complaint I had was that a few of the sound effects, like the dog barking, was too overpowering taking away from the realism they were trying to achieve. Otherwise this soundtrack could be used as reference quality.

Bonus Material:

• U Control (ONLY AVAILABLE ON THEATRICAL CUT) - There's two modes to choose from: "Take Control" which features the crew discussing parts of the film and "Legacy, Legend and Lore," which is a pop-up feature that looks at the background of the Wolfman.
• Alternate Endings (1080p, Runtime 7:58) - As stated on the cover of the movie, there are two alternate endings. Both are equally terrible.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, Runtime 11:17) - A batch of scenes that deserved to be cut from the movie.
• Return of the Wolf Man (1080p, Runtime 12:20) - The cast and crew share their opinions on resurrecting the Wolf Man franchise.
• The Beast Maker (1080p, Runtime 12:05) - One of the better features to be found on this disc as it allows makeup artist Rick Baker to discuss his feelings on the Wolf Man and what he was able to contribute to the film.
• Transformation Secrets (1080p, Runtime 15:15) - Provides a look at how the special effects went from being done physically to digitally. The transformation sequences are the main focus on this feature, with the attempt to make each transformation different from the previous ones.
• The Wolfman Unleashed (1080p, Runtime 8:45) - A short feature showing how some of the big action scenes were filmed.
• DBox and BD-Live Enabled

On the front of the movie case it says that you can watch The original 1941 version of The Wolfman. In order to be able to access this, your blu-ray player NEEDS to be BD-Live enabled.

Bottom Line:

Don't be fooled by this impressive disc, this movie is really nothing to get excited over. Yes the presentation looks good and sounds great, but the movie is really underwhelming. The alternate endings and deleted scenes are pointless to watch as they add nothing to the film. I only recommend the making of features. Depending on the type of movie watcher you are I would say either rent this movie, or just skip it.