I give it four for its excellent Gothic atmosphere, but this is a film that is markedly inferior to the 1941 original. You would think Universal would be more careful with its treasure chest of monsters, but after duffing up The Mummy they've not done well by their hairiest monster. I won't go into the story much, other than to say it somewhat resembles the original but has many major changes.
Firstly, where the hell is the pathos? Benicio Del Toro is a boring leading man; he can't come close to Lon Chaney Jr's engaging and tragic Larry Talbot. With little interest in the fate of the top-billed actor, the film descends into something of a slog. What's the point of having Talbot be an actor, anyway? Well, he gets to wear a poncey actors hat at the beginning...
The gypsies, unlike the original, seem to have no dramatic purpose in the film at all. They do possess a rather alarmingly bad CGI bear, that looks like it was animated around 1986 or so. But more crucially, the transformations from man into wolf are also achieved with CGI. These are much better, but still ineffective. If you've seen the werewolf transformations in Harry Potter, etc, you've got the idea. American Werewolf In London did it so much better.
There's much evidence of studio cutting, probably in an attempt to speed up the pace. In the second half of the movie the thing jumps around to distraction. How on earth does Talbot get to Gwen's antique shop? How does he even know where it is? Why is Inspector Abbeline, he of the Jack The Ripper murders, dragged in? He gets a nice scene in the local pub, but largely contributes nothing. Similary, one moment Emily Blunt's character is taken away by the police, for no good reason at all I might add, next she's boning up on Lycanthropy, digesting lots of tomes on the subject. Maybe she got 'em from the local Werewolf Of London Library. SPOILERS HERE>>>>>
Anthony Hopkins gives a restrained, excellent performance. But his character is a total cypher, his motivations unbelievable and rather obscure. If he enjoys being a werewolf so much why does he have his servant lock him away every full moon for 25 years? Why does he kill the poor guy at the end? Art Malik plays the ethnic stereotype in question. Another pointless role as all he has to do his polish his pistols. His cleaning skills are not really up to scratch!
We have lots of jump cuts and sudden noises. Have fun spotting when they are going to happen. 9 times out of 10 you'll be right. The one with the dog near the end is rather clever, though. The same can not be said for the twist. If this is the first movie you've ever seen, you might not spot it coming from about 5 minutes in.
So, sorry Universal, you need to take a good long look at what made your classic monsters so popular and so memorable. And maybe try again sometime.
Firstly, where the hell is the pathos? Benicio Del Toro is a boring leading man; he can't come close to Lon Chaney Jr's engaging and tragic Larry Talbot. With little interest in the fate of the top-billed actor, the film descends into something of a slog. What's the point of having Talbot be an actor, anyway? Well, he gets to wear a poncey actors hat at the beginning...
The gypsies, unlike the original, seem to have no dramatic purpose in the film at all. They do possess a rather alarmingly bad CGI bear, that looks like it was animated around 1986 or so. But more crucially, the transformations from man into wolf are also achieved with CGI. These are much better, but still ineffective. If you've seen the werewolf transformations in Harry Potter, etc, you've got the idea. American Werewolf In London did it so much better.
There's much evidence of studio cutting, probably in an attempt to speed up the pace. In the second half of the movie the thing jumps around to distraction. How on earth does Talbot get to Gwen's antique shop? How does he even know where it is? Why is Inspector Abbeline, he of the Jack The Ripper murders, dragged in? He gets a nice scene in the local pub, but largely contributes nothing. Similary, one moment Emily Blunt's character is taken away by the police, for no good reason at all I might add, next she's boning up on Lycanthropy, digesting lots of tomes on the subject. Maybe she got 'em from the local Werewolf Of London Library. SPOILERS HERE>>>>>
Anthony Hopkins gives a restrained, excellent performance. But his character is a total cypher, his motivations unbelievable and rather obscure. If he enjoys being a werewolf so much why does he have his servant lock him away every full moon for 25 years? Why does he kill the poor guy at the end? Art Malik plays the ethnic stereotype in question. Another pointless role as all he has to do his polish his pistols. His cleaning skills are not really up to scratch!
We have lots of jump cuts and sudden noises. Have fun spotting when they are going to happen. 9 times out of 10 you'll be right. The one with the dog near the end is rather clever, though. The same can not be said for the twist. If this is the first movie you've ever seen, you might not spot it coming from about 5 minutes in.
So, sorry Universal, you need to take a good long look at what made your classic monsters so popular and so memorable. And maybe try again sometime.