Iffy for 16+
Official monster remake is extra gory -- and a bit flat.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Wolfman (starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins) is an extra-gory remake of the same-named 1941 classic (starring Lon Chaney Jr.). The new film is filled with slashings, slicings, and dicings, with lots of blood, gore, and body parts, as well as guns and shooting, scary nightmare sequences, and loud noises. The main female character (Emily Blunt) never develops much of a personality and seems too passive (a wasted opportunity to improve upon the original film). In other words, this movie is only for your oldest teens even if it looks like it could go with other sort of "super hero" genre movies.
- Families can talk about how the movie's violence and gore made them feel? Was it unsettling, or did you have another response? What about the nightmare sequences?
- Talk about a person's "animal side" and "intellectual side." When do these sidescome out in real life? When we're angry? When we're happy? How easy ordifficult is it to control these sides?
- The movie's second werewolf spent years locking himself up during fullmoons but eventually discovered that he enjoyed running free. Is itbetter to lock up your animal self or let it run free?
The good stuff
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Messages: The movie carries roughly the same message as the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: All humans have an animal side that we must learn to control to live in a civilized world. But beyond that, the point is unclear. One of the movie's bad guys believes that the beast must be set free, while another wants to hunt and kill the hero/wolfman. The hero's goal is to put an end to all the beastliness, but he can only achieve this through beastly acts: murder and death. In essence, the movie seems to say that if you have the tough luck to unleash your inner beast, too bad, because it's curtains for you.
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Role models: Hero Lawrence Talbot shows some positive behavior, even though he turns into a wolf and fillets half of his neighbors. After bouts of horror, disbelief, and self-pity, he gradually accepts his fate and decides to do the right thing, even if it means his own demise. He works to protect Gwen and dedicates himself to stopping the other wolfman, which is still on the loose and killing by choice. Gwen, too, works hard to find a cure for her friend and puts herself at risk to do so.
What to watch for
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Violence: Strong but not constant fantasy violence and gore. The wolfmen slice and dice their way through several victims. Viewers see blood spattering, severed body parts, scattered entrails, and organ removal. These are usually accompanied by sudden, swift movements and intense growling and yowling. There's a gory "wound stitching" scene. Also many guns, gunshots, and gunshot victims. Additionally, some scary, shocking nightmare sequences.
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Sex: Lawrence and Gwen flirt a little (he teaches her how to skip stones and holds her hand). Later, they share one small kiss.
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Language: Minimal uses of words like "damn" and "whore."
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Consumerism: Not an issue
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Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lawrence drinks often during the first part of the movie, but never to excess. Several scenes take place inside a pub, with locals drinking and smoking in the background.
Fan Reviews provided by
3
WOLFMAN - nothing to howl about. (Based on advance press preview on Wed. Feb. 10, 2010) by MOVIES REVIEWER
WOLFMAN is a disjointed badly edited albeit high-quality production that was approximately 1hr 45mins in length - and not 2hr 5min as incorrectly posted by Fandango. Other than the few 'action' scenes - it was plain outright BORING. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the man-to-werewolf transformations and I have to give high marks for make-up and costumes. Oh - and by the way, don't expect a plot - there is NONE. The majority of the audience was laughing at the cheesy howling. The lack of chemistry between Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro was glaringly apparent. Anthony Hopkins was sinister as Lord Talbot but Hugo Weaving was unconvincing as a Scotland Yard inspector. Benicio Del Toro had wayyy too much screen-time - with much ado about nothing.
VERDICT:
This putrid re-imagining of the lycanthrope is a dismal cinematic failure that lacks bite while relying on cliched 'sound' effects to conjure up scares.
Aim your silver bullet at this one and pass.
Grade: C
5
If you are a fan of the original... by maxcredits
I am a fan of the old Universal horror movies so I waited with great anticipation for this version. There has been much criticism that the movie is predictable. To those people I say so was the Titanic. We all knew the ship sinks in the end. There have been countless retellings of The Wolfman but none remaining this true to the original. I was ecstatic to finally see a film paying homage to the original. The acting is well done, the scenery and mood are dead on. The film takes advantage of today's effects while holding tightly to its origins. The Wolfman is awesome in appearance. Finally someone has done it right as Talbot's alter ego is just a bit more man than Wolf and is an excellent upgrade to Lon Chaney, Jr's. Transitions are top-knotch. One slight critique - attacks are so fast and savage that you sometimes do not have time to feel the anxiety build before the deed is done. But that is the nature of the beast.
Rating - My wife left 4 1/2 fingerprints out of five on my arm.
5
beautiful by the_cheshire_kat
first of all, this movie is gorgeous to look at. i mean, except for the entrails and whatnot- but what do you expect? it's a werewolf movie. and while there is gore, it is NOT over the top, which really turns me off about horror movies nowadays. mostly the new ones are just gore for the sake of gore. but this was wonderful. i have never seen the original with Lon Cheney (sacrilege, i know) although i'd like to... surprising since i am a big fan of classic horror movies... and even if i can't tell you how faithful this was to the original, i can say this movie is very reminiscent of the "classic horror" genre. i really enjoyed that about it.
Benicio Del Toro is heartbreaking in the lead role, Anthony Hopkins is spellbinding as usual (i actually managed not to think of Hannibal Lecter every 15 mins), Hugo Weaving was excellent (also nigh unrecognizable w/ the old-timey facial hair), & Emily Blunt's performance was intricate and lovely. really liked Art Malik too. i say go see it!
2
The Wolfman brings nothing new to the table by TheBearJew\m/
The Wolfman was just a a throwback to the 1940's film that didn't bring anything new to the genre of horror. All the actors played one-dimensional characters who didn't wow us or shine bright. The Wolfman looked to fake to be anything really scary. The violence was way overdone in this film. Each killing the Wolfman makes, someone doesn't just die, they get completely dismembered. The makes of this filmed tried to hard to make a violent picture. Violence needs to have a reason in this film, and it just seemed like too much. This was definitley was let-down.
5
Go see this movie! by KWORDS0716
This was an excellent movie! The performance by all the major players, but specifically Anthony Hopkins, Benecio Del Torro (despite Benicio's death scene in the very end), and Hugo Weaving were outstanding. The story left nothing to long for either. I feel it delivered on all levels and I believe that it will be an instant classic. The creature effects do not over shadow the movie and it is simply a great thrill ride from start to finish. Excellent feature.
4
Good not great by b12ulldog
I am a big fan of the horror fiction genre and also of the work of special effects wizard Rick Baker. The close ups of the wolfman were very good. The Wolfman had the face similiar to the the orginal classic with Lon Chaney Jr. The CGI shots of him running on the roof tops and the pull back shots of him running on all fours in the woods were not nearly as well done. The film is gory and not for the young who might have a problem with human internal organs being torn out. I may be knit picking but the part of the movie where Del Toro's character is hiding from the law in the country side left me wondering. For a man who had no place to go and apparently no money how was he able to have multiple change of clothes and find food to eat. He did this for a month until the next full moon. The movie did drag on at times but it is still worth seeing. Hopkins, Del Toro, and Hugo Weaving gave good perfomances.
4
interesting take on a old story by Songzjunkie1987
I loved every moment of it, I loved what each member of the cast brought to the table. There were different twists and turns at the end but I loved it.
5
Bloody Awesome! by Movie_Buff_86
I seriously do not know why people are hating this movie so much, and saying it is slow for the whole 1 1/2 hrs. I just saw this movie today, and i thought it was great. "The Wolfman" is a great horror flick for mature adults and you should check it out. It is set back in the late 1800's and you get that feeling of what it was like to live back in the days. I love movies set back in time and this was a movie which was pretty bloody and gruesome if you enjoy that stuff. How can you not see a movie when Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt are in it. You actually feel kind of sad for "The Wolfman" or Del Toro, of what he has to go through. He never asked for this to happen but it did and he has to live with the effects of the bite. Being cursed by a Werewolf is not something you want to happen to you. I enjoyed this movie alot and the cast made this movie that much more terrific. I would go see it again, its worth the money....Its not for kids!...Adults should go see it!
5
What a movie!!! by ginger32056
It was great, we loved it. I had to put down the popcorn, it made me jump a lot.
5
What is wrong with you people by jokers_wild
Usually I don't do stuff like this. But, reading the re****/pelled me to make a account just so I could tell you your all NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a huge werewolf fan and this movies was on of the best I've seen yet. It has a good solid storyline, it was a movie that kept me jumping out of my seat. The special effects were awesome. As for the wolfman probably one of the best I've seen in a long time. In the future its going to be a classic just like The Wolfman starring Lon Chaney Jr. Thank you for reading and if your planning to see this movie GO don't listen to these other people.