My review of THE WOLFMAN. WOOT.
Okay. Wow. I have a lot to say. But I just have to remember it so that I can tell you. Wait, wait, I'm getting something.... OH I KNOW! Let's get started then, shall we...?
First of all I want to boo and hiss to everyone who thought this movies sucked without any giving it a chance. I think that it takes a brave soul to like this movie and to say it. I guess I'm pretty brave. I went to see the film with one of my friends yesterday because it was her birthday and we wanted to celebrate in style, and I LOVED IT.
I pretty much loved everything about this film. I loved the color. I think that the cinematographer [whoever they were] did an AWESOME AWESOME JOB. Basically the cinematographer helps set up shots and make sure that what they are seeing on the actual set makes it onto film looking just the same. They basically work with color, focus, and lighting. So anyway, the cinematographer did his job by making the color, and feel of this fictional world stand out. The forest was what really drew me in. The way the fog completely enveloped everything was really great, and the contrast between the forest in the day and the forest at night really helped to symbolize what was going on inside Lawrence's head. The shots of the film, in my opinion, were also very interesting. Because it was a 'horror' fic there were a lot of 'horror style' shots put into play, and I just happen to be a fan of the 'horror style' shots. Mostly they are gritty and try to elude to the fact that something is going to happen. You may, for example, be looking into a room. But the nature of the shot controls what you see. Because the film maker is trying to scare you, you may not be able to see the full doorway. This gives the director and story teller the upper hand. They could do anything with that little bit of doorway missing from the shot so that when the character in question turns his head the tiniest bit they, and the people watching the film, will see something else exposed that hadn't been before, and most usually, this something is frightening.
Okay, so enough about the style and the 'look' of the film. Let's talk about the actors. Though I'm not trained to see flaws in acting I think that I can pick them up pretty well, being a theatre and film junky. In a lot of reviews that I read for this movie [I read them before I actually saw the movie, mind you] people kept saying the same thing. The acting was terrible, and the characters were flat and lifeless. To this I say WHAT? In my opinion, most of you are probably thinking, "Oh no, not again with her opinion" haha, anyway, in my opinion I thought that the actors were [most of the time] spot on. I know that it was a big thing for a lot of people that Lawrence, played by Benicio Del Toro, was quiet and muttered EVERYTHING. Personally, I thought that this was how he was supposed to be. As a viewer I figured that Lawrence, as a character, was a quiet, emotionally wounded man, and truth be told, his character was one of the reasons I enjoyed the film so much. I enjoyed the fact that we, as an audience would see a different side of the wolfman. We saw how he felt from his end. To us, or at least to me, Lawrence did not seem like a monster. He seemed like a very poor man who was in the wrong place at the worst time. I enjoyed his quiet noble behavior but was deeply saddened by his obvious depression. People who have never been depressed or dealt with a depressed person may not know what I'm saying but... I think that Del Toro was dead on with his portrayal of a deeply depressed man. It was obvious that Lawrence was suffering from emotional issues. He looked exhausted all of the time and hardly smiled or made eye contact with anyone. I thought his character was perfect, of course this may be because of the fact that I ALWAYS root for the underdog, just ask cherry_road . Finishing up the question of acting I will say that Emily Blunt was pretty good, if not a little annoying at times, but you know how it is, your boytoy dies and you find another one in the form of YOUR BOYTOY'S BROTHER! What? I will admit that the 'fall in love with your brother's girlfriend' is a bit weird. But, it was the olden days, and maybe being bitten by a werewolf makes your sex hormones rage or something. I don't really know. Emily Blunt is a pretty girl. And on one more point.... Anthony Hopkins was pretty good. Crazy and scary and freaky and mean and HOW THE HELL DID HE KICK DEL TORO AND MAKE HIM FLY ACROSS THE ROOM? But yeah. Sometimes creepy is good, and from Hopkins I've come to expect it.
Overall I really liked the movie, even though it was pretty awkward and throughout the whole film I wanted to sit down with Lawrence, clean his face, give him a BIG GIANT CHOCOLATE COOKIE, and put him to bed [and not like that, get you mind outta the gutter]. Oh and maybe give him some of that antidote for lycanthropy from Van Helsing.