When directors go back and reboot a franchise, the most successful are always those who boil a movie down to its core, give it a firm base in reality, and then let the character take you from there. Christopher Nolan boiled a man who wears a suit that looks like a bat down to a man whose family was killed and seeks vigilante justice. Spider-Man was more than a kid who got bit by a radioactive spider; it was about a kid growing up in the world and learning for every one of his actions there is a reaction. What Joe Johnston has done with The Wolfman is boiled a film about a man dealing with his inner demons down to simply a film about a man who turns into a wolf.  And breaking a film down and missing the mark only serves to reveal the films inherent silliness.

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The film kicks off with a very abrupt killing of a mysterious man who is soon revealed to be the son of Sir Anthony Hopkins and brother to Benicio Del Toro (I know, right?). So Benicio's Lawrence Talbot is summoned from his acting troupe back to his estranged home to search for his brother's killer. Upon his search he is mortally wounded by a creature and soon finds himself growing hair where there was previously none while simultaneously howling at the moon. Enter the Wolfman... albeit too little too late. Lawrence transforms into this growling, unstoppable beast once a month (like a lady right?...nevermind) only to wake and find himself lost, confused, and covered in other peoples' blood. Once he is revealed as the he-beast, he is taken to an asylum he had frequented in his youth and the plot seems to thicken as his brother's killer and his transformer are revealed.

The transformation CG is impressive and the makeup effects are believable while still paying homage to the creature effects of the 1941 original. But the melding of the two feels off, particularly when Del Toro is galloping along like a man in makeup in front of a green screen on a treadmill. The action scenes are where the film shines, but, as I said, there are too few of these and they come too late. Even when they do occur it's as if the editor was in a hurry to get to the next scene as they seem to start and stop hastily.  Disappointingly a viewing of your Planet Earth Blu Ray is probably more satisfying than the grand finale, which boils down to the equivalent of watching two dogs fight it out in the living room.

So what's the problem? Well, for one the pacing. Anytime Johnston seems to be building any form of suspense or tension he prematurely shoots his wad all over your face. Next, could be the script that lumbers along at a snail's pace, leaving the audience to mentally go, "ya ya ya, I know this part, get on with it!" Or, maybe it's the acting--from Sir Anthony masticating on the scenery to Benicio focusing ever so intensely on making his accent sound as American as he can.

The Wolfman isn't a total failure of a film, Hugo Weaving delivers a pleasant turn as Abberline, as does Emily Blunt as the widowed before her time ex-fiance Gwen. The film does have some spectacle to behold, and, while it's very disjointed, it is functional. I just wish it could have re-focused itself on what the movie was really supposed to be about, and not simply on a man who turns into a wolf.

--Greg MacLennan