The Wolfman

            The full moon shines across the dark night and a booming howl cries out to it but it’s the only thing that shines in the new remake of The Wolfman.  The new adaption lacks the wonder and adventure it strives for and leaves the actors to tread over old territory.

            Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot who goes back to his childhood home to investigate the strange disappearance of his brother. He meets his father, Sir John Talbot played by Anthony Hopkins, and a dark family history is revealed. The body of his brother is found dead and ripped apart as if an animal had eaten him alive. Emily Blunt plays Gwen Conliffe, his brother’s fiancé, who begins to seek emotional support from Lawrence. A new werewolf emerges when Lawrence becomes one and soon starts to search for answers to his condition. Hugo Weaving plays Aberline, the law enforcer who is out to capture the menace threatening the village.

            The Wolfman suffers from a case of repetition lacking anything new in the genre. It tries to turn the film’s narrative into a dysfunctional family back-story with Sir John Talbot at the root of it all. When Lawrence is sent to a mental hospital for what they consider his lycanthropy delusions, he realizes that his father sent him there as a child. He finds out that his father is a werewolf and killed his mother and brother and turned him into a werewolf.  By the time Lawrence comes to this conclusion and the film reaches its climactic battle, the pay off doesn’t seem worth the two hours running time of the film.