Category: Movie Reviews

    Just like the duality of the Wolfman himself, there is a wild and crazy fun part to this movie and a serious, dull, lifeless partition as well.  When it’s scary it you are truly on edge.  The attacks are fast and furious and full of realism.  The special effects and sound mixing are both crazy good which makes the film even more frightening when it needs to be.  Hopkins makes for an excellent wild card character, although too much of the story is given away in the trailer that should have been left for the film.  Some will find the violence to be a little too much for them and I strongly advise the squeamish not to attend this one. 

    But then there are the moments when he is human and those are the times when you just want to take a restroom or refreshment break.  There is an attempt by the filmmakers to make it seem like the movie is moving in fast forward, but not even that is overly helpful.  Maybe the boredom comes because we are so used to the goings on in a film such as this.  After all, the story here is not exactly breaking new ground as we have seen it over and over and over again.  It’s hard to make a remake of the original Wolfman and freshen it up by just adding modern special effects and production values.  Now granted, the story here is slightly slanted from the original 1941 tale, but the conventions are largely the same.

    I have to admit, this film surprised me.  I felt that the trailers sold it as an R-rated version of Taken, with Mel getting his vengeance on a plethora of baddies in heinous ways for what they did to his daughter.  This film is far from that.  Don’t get me wrong, it has its share of Mel committing violence, but the movie is not about violence, which is how it’s being sold.  Mel is simply a father that wants to know the truth and he finds out too much.  The theme is stated very shortly after his daughter’s death as he is pouring her ashes into the ocean telling her “I’ll be with you shortly honey.”  He’s a man that now has nothing to lose and knows that the direction he is going only has one destination.

    But the movie turns out to be even more than that.  With a subplot involving a secret agent (Winstone) the movie turns out to deliver a sharp, resounding message about our political system, special interests, and the potential of America.  It’s a deeper and more thought-provoking film than I could have expected or imagined.

    I’ll just get this out of the way since everyone has been saying it – yes this is totally ‘movie of the week’ material.  It probably didn’t deserve the big screen treatment it got and although Ford’s character tries to throw in a bit of conflict to keep things interesting, it just isn’t meant for ‘the movies.’ 

    That being said – it’s a darn high quality movie of the week.  The acting by all is far above what you would have gotten normally in a film such as this as are the production values.  If the goal is to get the story out there in grand fashion, I can’t think of a better platform than what they chose and it’s a gusty move putting a movie like this into theaters competing with what most folks consider to be popcorn-worthy pictures. 

    One thing a lot of folks may or may not like is how manipulative it is.  This film sets out to make you cry – a lot.  And even I had to fight it back a couple of times.  It’s very difficult to watch children dying (even children acting like they are dying) and not have an emotional response.  But this starts to get sappy after a while. 

    Also, the story has to follow a predictable path, I fully understand that, which means it’s important for the hero to lose everything at the end of the second act, but I have a feeling that most of the audience will be a little confused as well as depressed since the science-heavy talk abounds at the same time the hero is at his lowest.  They tried to keep this simple, but I know a lot about the health sciences field having worked in it for much of my life, and even I had to concentrate. 

    Story-wise, the film is very similar to last year’s film The Wrestler.  There’s the down and out male lead with potential and the single mother he falls for that could be his salvation.  That being said, the movie doesn’t have nearly the quality of story or the heart of the Mickey Rourke vehicle, but what it does have is a tremendous performance by the amazing Jeff Bridges.  Bridges seems so at home with this character that it almost appears he was born to play it.  As an outside observer you really want this character to rise above and get the girl and you really feel the pain when he screws up over and over again. 

    Just as impressive as the acting by Bridges though, is the wonderful soundtrack with an impressive assortment of music compiled by T-Bone Burnett, the same fellow that brought us Across the Universe and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  It seems that whenever you hear a soundtrack that you just have to go out and buy afterward, this man’s name is on the label.  So far the song ‘The Weary Kind’ by he and Ryan Bingham has already scored a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and a Golden Globe and will probably be the front runner for the Oscar.

    I found myself very torn by this film.  It’s not that the material was too tough considering the talent of the filmmaker, but rather how Jackson handled it.  Some things he did I thought were absolutely brilliant, and others I thought were horrible mistakes that were almost laughable. 

    I’m not so concerned that he varied from the book and toned down the murder quite a bit.  After all, had he included the girl being raped and murdered, the tone would have been much darker, and much more difficult to watch.  As it stands, the murder is not shown and rape is not even implied and that was probably a good decision.  That being said, I’m not sure if the tone was dark enough the way it was made.  A PG-13 movie about a girl who was slain just doesn’t sit right with me.  It feels too light at times when it should be much heavier. 

    So where he went right was in his handling of the ethereal quality of the ‘In Between’.  It’s a beautiful, eerie place and everything from the spectacular visuals to the enveloping sounds create a world for the audience that is a truly unique theatrical experience.  The only film I’ve ever seen that comes close to matching this unique look is the Oscar-winning What Dreams May Come, a spectacular vision of the afterlife. 

    Acting-wise, Ronan and Tucci both turn in terrific performances as the hunted and the hunter.  Before this film I thought Tucci would get his Oscar nod for Julie and Julia, but this role solidifies a nomination, although a win is unlikely with Christoph Waltz in the running.  He is the ultimate creepy neighbor and Ronan is the perfect naive girl that falls into the trap.  Wahlberg on the other hand was horribly miscast as the dad and his overacting is hard to stomach at times.  Weisz delivers a less than desirable performance as well.

    There were also a few huge logic flaws of which I can’t get into detail without spoiling the film.  Let’s just say that common sense tells you that if you are going to throw something very, very heavy into a pit, you pull the truck up to the pit.  You don’t push it end over end over end for thirty feet just so there is time to add an important scene in between.  This is moronic and Jackson could have easily come up with another story device to give him what he needed here.  As for the other flaws – you’ll see them as they come and you’ll snicker.  They are annoying and get in the way of the storytelling.

    What really lacks here is the emotional punch you would expect from a movie about a dead girl.  Perhaps it’s because she is telling her own story so matter-of-factly, but whatever the reason, I found it hard to get emotionally involved with any of the characters.  To go back to the What Dreams May Come example, that film had me crying from start to finish, while this film failed to get me to shed a single tear.   

    After first watching this film I didn’t quite know how to take it.  The trailer and basic description tell the story of a soldier that falls in love with the widow of a fallen officer, a move that is completely taboo.  I was glad to see the film is not that story.  It’s not that easy.  The relationship between Foster and Morton is interesting, but that is a minor subplot. 

    The real story lies within Foster himself as he tries to heal both physically from a wound he received in battle, and emotionally from the many scars that formed up while fighting.  At first he is resistant to the new job claiming that he has no grief counseling experience.  He is quickly told he is not to counsel.  He is merely to say the words on the script, do not touch the N.O.K.’s, and move on.  After a while, you can just see him wanting to leap out of his skin to help the people being told about their lost sons/daughters/husbands and not being able to because of rules and regulations.  It makes him sick.  And his performance his perfect.  Also played to perfection is Harrelson, whose tough as nails, no vulnerability character can see the empathy in his partner’s eyes, and doesn’t like it one bit. 

    As for a general story, the inner turmoil doesn’t provide for the best plot, which might drive some folks nuts that wish for tighter, more by-the-book storytelling.  The writing and directing are first rate as far as pacing, character-building, and overall energy, but it takes a lot of thought to figure out exactly what the film is about and there still might be some arguing afterward.