The Wolfman

THE WOLFMAN (2010) - Feb. 14, 2010
A surprisingly dull movie about an actor in 19th century England who returns home when his brother disappears under mysterious circumstances, only to find his brother dead and a strange creature on the loose.  Did I mention how dull it is?  I'm normally a pretty big fan of Benicio Del Toro, but his performance here was lifeless and just not interesting at all (which is generally the last thing you'd say about a Benicio performance).  The movie itself is way, way too slow-paced to be the fun escapism a monster movie like this should be, and way too bland and generic to suceed as any kind of character study or serious drama, so it's pretty much a complete fiasco.  There is, however, one really good sequence that finds Del Toro's character transforming into the wolfman in front of a group of horrified onlookers, and then rampaging through the streets of London.  This was easily the best part -- if the film had been peppered with more sequences like this, it would have been much more tolerable.  Oh, I should also mention the ending, which was bizarre and unintentionally comical.  *1/2