by mr h atom » Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:28 am
saw 'the wolfman' tonight...
thru the years this ones been prepping, i had the single highest hopes for it...as i read what then director mayk romanek had in mind; what his plan was...i began to get more than a little jazzed that a real werewolf movie...possibly one that might rival 'an american werewolf in london' ( the gold standard,as far as i'm concernd) might be in the making...
then, just weeks before production, romanek was gone, soon replaced by joe johnston...'honey i shrunk the kids'..!?! 'jurrasic park 3'...!!!?!!
...and then, even in this internet-soaked age...the wall of silence fell...and no one knew what was going on: just that it was...
but...i held out hope...i thought that just maybe , a beautiful, gigantic lycanthrope would be pulled out of a dark and gothic hat...
no such luck: johnston proceeded to toss out alot of what make-up artist rick baker & romanek collaborated with intimately on...and replaced an awful lot of real, prostetic screen time with CGI...
and...it is not terrible CGI...it's not 'van helsing' or 'league of suppositry gentleman' bad...
but it is, like, say, i am legend' (great book...still not done right) annoyingly...well...CGI
this, and it is clear johnston has no ability to direct actors for sublty of emotion, and this is a werewolf story that cries out for an emotive touch (hopknis is virtually wasted here)
and, the studio hired hands, brought in by to rework what the pinstrpied, dunderheads suddenly percieved as grievious script problems, managed to churn out a dull, aimless, head scratching overly-convoluted bit of hollywood anti-climacticism
(query: why greenlight a script..any script...and then endlessly rewrite it...especially if you are nothing more than a pinstriped executive..NOT a film-maker...just hand over the cash, and let the artists make the friggin films, already...pinstriped suit types are ruining every industry left in the world, and why..to justify thier highly inflated paychecks, that is why...
(ok..off the soapbox)
...so, you end up with what we have here..an extremely mildly entertaining, but, in the end, forgettable flick, where the greatest thing to come out of will, for any reall fan of good/great werewolf movies will be ...the fantasy of what might have been...
close...but not even a cheap, hav-a-tampa cigarillo
let ol' mr a...i mean, mr h save a ten spot or two...wait for video, friends
or, better yet...rewatch 'an american werewolf.." or, even..'the howling'...or the chaney original...or, better yet...the oliver reed, 'curse of the werewolf'..or 'ginger snaps'
you wake up...sip hot tea...mindless music, radio free. see blue skies and think of sea...how are you doin'
OK
