"It's a film in the mist Full of grim carnage and plenty of CGI, a remake with astonishing respect for the 1941 original." - Time Out "
The title character in [Wolfman] is suffering from an identity crisis, and so is the movie." - - "The New York Times"
"Seductive eyesight, mind powerless." - "Watching Movies"
There are no wolves
[Wolfman] The Wolfman
Director: Joe Johnston Joe Johnston
Starring: Benicio Del Toro Toro / Emily Blunt / Anthony Hopkins / Hugo Weaving
Genre: Thriller / Horror
Level: R
Produced by: Universal
Duration: 102 minutes
Release Date: February 2010 On the 10th,
with the hot screening of [Shutter Island] last weekend, [Wolfman], which is also a horror theme, announced with a drop of nearly 70% and a box office of only 50 million US dollars in two weeks of release. The dream of recovering the cost in the country has been completely shattered. This catastrophic result was not difficult to predict from the very beginning of the film's release. Realistic stunts piled up with huge sums of money could not replace the lack of original horror, and gorgeous costumes could not fill the huge hole in the film's plot. De Toro and Hopkins The acting skills can't save the thin character image. It is no wonder that after the film was released, it attracted verbal criticism from major mainstream media.
Can't get up again
Different from traditional monster movies, werewolves, vampires, and zombies belong to the human mutation group, which focuses more on the fear and distrust caused by the alienation between people in the post-industrial society. The identities of whimsy or urban legends spread the tragic stories of love and death intertwined with different colors. The werewolf is the most representative example. People who live in isolation are bitten by loneliness. The accumulating depression and anger finally erupts on the night of the full moon. Generally hunt humans everywhere. But after he regained his senses, the identity crisis brought about by a deep sense of guilt made him even more fearful and uneasy. In order to eliminate this fear, there is only constant alienation and hunting until complete beastization. At this time, killing is no longer an immoral thing, but becomes a natural daily behavior like eating and sleeping, and it becomes the only means of survival. , eventually became the whole meaning of life.
Unlike vampires and werewolves who appear as the protagonists, the zombies who appear as the source of absolutely evil fear in zombies and zombie-like films are the absolute opposite of human beings. The behavior pattern symbolizes the fear of human beings in the world of nuclear war during the Cold War and the apocalyptic vision after the nuclear war. The grandfather of zombie films, George A. Romero and John Carpenter's "The Thing", and Sam Raimi's "Ghost Man" series pioneered this type of film. Plasma and viscera are its visual hallmarks and one of the exciting points that stimulates the audience. But with the emergence of some extreme zombie films (such as Peter Jackson's [Zombie Played], which spilled blood to the extreme), the resistance of the audience has become stronger and stronger, and the pure-blooded zombie films have long since declined. In the new millennium, Carpenter's Ghost of Mars and its remake of Romero's Dawn of the Living Dead put the final touches on the traditional zombie movie. Improvement and grafting followed. Just one month after the release of the remake of Dawn of the Living Dead, Edgar White and Simon Pegg's "Shaun of Zombies" came out and became popular all over the world, attracting countless followers, and soon it became a zombie comedy. of residual value. But the exploration of zombie movies is not over. The gothic zombie movie [Thirty Polar Nights], which made zombies play cool, propped up the worst few years of zombie movies. With the successful exploration of the pseudo-documentary [REC], and the continuous release of experimental zombie films with positive significance, such as [Terrorist Ruins] and [Thorn], zombie films seem to have crossed the polar night and ushered in the dawn again. In the second half of 2009, two highway zombie films [Doomsday Virus] and [Zombie Land] opened a new chapter for zombie movies. Especially [Zombieland], watching the trailer is not easy, but the main film is full of aftertaste. The growth of teenagers, the healing of spiritual wounds, and the blending of strange characters are simply a painless zombie version of Sundance teen movies.
Different from the bumpy revival road of zombie films, the vampire films, which inherited the noble blood, immediately set their sights on the flower girl after experiencing a short and happy marriage with the action film. The nympho vampire movie [Twilight] series born in accordance with the trend of the times has ravaged almost all teen (maybe more appropriately) audiences like the plague, and its terrifying yield has made the once teenage overlord [Harry Potter]. ] All sighed that the afterlife was terrifying. [Blood Invasion], which is also an exotic with [REC], also blazed another path for vampire movies with its artistic achievements. And "Dawnbreaker" released at the beginning of the year is a wonderful flower in the field of B-grade films, regaining the position of traditional vampire films in a brand-new way.
And the werewolf younger brother, who has always succumbed to vampires, is not so lucky. Of the three human variants on screen, werewolves have the least impact. As vampire slaves, although they have the strongest single combat power, they are bound by the transformation time limit and cannot fight for a long time. At the same time, it is difficult to achieve the cluster advantage of zombies. Although they are infected in the same way, due to the powerful destructive power of werewolves, few people can survive under their hands, which is fatal to the continuation of the population. In terms of shape, in addition to being a bit more powerful than the equivalent of brain-dead zombies, werewolves are really difficult to attract the attention of girls like noble and elegant vampires, and the loss of reason after transformation has basically cut off their on-screen love. the road. One can't dominate the rivers and lakes like zombies, and two can't be pampered like a vampire and pick up girls. There is neither country nor beauty. After the successful transformation with the [Underworld] series of Kate Beckinsale and her husband, it has not been long before I dreamed of leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade. In the third part, Kate took her husband and turned and left, leaving only the werewolf alone in the empty boudoir, unable to get up again in the embarrassing movie [Underworld Legend: The Rise of the Wolf Race].
But this third-rate movie, which was expected to fail, did not stop Hollywood's determination to revive the werewolf. The [Wolfman], who inherited the purest bloodline, was released in costume under the attention of the public, but unfortunately fell, and the Hollywood rule of "postponing the release, there must be no good work" has been fulfilled once again. With the box office failure of [Wolfman], and looking at the vampire army led by [Twilight] and the huge zombie army resurrected by [Zombieland], the werewolf of Wannian Xiaosan must be crying without tears. Bar! It is also true that the huge investment and the incomparably powerful cast (each of them are enough to support any movie) in exchange for such a result, the director and the producer are absolutely to blame. .
Inaccurate positioning
This film is not so much a monster movie, but a superhero that is closer to the magical comics. It is simply a sad version of the Hulk in ancient costumes that must be hung at the end. The plot and character settings are even more similar to Ang Lee's version [Hulk] It is exactly the same (like the line between father and son). Peter Jackson's [King Kong], contrary to the original, also falls into this category. It's a pity that this kind of plot setting was not bought by the audience in the new century. [King Kong] was not well received, and the two versions of [Hulk] were a complete failure. Now it's not surprising that [Wolfman] repeats the same mistakes.
But such a plot setting is not the real culprit of the film's demise. The producer's inaccurate positioning of the film is the culprit. First of all, the film is entangled in the question of whether it is a commercial or an Olympic bid. If it is an Olympic bid, the release time is completely out of season. If it is a commercial film, the choice to be released on Valentine's Day is also debatable. Although he was the only one who was waiting for a horror film in the same period, as a tragic film in the cloak of a horror film, he seemed to have forgotten his M physique. You must know that only traditional monster movies with S physique can really play the special bonus effect of the Valentine's Day schedule. [Percy Jackson and the Lightning Rogue] in this regard instead replaces [Wolfman]'s lack of functionality in this regard as a fantasy adventure. Not only did he not make money, but he also cheapened his opponent. Such a business misstep is unforgivable. Secondly, as far as genre films are concerned, the film is extremely faithful to the original and has no personality at all. If it is a tribute, it makes sense, but the director is not Quentin, and you are not Rodriguez. The most striking thing on your resume is the [Jumanji] 15 years ago. It is better to say that it is not a tribute is courting death. Take a look at [Sherlock Holmes], which was released as early as January. It was changed beyond recognition but made a lot of money. The producer must have regretted it!
The plot is out of focus
. At the beginning of the film, from Universal's LOGO to the transition of dead branches and full moon to CAST, the effects are quite delicate and sincere. The overall atmosphere is similar to [Caroline], and the gothic atmosphere is fully displayed. The werewolf also appears at the beginning of the episode, and after an old-fashioned chase through a third perspective, he kills De Toro's brother with one claws. Although the appearance of the werewolf is not amazing, but it is still stable, it is a bit of killing for the audience, and the stage sense is too heavy. The second time the werewolf appeared, it staged the bloodiest gypsy camp spree in the film. In order to highlight the strength of the werewolf, the director does everything he can, with sharp claws everywhere, broken arms all over the sky, heads all over the place, Wolverine and saber-toothed tigers all bowed down. And although he is huge, his movements are extremely fast, and he can change his shape and change shadows, which is comparable to Spider-Man. There is something wrong with the story here. After removing the background of the times and cutting out the bloody scenes, it is clearly the stuff of magical comics! The purpose of horror movies is to make people feel the atmosphere of horror, but how can the massacre here have a carnival flavor in it. It seems to be a closed Colosseum, and the audience sitting in the stands is inexplicably confused by this seemingly cruel but actually pleasant atmosphere. Why do I feel happy watching werewolves kill people? Because this is simply a show! The person who was brutally killed by the werewolf also deliberately raised his broken palm to the center of the screen, as if to say: "Look at me, I am so miserable..." The people in this scene only exist as props that need to be destroyed, so the audience does not There will be any sense of substitution. The number of killings is inversely proportional to the effect of terror, because the more surreal, the farther away from everyday life, the so-called terror becomes a fantasy that no one wants to believe (even for a moment).
Compared with the miscalculation of the film's positioning, the degree of ambiguity of the plot is even greater than that. He has made all kinds of mistakes that should not have been committed. The above is just one point, that is, it is clearly a horror movie, but it is not scary at all, and it is quite funny. The only effective means of intimidation is the legendary "stunning surprise" that is the oldest, most effective, most tried-and-true, and most challenging to human reflexes. The fast-cut, flashing horror pictures are combined with a sudden increase of 100 decibels of loud noise, which is an indecent trick that makes normal humans rapidly increase blood pressure and accelerate heartbeat. The most shameless thing is that there is a scene where it is used three times in a row, and the harmony has reached the height of Heng Yuanxiang, which is really admirable. Another major problem is that the character relationships are too stylized and the emotional preheating is insufficient. After all, the 102-minute film length is too short for such an A-level production. Father and son turn their eyes against this line. Although the audience can understand the meaning and reason, they can't really treat it emotionally, that is, they can't hate Grandpa Hopkins. This is simply dereliction of duty as the villain BOSS! And this line that is incoherent with Emily Blunt, the brother and sister-in-law who has never been through the door, is also more ceremonial than true emotion, that is, the rogue law that the legendary director let you be together and you must be together.
Character failure
In the evaluation of major mainstream media, Benicio De Toro and Anthony Hopkins are mostly praised for their acting skills, and this is true. After all, they are veterans of the film industry for decades. It's not that easy to miss out. But excellent acting does not mean that the character is brilliant. If the character's settings are inherently flawed, no one can come back to life. De Toro's trauma is not bad, after all, he is the protagonist, and his face is almost never left on the screen. As long as it's not too outrageous, the audience will not buy it. Hopkins was a little depressed. The film never had a positive description of him. It was all brought out by De Toro's scenes, so he couldn't get rid of the sense of NPC-like props. And in the final BOSS battle, after gaining an overwhelming advantage, he was killed by De Toro's next move to force the protagonist's halo, and his head was kicked like a ball. The Blunt vase is very thorough, so I won't go into details. The most helpless is Hugo Weaving. Unfortunately, he has become a human sign board. He pretends to be very strong, but in fact he is super weak, his marksmanship is poor, and his commanding ability is poor. And in the end, he became the star of a sequel that didn't exist.
Samsung
Wen/Tianwangjun (UK)
——Originally published in "Watching the Movie", with abridged
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