The Wolfman

Last night Acturon and I enjoyed another free Redbox rental. The movie of choice was "The Wolfman." I heard some very mixed reviews about this movie when it was in theaters. Some reviews were so bad that I ignored the movie entirely for a long time. I don't recall how I came across the knowledge, but it was when I found out that Anthony Hopkins played a role in the movie that I began to take the time to at least take a better look at the movie.

Yes, I'm one of those movie watchers that like to consider the actors/actresses in the movie as part of the weight in my decision of whether or not to see the movie. There are, of course, flaws to this method as you occasionally run into movies that don't meet your standards. For example, those times when the actors/actresses take a role to expand their horizons and choose a film that is not of the genre that you typically enjoy (as the case for me with Green Zone and Matt Damon). This doesn't mean the movie is a "flop", but you can't expect to fully enjoy the combination of a genre you hate (war movies) with an actor you love (Matt Damon). At best you get an appreciation for a genre you previously despised, or in the worst scenario, you develop a distaste for an actor/actress you were once very fond of. However, more often than not I find that picking movies based on the cast can often yield to a very enjoyable movie watching experience - as was the case last night.

I have no idea who the main actor was in Wolfman ("Benicio Del Toro"). I don't recall seeing any movies with him in the past. I vaguely recognized the supporting actress ("Emily Blunt"). However I have yet to see a movie where Anthony Hopkins failed to act convincingly. We were also very amused to see that Agent Smith made an appearance with the usual "Missster Andersssson..." dialogue. :) "Okay," you may be saying "so what? The acting's good, what about the action?"

I would say this movie has a good 85% of "I'm on the edge of my butt to see what happens next." Not to say that there was not a predictable plot progression, Acturon and I surely guessed a number of things as we watched the movie. But it was still enthralling to see how the "movie crew" chose to lead us to our suspected conclusions. I say movie crew because it's more than just the director that takes you there, in my opinion.

"So what was the other 15%" you may ask? Well there was about a 5-15minute (I wasn't watching the clock). It was either 5 minutes that felt like fifteen or else it was fifteen minutes too long of just what I will refer to as a dragged out scene with no dialogue or meaningful progression. I suppose if I were to watch it again I might appreciate what the director was aiming for, but as I sat waiting to see what the "Lawrence" character would do next, I failed to appreciate the "stalling."

Overall though, this movie did not disappointed. I was even a little surprised at the way they chose to end the movie. I don't think this would really qualify as a "for my collection" movie, but I definitely would not be opposed to watching it again. And so... the official Aeslabelle rating is as follows:

Aeslabelle's Grade: B+