Michael Rechtshaffen review - Book Report/Review Example

Michael Rechtshaffen opens his review of “The Wolfman” (Universal Studios) with a scathing indictment against its ability to hold true to the original version of the movie. He then slashes apart, with typing fingers in check, the acting, the scenes, and the essence of the movie, with a bigger pair of claws than the hairy ones that the Wolfman himself wields. Synopsis of “The Wolfman—Film Review” The reviewer's opening words are very graphic: “The Wolfman finally limps into theaters this weekend.

” He then calls the final version a 'salvage effort,' 'a jury-rigged Frankenstein's monster,' and a 'dull,defanged dirge' of a less than campy, guilty pleasure. Mr. Rechtshaffen tells us, in a combination of scholarly language mixed with a few key laymen's terms, his opinion of the 2010 version of the 1941 classic. He is not at a loss for highly descriptive words that don't leave us wondering what he really thought of it. In essence, Rechtshaffen states that The Wolfman was a cut-and-paste last-minute “hairy scary” version of the Lon Chaney/Bela Lugosi/Claude Rains epic.

He tips lightly into the acting work of Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins on velvet paws, then retracts the claws by saying no more about the movie's top-billed actors. The reviewer hits at “Jumanji” director Joe Johnston, and screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self without being too critical of their skills and talents in the area of horror filmography. He gives a winking nod of credit to special effects master Rick Baker (“An American Werewolf in London”) and composer Danny Elfman for his work on the musical score.

It did not take a silver bullet to kill The Wolfman. Just a silver screen: Dead on arrival.