WOLF
A film review by John Oswalt
Copyright 1994 John Oswalt
Capsule review: A rather standard werewolf story set in modern-day New York: excellently cast, and very well done, despite the rather weak ending which leaves you saying, "is that all?" Jack Nicholson turns in his best performance since ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)
It has been quite a while since Jack Nicholson took the lead in a major film. Except for 1990's THE TWO JAKES (which he also directed, and which bombed), he hasn't carried a movie since PRIZZI'S HONOR. In WOLF, he is perfectly cast, and performs well. He's a bit older, and slightly toned down, but still has plenty of opportunity to flash us his patented sardonic grins. I would rank this performance right up there with the best of his career, in movies which solidified his reputation, such as EASY RIDER and FIVE EASY PIECES.
Jack plays a major publishing-house editor who gets bitten by a wolf while returning from a business trip to Vermont. He then begins changing. At first, the changes are all positive. He can see without his glasses, his bald spot fills in with hair, he can smell and hear better. He feels better and has renewed sexual vigor. He's more aggressive in attacking the problems he has on the job, and in his personal life.
But at night, he loses control and turns into a wolf, and does awful things which torment him when he is more himself, during the day.
Michelle Pfeiffer, never lovelier, plays the love interest, the grown-up former rebellious X-Generation daughter of the billionaire who buys Jack's publishing house. She plays her part very well, but is not given enough to do. WOLF is very much Jack Nicholson's movie.
James Spader is excellent as the main bad guy, the junior executive who covets Jack's job as senior editor. His role is reminiscent of Dickens' Uriah Heep: forever claiming how humble he is, but secretly scheming to take over.
I was looking forward to a new score from Ennio Morricone, best known for his music for THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, and the other Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns. The music here is hardly noticeable. Perhaps that is good, since it blends in and serves its purpose.
Om Puri, the rickshaw wallah in Roland Jaffe's CITY OF JOY, has a small part as an old scholar whom Jack seeks out when he searches for help in understanding his new powers and predicament. Puri has made more than a hundred movies in India, but we have seen very little of him in the West. I hope this changes, because he is a fine actor.
There is some sex and some violence, but it is not particularly graphic. The movie is rated R, but I can't see why. I think PG-13 would be more appropriate.
Product Placement: Lipton Tea.
Science fiction fans will recognize a wall full of Tor books in one scene. Tom Doherty and Tor Books received a thanks in the credits for this.
The main failing of the movie is the ending. It doesn't have the courage to take the situation to its logical conclusion, and instead cops out by ending with something which is supposed to be a surprise, and leaving the main plot question--what happens to Jack--up in the air.
But overall, it's quite effective. All the supporting parts, including several I didn't mention, are well done. Mike Nichols does a solid job of directing. This is not a special effects movie, but the effects that there are are believable. In my opinion, WOLF is the best release of the summer season so far. I rate it a low +2 on the Mark Leeper -4 to +4 scale.
John Oswalt
jao@netcom.com
jao@megatest.com
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews