WOLF
A film review by Amanda Tuttle
Copyright 1994 Amanda Tuttle
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kate Nelligan, James Spader, and Christopher Plummer Directed by: Mike Nichols
Rating (out of 5*) : * * *
Okay, anybody ever see I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF? How about AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON? Horror fan staples, right? Well, if you thought those special effects were cheesy, or just not up to Hollywood par, you might want to wait until WOLF comes out on video. However, if you're a die-hard Jack fan (as I am) don't wait ... *perfect* casting with Jack as publishing house editor-in-chief dealing with human wolves in the concrete jungle. Says something about civilization, although at times, I felt it said it just a little too loud to be profound. The evil but dashing James Spader fulfills the "bad guy" role pretty well, although his bad guy is like Alex Keaton from FAMILY TIES without the Nixon worship. Michelle is beautiful as ever, although the plot seemed to find her switching from a "naughty-poor-little-rich-girl" character, to a sentimental and confused "you're-the-first-good-man-I've-ever-known" weeper. Hmmmmmm ....
However, overall, the movie was more comedy and a bit of suspense than any *real* horror. There were no real murder scenes, although there's a bit of gore under the fingernails of the plot, and the action is riveting, but those scenes were few and far between. As for the actual cinematography, some of the shots were interesting (see Jack jump. see Jack pounce.), but the slow-motion sequences are a bit too exaggerated (translated: cheesy) for my taste. The music was a bit too melodramatic at times, and some of the lighting was ... shall we say ... cliche?? The special effects were also a little tame compared to most "metamorph" films and was sort of disappointing. But overall, it was fun to watch, and the effect was one of a human in an animal city who finds the better part of his nature coming out in the "beast" ... deja vu? Yeah, but slightly different angles and even a little sad at times, although most of it is great humor. Watch for a great scene in the men's restroom with Jack and James.
The great thing about this movie is that there's actually some (gasp!) character development that made it very fulfilling to watch, in the sense that you could feel for Jack's character from almost the very beginning. A movie for romantics, for people who like thrillers and dry humor, for people who love Jack, but *not* for people who are expecting a nice Fangoria treat. Don't believe the trailers ... sorry ....
-Amanda
P.S. In case you've heard the rumors and are wondering about them, there is *no* computer animation with the wolves. They used puppets, though, and I think real footage of wolves superimposed ....
That's all ... enjoy.
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