Lawrence Talbot's (Benicio Del Toro's) childhood ended the night his mother died. His father sent him from the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor to an insane asylum, then he goes to America. When his brother Ben's (Simon Merrells') fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns to his father's estate to learn that his brother's mauled body has been found. Reunited with his estranged father Sir John Talbot (Sir Anthony Hopkins), Lawrence sets out to find his brother's killer, and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself. Someone or something with brute strength and insatiable blood lust has been killing the villagers, and a suspicious Scotland Yard Inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) comes to investigate.
Inspector Francis Aberline (Hugo Weaving) was based on Frederick Abberline, a Scotland Yard Inspector that investigated London's Jack the Ripper murders in 1888. This fantasy version of him very much resembles the one in From Hell (2001). See more »
Goofs
When Talbot is first in Gwen Conliffe's shop in London. There is a vase of flowers containing Stargazer lilies. The Stargazer lily was created in 1978 by Leslie Woodriff. See more »
Quotes
[First Lines]
Maleva:
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The planet in the Universal logo glows white. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Unrated Director's Cut includes additional scenes not seen in the theatrical release:
The Universal logo at the beginning of the film is the 1940's logo used in the original "The Wolfman"
Ben Talbot's death is slightly longer.
An entirely new sequence showing Lawrence Talbot performing in a London play. Gwen Conliffe visits him in his dressing room post-show and interrupts a party to inform him that his brother Ben has gone missing. Lawrence dismisses her by saying that he cannot help as he is contracted to do 30 performances and is leaving for the States in the morning. This sequence creates an anachronism/goof later in the film as instead of mentioning her visiting him in London, Lawrence continuously references a letter that Gwen sent him which brings him to Blackmoor (as seen in the theatrical version).
As Lawrence travels by train to Blackmoor, there is a scene with an uncredited Max Von Sydow as an old man who gives Lawrence his silver wolf-head cane as protection (the cane that Sir John Talbot wields at the end of the film).
The tavern scene is slightly longer. After MacQueen's "melted down me mum's silverware" story, the villagers scoff at the notion of the killer being a werewolf, and blame the Talbots' misfortune on their dealings with the gypsies. One of the villagers calls Lawrence's late mother a "crazy gypsy whore", and Lawrence angrily confronts him and throws a drink in his face. After Lawrence is kicked out of the tavern, the villagers realize his identity.
When the posse fires into the hole after MacQueen's arm is ripped off, a rifle slug nails MacQueen in the chest, killing him. Additionally, there are a number of deleted and extended scenes:
After his attack, Lawrence has a short conversation with Gwen where she blames herself for the tragedy that has befallen the Talbots. Lawrence looks out the window and sees the posse that has come to round him up and tells Gwen to get his father while he goes outside to talk to them (the "you bear the mark of the beast" scene)
Lawrence's conversation with Singh is slightly longer. After Lawrence asks him why he never left Blackmoor, Singh explains that Sir John saved his life many years ago and that as a result he vowed to stay by his side.
The mausoleum transformation scene is slightly longer.
The London chase scene is longer. The Wolfman walks into a costume party / opera performance and is mistaken for a costumed patron. He attacks one of the patrons but is chased off by Aberline and his men.
Additionally, the Wolfman crashes a puppet theater performance in a park and kills the puppeteer. Aberline chases him out of the park and into the path of a steam engine (as seen in the theatrical version).
The final fight is slightly longer and sequenced differently than the theatrical version.
Alright. When a pic is called 'The Wolfman', expectations aren't too high to begin with. But at least you expect an otherwordly atmosphere, a few thrilling scenes and, when Del Toro and Hopkins are involved, some decent acting. Nothing of the above was to be found in this faint copy of a copy. The dialogues were poorly written and Hopkins must have thought so as well, because he just rattles his lines as if only screentesting. Del Toro, as much as I adore him in others pics, is extremely miscast in this pic, having the same pained expression on his face in every scene. It's pretty safe to say the make-up artists won't win an Oscar either: Hopkins looks just like the character he played in Legends of the Fall, after the stroke, and Del Toro is wearing a wig which attracted my attention more then anything else. The only credit must be given to Hugo Weaving who, disregarding everything else, tried to make the best of his scenes. The storyline is not only predictable (which is not always a bad thing), its construction is painstakingly artificial which makes the characters look uncomfortable and implausible. As a result I could't care less about what happened to the characters and the scare-effects were lost to me. If anything, I had a few laughs.
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Alright. When a pic is called 'The Wolfman', expectations aren't too high to begin with. But at least you expect an otherwordly atmosphere, a few thrilling scenes and, when Del Toro and Hopkins are involved, some decent acting. Nothing of the above was to be found in this faint copy of a copy. The dialogues were poorly written and Hopkins must have thought so as well, because he just rattles his lines as if only screentesting. Del Toro, as much as I adore him in others pics, is extremely miscast in this pic, having the same pained expression on his face in every scene. It's pretty safe to say the make-up artists won't win an Oscar either: Hopkins looks just like the character he played in Legends of the Fall, after the stroke, and Del Toro is wearing a wig which attracted my attention more then anything else. The only credit must be given to Hugo Weaving who, disregarding everything else, tried to make the best of his scenes. The storyline is not only predictable (which is not always a bad thing), its construction is painstakingly artificial which makes the characters look uncomfortable and implausible. As a result I could't care less about what happened to the characters and the scare-effects were lost to me. If anything, I had a few laughs.