If there was anything positive I can take from “Twilight” being a success, it is that it inspired Universal to look at the classic movie monsters such as Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon”, and say to themselves “Wow, if vampires and werewolves are in right now, let’s dust off all our old movie monsters and bring them into the 21st century.”

That, of course, is exactly what they did, and I must admit that at first I was against it because the probability of error was pretty high. Even when they announced that it would star Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt, I was skeptical. It just felt like it was doomed to be a poorly executed movie that everyone did for the check. Well, just like my Super Bowl prediction I was DEAD WRONG! This movie was highly entertaining and served as the perfect antithesis for Valentine’s Day.

“The Wolfman” stars Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, an actor, who is summoned by his brother’s fiancée Gwen played by Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”, “Dan in Real Life”), to help discover the truth about the brother’s death. Lawrence agrees, despite not having been home in over ten years due to his hatred of his father John played by Anthony Hopkins. Upon his arrival he is told stories of a beast that roams the woods every full moon. He is skeptical until he is attacked by the beast and survives, although he is left with a nasty mark on his shoulder. The town immediately begins to fear Lawrence and wants him dead because they know exactly what is about to happen to him. On the next full moon the town’s fears are validated as Lawrence turns into a werewolf (I’d say “spoiler alert” but then again the movie is called “The Wolfman”).

I was surprised at how much fun I had watching this movie. It is definitely a guy movie, thanks to the carnage and bloodshed throughout, but there is also a decent amount of humor. Del Toro was a great choice because not only is he a great actor but unlike superstar werewolf Taylor Lautner, he doesn’t have the personality of a wet dish towel. Anthony Hopkins was excellent as always and was given an opportunity to be charming and funny. Emily Blunt was great as well.

If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea (or you were a bad boyfriend last weekend) then you can also see “Valentine’s Day”, or the other girl-friendly flick “Dear John.” If you want to go Olympian, check out the fantasy film “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.”

Thank You for reading and stay tuned as next week Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese take me to “Shutter Island”.

-Chauncey Telese

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