Wolf starts as New York book editor Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is driving through New England when he run into a wolf, he gets out to see if the wolf is still alive & it is because it bites him on the hand & then runs off into the woods. Soon after Will starts to notice changes, the area around his hand wound starts to grow hair & his senses suddenly become exceptional including not needing glasses to see anymore. The publishing company he works for is being taken over by Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer) & he is fired to be replaced by his protégé Stweart Swinton (James Spader) but the usually mild mannered & meek Randall suddenly develops an aggressiveness as he fights to regain his old job...
Directed by Mike Nichols the main question I ask myself after watching Wolf a few hours ago is 'why?'. The script by Jim Harrison & Wesley Strick is a strange mixture of horror film, black comedy, drama & romance which don't really come together that well. There's the plot where Randall is bitten by a wolf & starts to turn into a Werewolf himself, there's the plot about Randall losing his job& using his new found aggression to get it back, there's the cheesy romance between Nicholson & Pfeiffer's character's as well as some emotional turmoil revolving around Randall's wife having an affair. At times it felt like I was watching three different films but starring the same people. According to the IMDb's 'Trivia' section the release of Wolf was delayed by about 6 to 8 months so the entire third of it could be completely re-shot & I am convinced this is true as it explains perfectly why none of the story threads & plot lines come together that well & it just fizzles out into a standard 'bad guy gets killed & the hero & his girl live happily ever after' type ending which I imagine the studio heads at Columbia Pictures insisted on, it would be very interesting to find out just what the original 40 odd minute final third was & what happened in it although I doubt we ever will. At over 2 hours in length Wolf is far too long, it's a tad dull as well as there's not much wolf action in it. I suppose the moral of the film is that we all have a bit of animal survival of the fittest type aggression in us & we shouldn't be afraid to use it to our benefit, & why not! Still, at over 2 hours this bored me & not enough happened.
Director Nichols doesn't do anything special here & the film is rather bland, lifeless & dull. There's no style here, there's nothing scary, there's no tension & the tacked on re-filmed twist ending is rather predictable. As already noted by many it's ironic that some of the best special make-up effects guy's in the business at that time worked on Wolf including Rick Baker who did the groundbreaking effects on An American Werewolf in London (1981) & George Lucas' special effects company ILM yet they were brought in to created obviously very low key effects that the likes of Ed Wood or Al Adamson would have done due to lack of budget. For instance when Nicholson turns into the wolf all the effect consists of is large bushy sideburns, contact lenses & plastic fangs. It's all rather underwhelming & uninspiring. Forget about any gore as there isn't any & there's no nudity either.
Apparently this had a budget of about $70,000,000 which I find astonishing, Nicholson was paid a nice tidy $13,000,000 & I suppose 40 odd minutes were junked & totally re-shot but even so 70 big ones sounds like a lot of money to me considering what ends up on screen. This has a decent cast including Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer & James Spader while British viewers may notice Prunella Scales from Fawlty Towers (1975 - 1979) in a small role.
Wolf is an inexplicably big budget horror film without much horror, it's plot is loose & doesn't really come together in any satisfying way at the end. I was disappointed. But I'll get over it so don't worry. Watch a decent Werewolf film like An American Werewolf in London again instead.
Directed by Mike Nichols the main question I ask myself after watching Wolf a few hours ago is 'why?'. The script by Jim Harrison & Wesley Strick is a strange mixture of horror film, black comedy, drama & romance which don't really come together that well. There's the plot where Randall is bitten by a wolf & starts to turn into a Werewolf himself, there's the plot about Randall losing his job& using his new found aggression to get it back, there's the cheesy romance between Nicholson & Pfeiffer's character's as well as some emotional turmoil revolving around Randall's wife having an affair. At times it felt like I was watching three different films but starring the same people. According to the IMDb's 'Trivia' section the release of Wolf was delayed by about 6 to 8 months so the entire third of it could be completely re-shot & I am convinced this is true as it explains perfectly why none of the story threads & plot lines come together that well & it just fizzles out into a standard 'bad guy gets killed & the hero & his girl live happily ever after' type ending which I imagine the studio heads at Columbia Pictures insisted on, it would be very interesting to find out just what the original 40 odd minute final third was & what happened in it although I doubt we ever will. At over 2 hours in length Wolf is far too long, it's a tad dull as well as there's not much wolf action in it. I suppose the moral of the film is that we all have a bit of animal survival of the fittest type aggression in us & we shouldn't be afraid to use it to our benefit, & why not! Still, at over 2 hours this bored me & not enough happened.
Director Nichols doesn't do anything special here & the film is rather bland, lifeless & dull. There's no style here, there's nothing scary, there's no tension & the tacked on re-filmed twist ending is rather predictable. As already noted by many it's ironic that some of the best special make-up effects guy's in the business at that time worked on Wolf including Rick Baker who did the groundbreaking effects on An American Werewolf in London (1981) & George Lucas' special effects company ILM yet they were brought in to created obviously very low key effects that the likes of Ed Wood or Al Adamson would have done due to lack of budget. For instance when Nicholson turns into the wolf all the effect consists of is large bushy sideburns, contact lenses & plastic fangs. It's all rather underwhelming & uninspiring. Forget about any gore as there isn't any & there's no nudity either.
Apparently this had a budget of about $70,000,000 which I find astonishing, Nicholson was paid a nice tidy $13,000,000 & I suppose 40 odd minutes were junked & totally re-shot but even so 70 big ones sounds like a lot of money to me considering what ends up on screen. This has a decent cast including Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer & James Spader while British viewers may notice Prunella Scales from Fawlty Towers (1975 - 1979) in a small role.
Wolf is an inexplicably big budget horror film without much horror, it's plot is loose & doesn't really come together in any satisfying way at the end. I was disappointed. But I'll get over it so don't worry. Watch a decent Werewolf film like An American Werewolf in London again instead.