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Benicio Del Toro, Andrew Kevin Walker, Joe Johnston - Looking Forward To The Wolfman

Mark Oakley 05/11/2009

Of all the movies to look forward to in 2010, The Wolfman is right up there with the best of them. With a release date that's been put back twice already, it's a remake of the 1941 classic starring the frankly iconic Lon Chaney Jr as the eponymous canidae of the title.

This time round it's Benicio Del Toro in the starring role which is a good/bad thing depending on whether you liked him in Che or hated him in Sin City/Traffic/Things We Lost In The Fire. Personally, I'm pro-Del Toro. His brief turns in Swimming With Sharks alongside Kevin Spacey and, of course, adult Bond Licence To Kill were terrific and I still remember how electrifying he was in The Usual Suspects to give him another chance to prove his worth again. Just don't let me down Benny, you here?

Another reason to be excited is that the screenplay is penned by Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, still yet to rediscover that golden form granted but 8MM and Sleepy Hollow also had his input and I happen to love those films too. With a solid screenplay, a strong cast that also includes Sir Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving (fresh from voicing Megatron in the last Transformers flick) and a healthy dose of special effects modern audiences crave this should be a winner.

There is one slight potential hiccup in that director Joe Johnston doesn't exactly have the most prolific or best of track records with 2004's Hidalgo his last effort preceded three years earlier by the third in the Jurassic Park series. He does at least have experience of working of big screen, big effects face-offs.

The trailer certainly suggests great things with a strong, dare I say Burton-esque visual style, fantastic man-wolf transformation effects and the dialogue has been left to the old pro Hopkins. A little too much music for my liking in the trailer but you can't have everything. See it for yourself by heading to the official site - www.wolfmanmovie.com - and decide whether you think this film, delayed from its original release date of April this year and then this November, looks worth the wait when it finally lands in February.