You know what that sound means? It's another
episode of Game for a Movie where we ask, are
you game for a movie? My name is Mike. I will
be your host for the third episode in our spoopy
season. It is a movie that actually I know we
only cover bad movies. And when I say this, you're
going to be a little confused. But this is a
movie that has won an Oscar. Yes, we are going
to get. Well into that, but first, of course,
we talk about what we are drinking. Right now,
Sierra Nevada has a special limited edition beer.
This is the Cosmic Little Thing. It is a hazy
double IPA, and the can art is pretty cool. It's
a very big tall boy, like super tall boy, and
it was two for $6, so of course I had to do it.
And it's pretty good, actually. I really enjoy
it. Unfortunately, it is limited edition, so
I'm a little worried about when I drink these
two. It's going to be gone. Like I'm not going
to be able to find it again, depending on when
I finish it by. I know what you're saying. Stock
up, get a bunch of it, everything like that.
Beer is weird, especially limited editions. They
usually need to be drank pretty early on in the
process. You can't just like leave it in your
fridge for a while. But I'm going to try my best
to have as many before it goes away. Okay, let's
get on to the bad movie. If you haven't seen
the title of this episode and you're just tuning
in, well, thank you very much for just listening
to whatever we are putting out there. But this
is The Wolfman from 2010. It was released February
12, 2010. It is rated R. It is about an hour
and 42 minutes. It is a horror, mystery, thriller,
action movie. Yes, all of those things in one.
It is a horror mystery thriller action movie.
This movie stars Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt,
Anthony Hopkins, and unexpected, because I knew
those three weren't it, unexpectedly Hugo Weaving.
When he showed up, it was one of those, I'm sorry,
is that Hugo Weaving? According to Rotten Tomatoes,
it sits at a perfect 33%, 33 % critic score,
33 % audience score. So about a 33 % if you're
doing the math, which I was told there'd be no
math. So let's get started with a little bit
about this movie. This is one of the four attempts
that was made to launch the Universal Dark Universe.
Obviously, everybody wants to try to compete
with Marvel Cinematic Universe, and there has
been four attempts that just haven't seemed to
be going the right way for Universal. We had
Van Helsing. This is the second attempt, the
Wolfman. The third attempt was Dracula Untold.
And finally, we covered it last year, 2017's
The Mummy starring Tom Cruise. All of them so
far have failed to work. And obviously they've
kind of gone through with they're going to add
a dark park to Universal Studios so they can
use all their monster movies and everything like
that that they still have the rights for. They're
creating a dark universe land kind of thing.
Obviously, I'm going to go into more details,
but here's a brief synopsis for the beginning.
Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an
American man is bitten and subsequently cursed
by a werewolf. This movie was directed by Joe
Johnston. And Joe Johnston, if you recognize
that name, has a lot of movies to his name. He
is responsible for directing Honey, I Shrunk
the Kids, The Rocketeer, The Pagemaster, The
Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Jumanji, October
Sky, Jurassic Park 3, Captain America The First
Avenger, and, of course, The Wolfman. He's not
the only one who worked on this movie that had
success outside of The Wolfman and everything
like that. We've got the writers. There was three
writers on this movie credited. There is Andrew
Kevin Walker. Andrew Kevin Walker is known for
writing The Killer, Seven, Sleepy Hollow. He
has a bunch of projects that he's been known
for and a couple wins as well for some awards.
Second writer, his name is David Self. He is
known for writing Road to Perdition, 13 Days,
and 1999's The Haunting, which we covered last
year on this show as well. And finally, the last
writer that gets credit is Kurt Siadmek. He had
actually died in 2000, so I know what you're
thinking. How could he be credited with the writing
part of The Wolfman? Well... He's kind of the
writer of a lot of Universal's monster movies
and everything like that. He's known for The
Wolfman from 1941, The Invisible Man Returns,
a bunch of other stuff like that. You know, The
Brain, we've got The Devil's Messenger, Sherlock
Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, Tales of Frankenstein,
a bunch of those kind of movies. He definitely
is a big part of why the Universal monster movies
were the things they were. back in the 40s, 50s,
60s, that kind of stuff. I do like that they
were willing to give Kurt a little bit of credit,
including him as a third writer on this thing,
because truthfully, let's face it, he deserves
it. This is his baby, so we wouldn't have this
movie if it weren't for the stuff he had done
in the 40s and 50s and everything like that beforehand.
As I started this episode, I had told you that
this is a bad movie that has won an Oscar, an
Academy Award. It actually has been nominated
for eight different awards and has four wins.
Most of these wins are for makeup and hairstyling.
That is what they won the Academy Award for.
That is Rick Baker and Dave Elsie. They won the
2011 Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup. They
also won the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy
and Horror Films Best Makeup. And some of the
other winners. We've got 2010 winner for BMI
Film and TV Awards for Best Film Music. That
was Danny Elfman. And the last one that they
won as well was the Gold Derby Awards 2011 winner
for Makeup and Hair. And truthfully, they deserve
all the credit for that. Like I said, this movie's
from 2010, and I know it's only 14 years ago,
but it's amazing sometimes how quickly the industry
changes because even though I'm sure it was great
for its time and everything like that, it looks
dated to even now, and it was only 14 years ago.
However, they did do an amazing job. It was very
good, and I'm sure for the time, it was excellent
and stands out. It definitely stands out as one
of those things in my head that when I'm thinking
of this movie, I will remember for a long time
the makeup and the hairstyling that they did.
So what do you think? Let's get into a synopsis
of what happened. Here is the step -by -step,
of course, of the Wolfman from 2010. They started
off as well with the Universal logo. They made
it the retro Universal logo, and that definitely
gets points for me. We get a title card that
says Blackmoor, England, 1891 to start us off.
There's a guy looking for something in the woods,
and he gets clawed down immediately by a wolf
with some decent claw effects, I would say. Then
we flash forward to Benicio Del Toro. He is playing
Hamlet in a traveling production. His character's
name, for the sake of everything, is Lawrence
Talbot. He is Lawrence Talbot. So after the show
of Hamlet, they are all having this after party.
And Emily Blunt, who plays Gwen Conleth, she
interrupts the after party and she is looking
for Ben. Ben is Talbot's brother. And she is
engaged to be married to Ben Talbot. When she
brings up that Ben is missing, Lawrence sends
the party away and says basically he'll catch
up with all of them after. And so they are talking.
She wants him to stay and try to find Ben because
she thinks that he'll be able to find him and
hopefully be able to convince him because he
seems like he just disappeared. But he's under
contract for 30 more performances of Hamlet.
They're traveling and they're going back to America
after those 30 performances. So he cannot help
find his brother Ben. So you think that's it
about this whole scene, but then, for whatever
reason, he changes his mind, and he's going back
to his ancestor's land, which is Blackmoor, England.
And so he's on a train to Blackmoor, and this
old man sits in the same train car as him, and
he offers him a very nice walking stick for the
moor, because it's a moor, you know? You need
something to help you stay upright and everything
like that. and this walking stick is made with
silver. Lawrence is very appreciative, but doesn't
take it. He doesn't want to take this old man's
walking stick, even though he offered it to him.
Lawrence falls asleep on the train, and when
he wakes up, they're in Blackmoor, and he's noticed
that the old man has left and left his walking
stick behind. So, Lawrence accepts the gift now.
One of the things you will notice about The Walking
Stick is that it has a wolf head, and there's
a lot of wolf imagery we've seen so far, including
that there is wolf pelts in the mansion as he
gets there. When he gets there, he is greeted
by his father and his father's assistant. His
father is played by Anthony Hopkins. He is Sir
John Talbot, and his father's assistant is Sing.
Sing is played by Art Malik. I don't know Art
Malik very well, but he plays Singh, the assistant.
When he gets there, we get the stereotypical
line of, ah, the prodigal son returns. Lawrence
shows up asking about his brother and if Sir
John has seen him or knows where he went. And
as it turns out, his brother's body just showed
up. He has unfortunately not made it. This is
also when we see some of the claws and know that...
He's been attacked by something. We don't know
what he's been attacked by, but he's been attacked
by something. And everybody else in this so far
has been British, except for Lawrence, who is
American. We don't know the reason why so far,
especially because we do know this is his ancestor's
land and everything like that. It goes to a local
pub where Lawrence happens to be drinking, and
the regulars are speculating about... if it's
an actual murderer that killed Ben, or if it's
an actual beast that has been doing this. They
also blame the gypsies who showed up a week ago,
talking about the fact that kind of they're the
dirty kind, like that kind of thing, that it
would be better if the gypsies left their land,
you know, that kind of thing. And it's just setting
up that these gypsies are in the town as well,
because we do get some scene of the gypsies and
everything like that. This opens the door to
an old man at this pub who goes into lore exposition
talking about the fact that there's a werewolf,
that werewolves are known for being from this
area, and that the werewolf is probably what
killed Ben because it's an actual beast that
tore him up and everything like that. No man
can do this and everything like that. Lawrence
stands up at this and starts talking to... The
old man and one of the guys sees that it's Lawrence
and calls his mother a whore. To which, of course,
Lawrence splashes a drink in his face and he
gets kicked out. So Lawrence goes back to the
mansion. And this is when we start to see that
him and his father don't really see eye to eye.
There's something we haven't been told yet. But
for whatever reason, these two just don't seem
to get along. Sir John. invites Lawrence to take
a look at his telescope. And you can tell the
father is obsessed with the moon. He's talking
about the fact that it's not a full moon, everything
like that. It's a very fancy telescope as well.
So obviously there's something about Sir John
wanting to see the moon, wanting to be close
to the moon, wanting to know more about the moon.
Gwen is staying at the mansion as well. She arrives
and Lawrence and Sir John, all sit out to have
a nice dinner. And Lawrence and John kind of,
like I said, they don't see eye to eye. They
get into an argument and basically Lawrence storms
off. When he sees Gwen next, he gives Ben's effects
to her as a sort of apology for the dinner ruckus.
And Gwen wants to know, is asking Lawrence what
happened to Ben. And Lawrence is just kind of
saying, He'll do everything he can to figure
it out. So it's late at night. He's kind of like
walking in the old house and he starts hearing
children laughing and he starts having these
flashbacks about the house and everything he
remembers when he grew up in it and everything
like that. And one of the big things he remembers
in this flashback is when his mother committed
suicide. And it definitely depressed him and
put him in a weird mental state. That so much
so, Sir John sent him to an asylum for a year
and then shipped him to their aunt in America.
This is why he speaks with American accent instead
of a British accent, which is still very funny
because remember, this is Benicio del Toro and
he's doing an American accent. So it's a couple
of days later. I don't know how many days exactly,
but it just so happens to be a full moon. And
so Sir John's just kind of like. Lawrence, you
should stay inside. You shouldn't go out there.
Everything like that. There's a full moon tonight.
And of course, Lawrence is just like, no, I'm
going out there. I'm going to figure out more
about my brother's death. Everything like that.
So he ends up going to the gypsy camp. He wants
to find who sells the medallion that he found
in his brother's effects. When he shows one of
the gypsies the medallion and everything, she
points him to the way of Maleva. Maleva is a
gypsy fortune teller. And Mileva is played by
Geraldine Chaplin. I'm just giving you the names
of some of these major characters. I'll be completely
honest. It's another person I don't really know
that well, but that is who plays Mileva. While
they're having a conversation about the medallion
and about the reason she gave it to his brother,
which was apparently not that big a deal because
one of the things that is constantly happening
is the camp is getting attacked by something.
And so screams start happening. And Lawrence
runs out of the fortune tellers shack and picks
up a gun to try and shoot at the beast. He also
protects a mother and daughter while they, they
are kind of like separated. He helps both of
them get away from this thing. There's a gypsy
boy who runs away and the beast starts chasing
after him. And so Lawrence goes after it just
to try to protect the boy. As he goes out into
the fog, he ends up in this area that I think
is Stonehenge because it literally is just like
stones in the ground upright and everything like
that. They don't really show the whole area,
but I led to believe that. And as he turns around
in the fog, Lawrence gets attacked by the creature
and gets pretty much mauled, like almost near
death and everything like that. The gypsies come
and they bring him back to the gypsy encampment
and everything like that. And they are able to
save his life. But they have a conversation about
if they save him, he's going to be a beast and
he's going to kill others. But Mileva, she's
like, I won't let him die. So they end up saving
his life and they get him back to his mansion.
And he's basically just like laid up in bed at
the next couple of days. And when he gets there,
he starts having these nightmares about creatures,
demons and stuff like that. And he also sees
Gwen in these nightmares. Gwen is actually there
by his bedside, keeping him company and watching
over him while he's having. this like these nightmares
and trying to recover and everything like that
at the same time we kind of see that Gwen and
Sir John kind of have a little bit of a rocky
edge to them as well it doesn't seem like Sir
John really trusts Gwen either but it may have
to do with she kind of encouraged him to find
these answers and he went out against Sir John's
wishes on a full moon night The last day, really,
of his recovery, Dr. Lloyd comes in and was saying
how he probably will never be able to use his
arm again. But then when he looks at it, he sees
that it's kind of healed himself. So it's not
perfectly healed, but it's definitely a lot better
than it probably should be, however many days
since the attack. One of the things I had as
well is when he finally is up and recovered,
he goes to talk to Sing. And Sing is loading
a weapon with silver bullets. And it's getting
close to another full moon. So Sing is just prepared
with his silver bullets and his weapon. And there's
a conversation about, like, Lawrence says to
him, I didn't know you hunted monsters. And Sing
says, sometimes monsters hunt you. And just kind
of sets that whole thing in motion. This is when
Hugo Weaving shows up. Hugo Weaving shows up
at the mansion. His name is Aberlean. And he
works for Scotland Yard and he wants some answers
about the gypsy encampment that got attacked.
And he implies when he's talking to Sir John
and Lawrence that he thinks Lawrence might be
responsible because he was in an asylum back
when he was a kid. Lawrence implies back going,
weren't you in charge of the Ripper case? Just
kind of throwing that in his face about the fact
that Abberley never caught the Ripper. This is
just kind of to show that, hey, this is where
we're going. This is going to be probably a big
part of our final finale and everything like
that. You can tell it's these two heavyweights,
Hugo Weaving and Benicio Del Toro. They are going
to be the ones at the end that are kind of like
having this thing. The next day, there's a scene
of Gwen out by the river, and there's a scene
of Lawrence teaching her how to skip stones.
Because, you know, all these movies need some
kind of romantic hook and everything like that.
They show this because they want to show how
they're getting close and everything like that.
And then a bunch of people show up to the mansion
when they get back to take Lawrence to test out
if he is a beast because the full moon is almost
upon them again. Sir John shoots one of the horses
belonging to one of the men, meaning to shoot
the man himself because he isn't the marksman
he used to be. And there's a whole joke about
how he killed the horse and everything like that.
Gwen and Lawrence back in the mansion. There's
like this intimate scene between them that shows
how they're getting closer and everything like
that. And also shows how he's like hearing her
heartbeat better, especially as they get closer
and closer to the full moon. He also at the end
tells Gwen to leave because he's worried about
her getting hurt. And I said, get this. She actually
listens. And leaves the mansion. While she is
leaving. And everything like that. The villagers
are all preparing. They are making these silver
weapons. Because they obviously now know. It's
a werewolf or some kind of beast. That silver
is going to hurt it. And Aberline. Is at the
pub on the full moon. And. The villagers are
very shocked that he's sitting at the pub versus
going to the house and taking care of the family
because they know there's a curse on the family.
Basically, there's this longstanding curse on
the family, and they know that Lawrence is probably
part of it, and especially because he does suspect
Lawrence, knowing that he was in an asylum. But
he's actually a good cop. just because it's a
cursed family that doesn't account for a warrants
for him to sit there and watch the family. He
also stays there, and I quote, because if the
beast does attack, this is where the victims
are going to be. Again, it's encouraged by Sir
John that Lawrence doesn't leave the house, and
Lawrence grabs a gun or two with silver bullets
because he's going to protect the house, but
he also sees Sir John. leave the house and go
to the moor. So Lawrence starts following him.
And they end up at a mausoleum where the casket
of Lawrence's mother is. It has a crypt underneath
it that Sir John has gone into. And inside the
crypt is a shrine to the mother. Basically, Sir
John has built this thing to remember the mother
by. When Lawrence walks into the shrine room,
looking for Sir John Sir John is nowhere to be
seen and so he gets into the room and all of
a sudden the door closes behind him and Sir John
basically snuck around and locked Lawrence in
this room because he knows that he's going to
become a wolf so he locks himself away in the
crypt and makes sure that he can't go anywhere
this is not going to be what happens to Lawrence
and this is kind of like a protection thing it's
It feels weird because it feels like Sir John's
kind of like punishing him. But at the same time,
it's also because I don't think he wants Lawrence
to get injured by the townspeople or anything
like that. So after locking him in the crypt
and the shrine and everything like that, all
of a sudden Lawrence starts becoming a wolf in
a solid enough transition scene. Like it was
pretty solid watching him just transition into
this wolf man. The shrine room door, not enough
to stand up to the wolfman. He's able to break
it down pretty easily and get out of the mausoleum
crypt. And the villagers all start to go towards
their house because they know. They're going
to break into the mansion. That's what they're
thinking and everything like that. And this party
all of a sudden starts getting ambushed by the
Wolfman, including this guy that gets stuck in
the moor. And he tries to kill himself with his
gun. But the Wolfman gets there first and rips
his head off with one fell swoop. That was pretty.
Pretty gnarly. This whole situation, like, Wolfman
kills, like, four men quickly. That was a really
good scene, actually. Like, it showed how scary
he is. It showed how fast he is. It shows how
ruthless he is. And so it honestly was a pretty
solid scene to watch that whole thing go on.
Aberlean chases after him but is behind him the
whole way and kind of loses him until it is the
next day. Lawrence wakes up, and he is in the
forest, and he's covered in blood, and his clothes
are ripped. Abberline and the villagers are able
to catch up to him, and they send him to an asylum.
And it turns out that Sir John seems to have
called them. Again, this is one of those things.
It's like Sir John's kind of trying to protect
him, but at the same time, he sends him to an
asylum again. So it's one of those things where
it's just, does he care about him? Does he not?
That kind of thing. And the asylum, we get a
bunch of scenes about them trying to get Lawrence
cured. But these are the cures of the 1890s.
So he gets like waterboarded with ice water.
There's electroshock therapy, like that kind
of stuff. And it's not good. It's very not good
for Lawrence. And then he's kept in essentially
a solitary confinement cell. And one day, Sir
John shows up and tells Lawrence how he is also
lycanthropy. Which means he's also a werewolf
too. And we learn through Sir John that his mother
didn't kill herself. He was killed by the werewolf
Sir John. He also killed Ben. Both of which were
not meant to happen, but they happened. This
is also the reason he gives for locking up Lawrence.
He wants to protect the village and everything
like that. He also wants to protect Lawrence
in a way, but basically he knows that... If he's
locked up, the village is safe. And then because
Sir John's such a kind, caring person, he also
leaves a razor blade so that Lawrence can kill
himself if he doesn't want to live or suffer
anymore. All right, so we're at the point where
Sir John has basically told his own son to kill
himself, to not suffer anymore. I know, it's
very gruesome, very sad and everything like that.
And he's still stuck in an asylum. So we are
at point like... perfect of pity moment everything
like that we're we're at wit's end everything
so i think now is a very good time to take a
quick break to let you know all about the podcast
that guessed the bad movie correctly first and
that podcast is the i finally watched podcast
you can find them at finally watched on x slash
twitter slash whatever the fuck we're calling
it uh this is alan and david they basically They
watch movies that they should have watched a
long time ago. So one of the latest episodes,
their episode from October 14th, was Vampire's
Kiss from 1988 starring Nicolas Cage. Obviously,
if you've listened to our podcast before, you
know how big a Nicolas Cage fan I am. So definitely
something I encourage you to check out at least
their latest episode, but a lot more, of course,
than just that. Little thing that happened. Alon
and his wife are pregnant and they are having
a baby. They are doing the gender reveal this
weekend. And this was a big thing for me that
I thought was pretty funny. They put it out there
with a poll so that everybody could guess what
gender they thought it was. Boy, girl or corn.
And as of recording, girl and corn are tied in
second place. So let's go corn. We all hope that
is a corn baby, of course. So Alana and David,
congratulations for guessing correctly. The Wolfman,
check out their podcast, the I Finally Watched
podcast. It's more movie talk. If you like our
show, I know you're going to like theirs, especially
when they do episodes about Nicolas Cage movies
like Vampire's Kiss. So congratulations, guys.
And now back to more about The Wolfman. So our
boy Lawrence is in an asylum. His dad has basically
said it's for the village's good. So they believe
that all of these things are in his head, that
he has this delusion of the full moon, thinking
he becomes a beast, thinking his family's cursed
and everything like that. So they roll him into
this operating theater and he's like strapped
in and everything like that to test on this full
moon night and say, hey, this was all delusion.
Try to break him of his delusion. You know, this
is going to go well. And the main doctor that's
been like running the torture and everything
like that basically is turned to the people,
the other doctors, and goes, he will not turn
into a werewolf just like I won't sprout wings
and fly through this window. And I hate to tell
you that's a little bit of foreshadowing. Because
guess what happens? Yep, you would be correct.
He become werewolf. So all the doctors start
trying to get out the doors of the operating
theater. But instead of pulling the doors open
and getting out, they keep running into each
other and pushing it closed. Like it just keeps
getting like a stockpile of people. And these
are supposed to be doctors. Like these are supposed
to be smart people and everything like that.
So as he becomes a wolf, he's able to break his
restraints and he starts going after all of the
doctors, including the one that said he will
not turn into a werewolf just like I won't sprout
wings and fly through this window. Yeah, he grabs
him and throws him through a window, which he
lands on some fence spikes. Yeah, that sounds
painful. Also in this room was Aberline, who
saw the transformation and is now chasing after
the wolf men who hopped out of the window. He's
chasing after him with a revolver. The Wolfman
is running across the rooftops and going through
a tear through the city, the closest city that
they're in. And he's only killing men at this
point. It seems like one of those things that
at this point, it kind of seems to the both of
us because Claire was watching this too. And
she was the one that asked this question. It
kind of seems to both of us that maybe we're
going to have this moment where Gwen kind of
is like, oh, you know who I am, Lawrence. You
can stop it. You can turn around and not kill
me. But that's just what we think at this point.
This tear through the city that he's going through,
we find out after he wakes up that he's in London.
And not only is he in London, he wakes up right
next to like the the King's Bridge or London
Bridge or whatever big bridge is there and everything
like that. He wakes up kind of underneath in
a sewer pretty much and sees the bridge. So we
know he's in London. The next scene we see is
Gwen opening up her shop that she runs in London.
And, you know, nonchalantly, he rolls out from
under a table to talk to Gwen about everything
that's happening. Gwen tries to convince him
to stay and they make out. And, you know, it's
the first kiss, you know, it's always so cute
and everything like that. And all I can think
about is that she was engaged or married to.
his brother, you know? And so she wants him to
stay, but he needs to get to Talbot Hall to end
it. That's what, that's what he says. So he leaves
the shop. A couple minutes later, Aberline and
his posse show up at the door asking about Lawrence
and where he could possibly have gone. And Gwen
kind of just says, like, he's not here. They
search her whole shop, and he had snuck out the
back door, and he's not there anymore. So we
know he needs to get to Talbot Hall. Gwen, on
her own, goes and tries to research to find an
end to Lawrence's werewolf problem, the lycanthropy.
So she goes to the library searching up books
and ways to end being a werewolf and everything
like that. Lawrence walks all the way back from
London to Blackmoor. Gwen is looking for Mileva
and Aberline is searching high and low for Lawrence.
It seems like he's kind of just like right behind
him the whole time. Mileva meets up with Gwen,
but she doesn't know if she can help him. And
Gwen is pleading with Mileva to help him and
everything like that. And Mileva asks, do you
love him? To which I included the line, if love
is the answer, this movie sucks. I hate that.
Basically, Mileva was asking, do you love him?
Because the only cure for this is to kill him.
And so she wanted to see if she'd be willing
to kill him. When Abberlin gets back to Blackmoor
with his villagers or his posse that he has,
he gives the all clear that everybody should
shoot Lawrence Talbot on sight. And Lawrence
sneaks back into Blackmoor and more specifically
the Talbot Hall because he wore a hat. Yes, the
Marvel gimmick of, yeah, he wore a hat. When
he gets back to the hall, he goes to the crypt
because he's guessing that's where Sir John might
be. And he finds Sing dead. And he was definitely
mauled. Like, it was no question who did this.
Sir John definitely killed Sing. So Lawrence
loads his gun with silver bullets and starts
to go look for his father. I was saying how this
could happen on any night. It didn't need to
be a full moon, but he decided that the night
he was going to try to find his father. Yeah,
it's a full moon night. I also said at this point,
no offense meant to Samson the dog, but he somehow
survives this whole thing. And my first thought
would be that any night that somebody turns into
a wolf, they'd probably kill Samson the dog first.
Maybe they have some kind of dog communication
that they do. You know, they talk in woofs or
whatever. But I would think that he would probably
be the first to go. When he finally finds Sir
John, Sir John is sitting behind a piano and
is playing, of course, because that's what Sir
John does. He's already killed the posse member
who was told to watch over Talbot Hall. And Sir
John does what every villain in this situation
does. He starts. monologuing and so it seems
that lawrence would have the upper hand because
uh you know he has the gun and everything like
that but then the gun doesn't work and so sir
john is able to take the upper hand and they're
doing battle and it's basically just like at
first just two humans but of course it's still
a full moon night and when the house catches
on fire they both break apart And they both become
wolves. And I have the biggest quote for me while
I'm watching this movie. It's a wolf off. Let's
fucking go. Wolf off. Wolf off. Wolf off. It's
okay, the wolf off. But it's one of those super
cheesy ones where they hit you and you just go
flying. Doesn't matter how hard you get hit.
You just go flying off into the distance. And
they also can climb walls. So it's kind of one
of those, like, what are we doing with these?
Like, werewolves, I don't think, can climb walls.
I'm guessing they're more powerful, but I don't
think it should matter that you should go flying
off into the distance. So they're doing this
battle. It's not very long, this battle, but,
you know, it's one of those, it's father versus
son, you know, who's going to win. And Lawrence
the Wolf kicks Sir John, sends him flying into
the fireplace, where he immediately catches on
fire. Then Lawrence is able to chop his head
off with his claws. So at the end of the fight,
Gwen gets there and so does Aberline. They both
kind of arrive at similar times and Aberline
lines up a shot at Lawrence. But Gwen grabs his
gun so they can't shoot Lawrence. And then Lawrence
is able to jump away and attack Aberline. Aberline's
still alive and he is able to grab the silver
blade from the walking stick. And Aberline, even
though he's injured, starts taking off after
him. Gwen also goes running into the woods to
try to find Lawrence and trying to talk him out
of it and see if she can do anything to help.
And she ends up back at the river. You know,
the river where Lawrence was teaching her how
to skip stones and everything like that. This
is where Lawrence and Ben played as kids. She
feels like he's going to be there. And he does
show up. For a second, he seems to remember Gwen,
and he holds off attacking for a second, but
the villagers show up. When the villagers show
up, it's just distraction enough that she's able
to pick up the gun and shoot him through the
chest. Lawrence starts de -transforming from
a wolf, and his eyes are closed, and we think
maybe he's dead. But of course, he's able...
To become alive one more second and say goodbye.
And she can apologize for shooting him. He accepts
the apology and then falls to the side dead really
abruptly. Just like all of a sudden just out.
And the film ends with Aberline seeing this and
then looking at the moon. Looking at his marks.
And will he become a beast? We don't know. Movie
over. So. About The Wolfman, I have seen a lot
worse movies, especially for this podcast. I
think this one, it's not bad, honestly. It's
not great, but it's not bad. I've seen much worse
for this podcast, and I was definitely able to
enjoy a lot of it. It's a very simple plot and
everything like that. It's definitely a paint
-by -numbers kind of thing. But the fact that
they're taking inspiration from a 1940s thing
when this is probably so new and everything,
I think they did a good job transferring it a
little more to. I know this is going to sound
weird, transforming it to the present. Obviously,
that's not what happens because it's still the
1890s and everything like that. But it does look
better. It does feel better, that kind of stuff.
So I was actually really OK with this movie.
Especially comparing it to something like The
Mummy from 2017 that was trying to set up this
dark universe. I feel like this one, in my mind,
I would want to see more of these style movies
versus more of The Mummy of 2017. It's very...
Like I said, it's very paint -by -numbers. You're
getting what the movie is. You can see it kind
of from the beginning. Obviously, there's a lot
of points where I was guessing ahead. And though
some of the things that I left in this episode
weren't exactly what happened, these were the
ones that I left in just because these were what
I was thinking in that moment. There was a lot
of other things that I was thinking that were
the same that I just didn't include that, oh,
I was thinking this at this point. The cast was
pretty damn good. Dialogue is a little clunky
at times, but overall, I really enjoyed the performances
and everything like that. Everybody had a time
to shine for certain different scenes and everything.
One of the things I was worried about with this
movie is that I feel like a lot of the female
characters in these kind of movies are just there
to be a damsel in distress, what we've called
before Jill's term of a sexy lamp. I will say
that Emily Blunt in this movie was not just a
sexy lamp. She wasn't there just to be there
and something to look at and everything like
that. I think she actually was a very good part
of this where she advanced the plot. She also
had some parts where she was a real person. She
actually felt like a real character fleshed out
and everything like that, in my mind. Lawrence
was great. Benicio Del Toro, he's a great actor
as is. He probably was one of the not as well
-written characters, if you want to know the
truth. And because Benicio Del Toro is just such
a good actor, I think he brought a little more
life to it and everything. Anthony Hopkins, you
know what you're going to get with him. It's
Anthony Hopkins. Hugo Weaving, I love. I think
some of his stuff was very fun in the fact that
he's very conniving and very... You know, he
had he had the most fun lines and somebody like
Hugo Weaving, I think, deserves something like
that because it's a lot of fun seeing him play
around with it and still bringing this level
of like you kind of know he's the bad guy. But
at the same time, you kind of like him for this,
you know, especially the scene where he's sitting
at the pub instead of sitting at Talbot Hall
and talking about this is where the victims are
going to be. You know, it's very like it almost
feels like a threat. because it's Hugo Weaving
it feels kind of like he's actually there to
protect you but yes some of you are probably
going to die so I think the biggest disservice
to this movie was the wolf off at the end where
everything was just kind of it was very CGI mess
kind of thing and they're flying across the room
and it's a lot of rope work and stuff like that
that feels stiff You know, when he hits him,
it's like, you know, he's going to go straight
line all the way across. It's not actually like
feeling like two wolves fighting. I know that
sounds very weird, but it doesn't feel like that.
So I think that's the biggest disservice to this
movie. Otherwise, I actually really kind of liked
it. Overall, I would say this is probably a well,
this might be one of my higher rankings. I'll
go say. two and a half uh silver bullets out
of five um that that feels right honestly it
was it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea
and i totally understand why some people don't
like this movie i wish it was better but again
comparing it to something like the mummy i actually
really enjoyed this one a lot more because i
think it had a lot more to say and a lot more
that it was setting up even though it didn't
have a setup like that i think it was its very
own standalone movie But it was kind of just,
it's good that it was that. One of my biggest
problems with The Mummy from 2017 was that they
tried to bring in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll
was setting up this whole thing and he was very
much the Nick Fury of the Dark Universe and everything
like that. And they were just like, they're trying
to run before they can walk on that. This one
felt more so it's its own story. It could be
tied to something bigger, but it was his own
story. And I like that. I thought it was very
good. So two and a half silver bullets out of
five, I think is one of the better rankings for
sure of a bad movie I've watched for this podcast.
So yeah, I'm not going to suggest it. It's not
going to be like a Halloween treat every single
year that I'm going to keep watching over and
over and over again. Am I glad I watched it?
Yeah. Do I need to see it again? No. I'm overall
happy with my experience. I'm glad I watched
it and got to see something that broke up the
monotony of just stupid for stupid sake. The
end, like I said, kind of broke it a little bit.
There's certain things it dragged a little bit
at points, but for the most part, this definitely
had some of the best scenes in a bad movie. I've
seen the, the attack of the villagers and everything.
I thought that was very good one. And there was
a lot of good transformation scenes, that kind
of thing, just what you want in a wolf. man movie
so yeah that's uh that's my thoughts on wolfman
um we've got one more spoopy episode i've already
watched the movie and let me tell you right now
the ending pissed me the fuck off for that one
um so if you're listening now trust me you're
going to want to listen to the next one too because
the next one you're going to get my rage i am
going to be firing on all cylinders about the
ending of that one This one kind of giving it
a little more of a, I'm not as picky with a fine
tooth comb about every last thing in this one.
I think this one was exactly what I wanted it
to be. I wish it was a little better with like
the wolf off and everything like that. Cause
obviously I was really excited about that, but
overall this was a good movie. And I do see why
this is one of the first, if not the first bad
movies I've watched that won an Oscar. So yeah.
That's the Wolfman. I've got one more episode
for Spoopy Season coming out. I'm hoping to come
out on Halloween. And yeah, so if you haven't
listened to the episodes to start off Spoopy
Season, The Curse of Downers Grove, which is
about my hometown. I also did Godsend, which
was a little weird in the timing because my son
was born around the time where we were talking
about this evil child movie. So it was very hit
home for me. So, yeah, those two episodes are
out everywhere you can find your podcast. This
one, obviously, you're listening to now. Thank
you guys very much for listening. And if you
do enjoy the show, please feel free to give us
a review. Things you'd like to see, that kind
of thing. Always hit us up at Game for a Movie
Podcast, wherever you find anything at Game for
a Movie on Instagram, on X slash Twitter. We're
on Blue Sky. We're on Threads. We're on... pretty
much everything so find us anywhere at game for
a movie um let us know some movies we can we
can watch next um so yeah that is the game for
a movie podcast where we ask are you game for
a movie i've been your host mike i will have
one more spoopy episode for you next week and
i will see you next time on the game for a movie
podcast bye