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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Seen, Heard, Noted & Quoted
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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
C - Rated PG-13 98 min
This medium-cool grade B werewolf picture was shot in Bucharest, Romania, which adds to the creepy gray look of the mosaic. The pack of werewolves includes Vivian (Agnes Bruckner) who falls for a graphic novelist named Aiden (Hugh Dancy) who, coincidently, is studying a race of ancient shape-shifters. Of course, Vivian’s pack leader, Gabriel (Oliver Martinez), has forbidden her to fraternize with humans. So she secretly carries on her affair with Aiden. The poor guy doesn’t know that Vivian is a shape-shifter who can shift into a werewolf during full moons. Hey, just take her to a steakhouse for dinner.
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The pack of werewolves in human form shadow Vivian and Aiden using the wolf’s stealthy stalking methods. They have great physical strength and can jump long distances. When they find a victim to eat, they give the prey a chance to run for the river. Then they chase him down, transforming themselves into werewolves as they fly through the air, attacking the prey as a pack. Only silver bullets or knives can kill a werewolf. Yes, it’s an old story, but at least filmmaker Katja von Garnier attempted to put a new spin on this well-worn schlock.
Aiden, who doesn’t know about Vivian’s special power, teaches her about the werewolf lore he is developing for his next graphic novel. Hey, wake up and smell the coffee dude, your girlfriend can teach you all you need to know about werewolves–firsthand. But she goes along with his pedantic chatter because she is smitten by him. La de da!
This turnabout of role-playing is an attempt by the screenwriter to breathe some new life into this tired concept. Well, it doesn’t work. Vivian plays the demure human female until Aiden runs afoul of the pack. Now he’s fresh meat. Vivian has to save him by using her status in the pack to save Aiden’s life.
It turns out that the lore surrounding Vivian’s pack, discovered by Aiden, has prophesied that she will one day lead the pack and when she rescues Aiden as the dominant female wolf, she could take over the pack and lead them into a new age of enlightenment. Ah, but Gabriel would not take this threat to his dominance lying down. Viewers see that a great conflict to seize power could take place.
The premise asks the question: Can a shape-shifter werewolf have a normal relationship with a human and what would the offspring of such a union be like? Are we talking about a new species of human with werewolf DNA but not enough to shape-shift, but enough to have superior strength to ordinary humans? Hmmm. Well, it sparks some interest in this otherwise mediocre supernatural scenario.
German director Garnier has proven he can creatively orchestrate interesting quality movies with his 2004 HBO docudrama Iron-Jawed Angels starring Hilary Swank and Angelica Houston. It seems Garnier tried to update a done-to-death premise but all his efforts were in vain. It still comes off as a cheesy werewolf flick that will end up on late night cable.
The scenes in which the humans fly though the air and shape-shift into werewolves are stunningly jaw-dropping. However, the script lacks depth and the acting was, for the most part, substandard. Oliver Martinez shines as Gabriel and Hugh Dancy (Blackhawk Down) does an admirable job with his role as the pursuer of the goddess werewolf. Agnes Bruckner seems tentative in some scenes, like she wasn’t sure of her motivation. “Feel the wolf inside,” the director could have said.
The trained wolves appearing in the film snarled with fearsome verve but they didn’t look like fierce werewolves–the mythical beast with horrific features that defy description. Vivian’s wolf-self was a white wolf. She was bigger and meaner than the rest. Will she fulfill the prophecy and lead the pack or be killed by Gabriel? This tangent to the story is never fully explored in favor of the sappy romance between Vivian and Aiden.
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