Saw a test screening of the flick tonight. Was told that we were the first audience getting a look at the film. Most of the audience came to the same agreement at the end of the film: it was really boring. I can't remember the last time I've sat through a movie and been so utterly goddamn bored through it.
I've never been a big werewolf movie fan, the only three entries in the genre that I like are The Howling, An American Werewolf in London and Dog Soldiers.
This has none of the fun, but at least quadruple the gore. I would be surprised if the version we saw tonight passes the MPAA with an R. The scenes where there is dedicated werewolf carnage are actually quite fun and entertaining. Innocent people are just ripped to shreds with gallons of blood being pumped out. Sadly, the action sequences only constitute around ten minutes of the film's 110-minute running time. During the remainder of the time, we get a very loose and thin resemblance of narrative storytelling. I get that this was a rough cut, but it's been a while since I've seen a film with such a poor narrative structure. Scenes are placed within the film for no rhyme or reason. It feels the footage is only there to fulfill a running time that surpasses the 1941's 70-minutes. The remake doesn't actually need to be any longer than 70-minutes and if Universal cut out a lot of the fat, this film may be salvageable.
The weak storytelling is what hurts the film. The plot comes in and out as it pleases and Johnston thinks it would be interesting to throw in weird dream sequences. While they're nice to look at, this isn't a Lynch film and it hurts the film just as much as the filler. The cast isn't of any support as well. Hugo Weaving seems to be the only one here trying whereas everyone else seems very out of place.
This may be the first big-budget disaster of 2010, that is if Universal doesn't delay it until 2011.
