Film Review: Too Much Bark, Not Enough Bite

Note: this article is also posted on SciFi4Me.com.

Wolves, written and directed by David Hayter. Produced by TF1 International. Copyright 2014. (Seen November 5, 2014.)

The legend of the werewolf has a history steeped in folklore. What the concept of the werewolf represents has gone through many iterations, from warriors to cannibals to our inner bestial qualities.

Wolves is just the latest iteration into this mythos. In a world of the Teen Wolf reboot and the trailing end of the Twilight saga, writer/director David Hayter gives us the storyline of Cayden Richards (Lucas Till), star football player who has a perfect little life until without any warning he starts changing into a wolf in moments of high adrenaline or fear in a pseudo Hulk-esque way. After the murder of his parents, he leaves his hometown and through the help of the stereotypical mysterious stranger, he sets off to find out more of ‘his kind’ and more about who he really is.

The first half of the movie is mostly telling us what’s going on, not showing. We get Cayden narrating, and so we are told he is a good guy, we are told of his choice to travel, and we are told that the bad guy is the bad guy. There is nothing about Cayden that I can relate to, and there’s even a short period where I rooted for the bad guy, Connor. (Doesn’t hurt that he was played by Jason Momoa, better known as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, and he is mesmerizing on screen.)

It’s a piece of pseudo macho BS that went out of fashion in the ’80s, with Cayden’s werewolf side an obvious metaphor for becoming a ‘real man’. It’s a poor reiteration of themes better explored in The Lost Boys with additional racial overtones cropping up with comments about ‘pureblood’ werewolves that are born (like Cayden apparently is) versus those that become the monster through the means you normally hear about. And don’t get me started on the fact that apparently no one knows the word ‘rape’, as we are constantly told that Cayden’s mother was ‘taken by force’. Meanwhile, the only reason the character of Angelina (Merritt Patterson) seems to exist is to be a pawn in this whole aggressive display of possessiveness, as she becomes interested in Cayden but had promised Connor a son in order to save her family.

We get a sex scene between Cayden and Angelina that brings a whole new definition to the phrase ‘graphic sex’ and the sole purpose apparently is to see Patterson’s tits, and when we get the standard fall of the hero before he gets the strength to fight again, his life literally flashes before his eyes as we are forced into flashbacks of scenes from earlier in the movie. The werewolf makeup is almost a joke (one of them looks more like they should be in a production of Cats), which I’m not sure who to blame for, as when we get to a scene where Cayden has been beaten up pretty bad, the wounds on him are an excellent use of makeup skills.

I admit: I am so obviously not the key demographic for this film. But any good movie can make people care for those they don’t relate to: I, after all, have little in common with Malcolm Reynolds, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like him and couldn’t relate to him. While the movie does have some good moments, mostly when it doesn’t take itself too seriously and lets the humor fly, on the whole, it’s a cheap attempt to capitalize on an already dying trend. While werewolves may have an illustrious history, Wolves just needs to be separated from the pack.

Wolves opens November 14 nationwide.