The Wolfman | Valentine's Day | Edge of Darkness

Anyway, Lawrence promises Gwen that he´ll find out what happened to his brother. Ben Talbot was torn to pieces in gruesome fashion, as were two other men. On a full moon. No surprises: it´s a werewolf, you may have guessed from the title of the film. And refreshingly, most of the characters in the film know it´s a werewolf too, silver bullets at the ready. Also refreshing: instead of the re-imagining of the myth that has become so popular in recent years, in the Twilight and Underworld films, among others, these werewolves play it by the book.

But that doesn´t necessarily make for a good movie. Notorious reshoots pushed the film back from a fall 2009 release, and the resulting film is a mess, its biggest fault the complete lack of a driving narrative. Lawrence finds out what happened to his brother, and from that point on there´s just no drive – the characters have no goals (or if they do, they are unknown to us) – and the film tends to slog through one set piece to another with little plot to tie the two together. Pacing is all over the place – some scenes are cut too tight, others drag on with little of interest taking place – and while the movie is only 100 minutes long, it feels considerably longer.

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Most of it revolves around Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher), proprietor of an L.A. flower shop. The first thing he does when he wakes up on Valentine´s Day is propose to girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba), who says yes – but something doesn´t quite seem right. Meanwhile, Reed´s friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) has her own V-Day worries, when surgeon boyfriend Harrison (Patrick Dempsey) leaves for work -and promptly drives home to his wife and children. Alphonso (George Lopez) provides some ethnic comedy relief out of Reed´s flower shop.

Then there´s businessman Holden (Bradley Cooper) and servicewoman Kate (Julia Roberts), who strike up a conversation, and a friendship, on a lengthy flight to L.A. And NFL quarterback Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), who seems to be spending V-Day alone while contemplating retirement, while agent Paula (Queen Latifah) and P.R. woman Kara (Jessica Biel) swarm around him. Sean´s segment has the best (and most surprising) payoff in the film, and Dane – one of lesser name brands among the cast – gives the best performance.

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The police – Craven´s friends and colleagues – suspect the shot was intended for Thomas, not his daughter. But he knows better, and – after the requisite mourning period, in which he asks to be left on the case – he sets out to find out more about his daughter. A handgun along with her belongings is the first clue (in the original series, Craven – played by Bob Peck – finds and kisses his daughter´s dildo in this scene; expectedly, the uncomfortably intimate father-daughter subplot has been excised here).

And there in the shadows is Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a mysterious figure who is working for a government organization trying to clean up the mess. He operates in a grey zone, his motives and allegiances unknown to us and Craven and maybe Jedburgh himself. Jedburgh was played by Joe Don Baker (a favorite whipping boy on Mystery Science Theater 3000) in the original, who gave a truly memorable performance; there he was the American good ol´ boy operating in England, here the nationalities are reversed and the effect muted.

Mild annoyance: Gibson´s thick Bostonian brogue. It´s just laid on too thick: Gibson is (was?) a “movie star” who draws an audience by playing the same (or a similar) character in film after film; to hear him speak as we´ve never heard him speak before – no matter how “good” the accent may be – is distracting, at least initially. See also: Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island, opening next week. And yet I´d complain if they didn´t attempt an accent, like Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. Damned if they do, damned if they don´t.