Wolf
Monster movies, which in the 40s, often took a corny, direct approach to its material without any nuance or subtlety, have certainly evolved over the years, and this 1994 effort from Oscar-winning director Mike (The Graduate) Nichols was an example of that. It tells the story of a mild-mannered publishing executive whom, while on a snowy car ride home, hits a wolf that ran in front of its car, only to be bitten by the creature and then surrounded by others of its kind (a hauntingly oblique sequence). Once back to his old stomping ground, he finds that his job has been taken from him and his wife has been cheating, all the while finding that he has enhanced instincts that seem to have come from the wolfbite, and decides to take action against those who oppress him. Nichols successfully taps into the metaphor of a middle-aged man rediscovering his zest for life, maybe not as emotionally as American Beauty, but it’s a nice effort nonetheless. He’s helped along by a pretty good, relevant script (which is admittedly better in the early parts of the movie than later on) and then there is the casting of the iconic Jack Nicholson in the lead role: while Nicholson certainly keeps the viewer in the story with his charisma, there is the always-feared possibility that he will cut loose and we’ll get a strong dose of “Crazy Jack”, and that’s at times the case here. Indeed, Nichols sometimes stumbles on maintaining a serious, realistic tone, at times venturing into camp territory, as when Jack climbs onto a rock ledge and literally begins howling at the moon(!). If the film had just made some trims of a moment here or some dialogue there, it could perhaps have been a horror film for the ages. The beauty of the concept though is that it turns out to be a little more than that, as Nicholson’s professional life is subject to corporate cutthroat backstabbing and bloodletting, as epitomized by James Spader as his former best friend turned rival at the firm, who goes behind his back to betray him at every instance, yet still maintaining that callow have-it-both-ways attitude that many real-life snitches / asskissers in the workplace are known to have. As the billionaire boss, Christopher Plummer just suavely slides in and does his thing, as when he tries to convince Nicholson that a shitty demotion to living and working in Eastern Europe could be a great opportunity. As Plummer’s daughter who befriends and falls for Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer does well in a role that’s obviously below her talents, but nonetheless she looks gorgeous doing it, and the old-school Hollywood chemistry between two great glamorous stars is evident here. The film stumbles a bit with a visit a confused Nicholson makes to an old mystic doctor played by Om Puri: the scene is so obviously played up for sentiment as opposed to exposition that the viewer easily feels he is being manipulated, especially when the dying man asks Nicholson to bite him to that he may inherit the power of the wolf. The film is complemented by a fairly intense score by Ennio Morricone that maintains the proper atmosphere the material strives for. The ending seems to pick up steam with a great twist involving Spader which leads to a big final showdown, but the denouement itself is a bit abrupt and comes too quickly. Regardless, a competent, mature horror movie that would have been better with a more consistent, serious tone…
7/10