‘Wolves’ Review By Josef Rodriguez. At one point in “Wolves,” the directorial debut of “X-Men” and “Watchmen” writer David Hayter, our hero Cayden Richards (Lucas Till) returns home from a long day’s work at the farm to find his employers, a lovely older couple in the boonies, watching his face on the television above a headline that frames him for the double murder of his adopted parents. Richards, a young werewolf who has trouble controlling his powers, says to them, “I wish you guys didn’t have to see this.” The family’s patriarch, a soft-spoken farmer named John (Stephen McHattie), responds by saying, “no, son. We had it Tivo’d.” If “Wolves” is proof of anything, it’s that no great script becomes a great movie without a great director, and David Hayter is not a great director. His debut feature tells the story of a high school quarterback who realizes he has been cursed with an uncontrollable power, one that, against his will, transforms him into an unstoppable, man-eating werewolf. Under the belief that he murdered his parents during one of his homicidal episodes, Cayden flees his hometown, searching for answers wherever he can find them. While at a sketchy dive bar off the freeway, he runs into a one-eyed gimp known as Wild Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson), who knows almost immediately what Cayden really is. With the flick of a dirt, Joe directs Cayden to a small town called Lupine Range, which may be the key to uncovering where Cayden came from, and why he’s been transformed into this beast. On his first night, Cayden is unceremoniously thrown out of the town’s only bar, a little dive joint called Angel’s, named after its owner (Merritt Patterson) and her perpetually drunk sister, Gail (Melanie Scrofano). With nowhere to go, Cayden is taken in by John and his wife in return for some help around their property. Cayden agrees enthusiastically, but as the weeks pass, he begins to uncover secrets about the townsfolk, including the mysterious Connor (Jason Momoa), and his gang of cronies. Cayden soon realizes that, to bring the town back to safety, and to protect Angel, the woman he loves, he must defeat Connor and his gang before it’s too late. For the first time in months, I find that there are no words to quite describe the experience of watching “Wolves,” a film so simultaneously awful and full of promise, that it plays like a sad, broken shell of a film, one that clings to life so desperately that I couldn’t help but admire its eagerness to entertain. It’s not that “Wolves” is particularly boring or unoriginal; the wolf effects are spectacular, and Lucas Till is actually a charming screen presence. But, make no mistake, this is a bad movie. Never quite good enough to be enjoyable or bad enough to be good, “Wolves” gets caught in an unfortunate purgatory of good ideas caught in a terrible execution, made all the more painful by lazy writing, terrible blocking, and poor supporting performances that can’t possibly dignify any of the hackneyed dialogue. Guided by copious narration in its first act, “Wolves” begins with a scene of Cayden having a nightmare in his bed, followed by a scene depicting high school life that seems to have been ripped straight out of a 1995 after-school special about the dangers of premarital sex. Then, viewers are treated to 90 minutes of completely unnecessary slow-motion, some truly atrocious green-screen work, a handful of competent action scenes, and a lot of exposition. A lot. There’s a sex scene in there that will probably thrill most Kid Rock fans in the audience, and the words “You weren’t too wild for this town, Joe, you were just too crazy,” are uttered. I can assure you, it’s as hilariously awful as it sounds. However, I’m struck with an acute, inexplicable affection for this film. It’s so gloriously over-the-top that it couldn’t possibly be taking itself seriously, but that’s also no excuse for some of the more embarrassing dialogue exchanges, including some get-to-know-you chit-chat that puts the work of Tommy Wiseau to shame. There was a demented, masochistic level of joy that came with watching this film, and I’m quite nearly ashamed to admit that, if someone happened to have a DVD copy on them, I would excitedly suggest that we watch it, prepared with popcorn and a formal drinking game that would presumably send us both to the hospital with alcohol poisoning by the 45-minute mark. Whether or not this was Hayter’s intention is, at this point, entirely irrelevant. “Wolves” is, at times, the perfect balance of awful and really awful, offering viewers the chance to see some truly talented professionals do work that’s embarrassingly amateurish. That being said, the creature effects are truly impressive and were undeniably the film’s strongest aspect, and it was almost worth sitting through a lot of cringe to get to the kick-ass wolf action that was promised. It’s been a while since anything decent involving a werewolf has been released in theaters, so I appreciate Hayter’s clever world-building and attention to detail in regards to the story’s lore, regardless of how shoddy the execution may be. For what it’s worth, “Wolves” is a film that, warts and all, must be seen to be believed, and I am still not sure if that’s a compliment or not. “Wolves” is available now on VOD and will hit select theaters on November 14th.
