Wolf. - movie reviews

Christian Century, Sept 21, 1994 by John Ottenhoff

Wolf, with neither the homeyness of Forrest Gump nor the nonstop action of Speed, trades on familiar formulas of the horror film. Will Randall faces not only the impending loss of his editing job (a conglomerate is taking over his small publishing house), a cheating wife and ruthless colleagues, but an unlikely call of the wild. Returning from a ski trip in Vermont, his Volvo collides with a wolf, and as he inspects the animal under the dim illumination of a full moon, he's bitten. Randall's medical problems--growing hirsuteness, a longing to prowl the night forest--intersect with his personal problems, including his apparent loss of job and wife to sleaxy colleague Stewart Swinton (James Spader). But in many respects his wolfly qualities help. His increasingly acute senses of smell and hearing uncover deception, and this "last civilized man" finds the ruthlessness he needs to survive in publishing and to keep his job. Wolfliness leaves Randall feeling strong, clear-headed, potent--better than he's ever felt. But director Mike Nichol's film ends in a muddle, climaxed by a horror flick showdown between the two Alpha wolves. (Swinton has been bitten by Randall and infected with the wolf virus.) In winning the fight, Randall apparently severs his ties to civilization.

These brief summaries amply suggest that Hollywood's "Year of the Woman" has passed. All three films feature women--but in decidedly subordinate roles. Forrest Gump's mother is so devoted to him that she sleeps with the local school principal to guarantee her son's "mainstreaming." Forrest's best friend Jenny is a similarly diminished woman. Resisting Forrest's repeated requests for marriage, she traces a troubled (and cliched) trajectory through the '60s, getting involved with an abusive father, controlling hippie boyfriends, drugs, Black Panthers and antiwar activists. Finally, following her one conjugal visit with Forrest, she bears a healthy and bright son and conveniently dies.

What do women want? Gump suggests that a simple-minded, good-hearted man is the most to be hoped for. On the other hand, Wolf's Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer), the troubled, spoiled daughter of Randall's new boss (Christopher Plummer), falls hard for the wolfish Nicholson. Modern women, this film suggests, prefer their men to be dangerous animals. Wolf's ending murkily suggests that Laura also becomes a wolf and joins her love in the animal world. But she's clearly a secondary figure, dependent on men for her rescuing and meaning.

Most notably, perhaps, Speed offers Sandra Bullock as Annie, the tough L.A. professional woman pressed into service as the driver of the bus bomb. Bullock provides a witty foil to Reeves's quiet tough guy as she negotiates crowded freeways and flies her bus over 100-foot gaps in the highway. Inescapably, though, she ends up in the arms of our hero after still another exciting chase--this time involving a bomb on a subway car--a version of the heroine tied to the railroad tracks. While the ending in rescue and romance is utterly predictable, at least Speed suggests that Annie and Jack have formed a partnership. What do women want? Safety, animals, a piece of the action? These films have different answers, but while a woman might occasionally get to drive the bus, they're mostly just along for the ride.

Forrest Gump tries hardest to be culturally relevant. Director Bob Zemeckis has craftily integrated archival footage--of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, of George Wallace facing integration at the University of Alabama--with Forrest's fantastic story. But the high-tech wizardry produces little more than Zameckis achieved in his mixing of cartoon and real characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Vietnam, the antiwar movement and the civil rights struggle are all trivialized as Forrest blithely negotiates his way through his charmed, simple life. A potentially biting moment when Forrest's drill sergeant comments on his simple-mindedness being just the attribute needed for success in the armed forces quickly passes as the film endorses the proposition that we'd all be better off if we were simpler and purer. While the death of Forrest's African-American friend Bubba (mikelti Williamson) and the serious wounding of the revered Lieutenant Dan Taylor (Gary Sinese) tell something of Vietnam's reality, Forrest Gump doesn't want us to feel bad. Forrest survives Vietnam and gets rich, and Lieutenant Dan conquers his depression and gets new legs.

Wolf also tries but fails to deliver meaningful cultural commentary with some witty representations of how wolfish qualities can be useful in New York. But mostly the film offers laughable images of the lumpish Nicholson running down deer and leaping great distances, with atmospheric shots of leaden skies and full moons. The film vaguely suggests that Randall has the proper analogue of the wolf--something wild within--which makes him a good wolf; Swinton, on the other hand, becomes a truly demonic wolf. Why? Lupine predestination may be the answer, or else Nicholson's character is more noble, less corrupted by civilization.