Wolf: Not Sure If Nicholson Needed Much Added On Fur...

 

 

 

Jack Nicholson all hairy, wild and full of fury and attitude.  Is that really so much of a stretch?  Ok, Wolf came out in 1994 and was directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate).  It stars Nicholson as Will Randall, the editior-in-chief at a publishing house.  One night, he hits a wolf while out driving, and when he stops to check on the stricken animal, it bites him, leaps up and runs off.  He goes home and finds out he is out a job, unless he accepts a posting to Eastern Europe.  The new owner, Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer) is a ruthless tycoon type who does not like Randall's style.  His "friend" in the business, Stewart Swinton (James Spader) exudes crocodile tears, but turns out he's the guy up for Randall's job and was pushing for it behind the scenes.  Spader, btw, plays this with delicious slimy smarminess as only he can.  If it wasn't for his establishing the character of Daniel Jackson, you would question his range and his real skill as an actor.  But he does have serious chops.

 

Anyway, he meets Alden's daughter Laura, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and the two fall into each other's orbits.  She doesn't care for her dad.  Neither does Randall.  Also, Randall's marriage is falling apart and he figures out, partially using his increasingly keener senses, that she's been swinging with Swinton on the side.  But when she ends up dead, savaged by what appears to be some kind of wild canine, he begins to question himself.  On the other hand, is increased savage nature gives him the chutzpah to stage an office coup that is rather delicious.

 

The savage spirit in the city, that is what kind of werewolf movie Wolf is.  It isn't so much about the supernatural, though that is there.  Not really that much about the gore, either.  This is about having to negotiate and suppress yourself to maneuver through modern culture and the film asks the question about whether submitting ourselves as much as most of us do to the modern world, suppressing so much of who we are, is really the best for us...or society in general?  It asks questions about mindless conformity vs seeing such and daring to break out.  Really, some of the similar territory The Graduate tread.

 

It doesn't give you an easy answer.  In fact, it says that either way, there will be trouble.  But at least go for the trouble on your own terms.

 

Good flick.