Will Randall is having a midlife crisis. He is about to lose his job in a publishing firm, his assistant Stewart Swinton may or may not be backstabbing him in order to get ahead of him and Swinton also may or may not also be stabbing Randall's wife in order to get head from her. To clear his mind, Will takes a ride in the country to just get away for a bit. On his way home Will hits a large wolf and gets out to check on the animal, not quite dead, the wolf is able to get a quick little snack on Will's arm. Over the next few days and nights Will Randall is gonna become more of a corporate predator than he ever thought possible.

This one is old-school, kids. Jack Nicholson is Will Randall and Nicholson does not even need a transformation scene to become a werewolf. All he needs is a little fake chest hair, some contacts and sideburns, Nicholson is able to bring out the beast with his eyes alone.

James Spader plays the slimey Swinton and delivers a great performance. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Laura Alden, the love interest of the film. Not high on gore or death, Wolf deals more with changes in the life of Will as he slowly begins to understand his new abilities, such as his new enhanced senses and physical power.

A confrontation with Swinton in a bathroom leads to a fairly good showdown at the end of the film, with the poor Laura caught in the middle. Released around the same time as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Wolf was an obvious try at the Wolf Man classic that starred Lon Chaney. Character driven with a good story line, Wolf relies more on good movie making than movie magic, but is the weakest of the three movies.

5/10

I've been on a bit of a werewolf kick lately. The last two movies I've seen (The Howling and Underworld) have both had the hairy beasts abound. And while werewolves have never been my favorite of the classic creatures, I do think they're starting to grow on me like a thick patch of fur.

This film didn't stop my excitement nor did it continue to fuel it though. I was rather unimpressed by the first half hour or so of the picture. In my opinion, it started a bit too slow and Nicholson's performance early on seemed to lack a spark. I was also unimpressed by the first werewolf shown. It looked mechanical and not very frightening.

On the other hand, Nicholson's energy did seem to pick up later on in the film and it seemed to inspire the entire movie. I really liked James Spader's performance in the "et tu Brute!" smug jerk role. He seems to play the character flawlessly which I will keep in mind if we should ever become friends. And rounding out the main characters in the film, I've always had a huge crush on Michelle Pfeiffer, so I can't say anything bad about her.

There was a fun little twist that I should have seen coming but missed. It made the ending very enjoyable.

6.5 out of 10 "a drop of tequila in my coffee"