by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
In a continuation of the MTV drama Teen Wolf, Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) is back as a fully grown adult now to fight a new evil with the help of old friends, Lydia (Holland Roden) and Derek (Tyler Hoechlin), and even some new ones.
Firstly, I’ll give a bit of background to my limited experience with the Teen Wolf franchise. I have only seen the original 1985 film and two episodes of the show, of which this film is a continuation. I watched those episodes to get an idea of the show’s tone and feel, and what to expect from the film. It also helped to get to know the main characters. So I’m watching this as a fan of films like this, not a hardcore fan of the show. I have always enjoyed stories involving superpowers, combined with the companionship of a group of friends.
Like with the 1985 film, our main character is a werewolf. Unlike that film, this doesn’t cause much of a change in physical appearance. But it does give him superpowers that he now uses to help in rescue situations. He’s also not a Teen Wolf now, but a Young Adult Wolf, as it’s been more than a decade since the show first aired. This arc is a good change of pace from the show’s setting, and he’s no longer trying to survive high school. He’s earning a living using his powers and has become a superhero.
As well as many show characters returning, including some from early seasons, we are introduced to a new character. Derek’s son Eli (Vince Mattis) is your usual rebellious teenager. His arc over the story has a”passing of the torch” vibe. It looks like an attempt for the show to get revived. It’s a relatively standard coming-of-age arc, and certainly one of the least exciting plot points. There is even a scene where Eli wins at sports; he’s not even doing it as a werewolf, but at least it wasn’t basketball. The most exciting aspect about him, at least for me, is his relationship with Derek, but maybe that’s because I’ve always been a sucker for father-son stories. They may have plans to do something more interesting with Eli if/when they get another season, but his entire character is despicable here.
Further apparent attempts to revive the series is the literal revival of Allison (Crystal Reed), who has been dead for 15 years. Oddly enough, the actual resurrection goes by fairly quickly. The essential conflict in this part of the story comes from Allison not being herself and effectively adopting the role of villain. It’s fun to see the characters deal with needing to stop her, which is not easy, as she has her own set of powers, but at the same time, finding a way to do this without hurting her and wondering if she even is Allison. It is a welcome addition to the central conflict, since the main villain is just a faceless demon talking in a scary voice.
On the subject of talking, the dialogue takes me out of the whole experience with this film. The writers have the difficult task of mixing serious fantasy life-or-death situations with the cheesiness of werewolves, demons, and magic. The key to making this work is the excellent dialogue that keeps you engrossed, while adding humor that fits with the silly situations the characters find themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an example of how to do this right. Often, in that show, characters explain a situation and then immediately make a funny remark about how ridiculous the problem is. In this film, a few times, they try to do that, but the jokes often need to be fixed or don’t work due to the character explaining the joke. For example, there is a moment where a character asks how he can see his own eyes, then points out they are what they used to see; most people know that already. There are many other moments when I felt the writing staff could have left certain lines on the cutting room floor, and not only would nothing have been lost, it would have come across much more effectively.
Another thing that ruins the immersive nature of this is the effects, especially in the last half-hour when the big action-filled climax arrives. Essentially, they are not good, making the She-Hulk effects look like Game of Thrones.They may have tried to mask how fake they look by having the climax at night, but in the case of the fire effects, it only highlights them. There are these moments when the werewolf characters entirely become wolves; they bare their teeth and snarl to appear terrifying. Still, it looks silly to me, and the fakeness of the effects only enhances this. These moments could be a bit of fan service, since it was a staple of the show, but I could never get into it.
In terms of performances, I was impressed by Roden and Reed in the more emotional scenes. Otherwise, nothing stands out; but there are no bad performances from the main cast.
From what little I’ve seen of the show, the film certainly does an excellent job of recapturing the tone and feel; it’s basically a two-hour episode of the show. Viewing this film like an episode of the show, I find it hard to say if it feels like a good one, having yet to see much of it, but I certainly hope the show had better storylines than this. They’ve created a messy narrative to feed the fans’ nostalgia and give all the characters something to do. Other than subplots involving Derek’s relationship with his son and the internal struggle Allison goes through, the story could have been more exciting, and it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before done much better. None of the main characters come across as all that compelling, and the villain is about as forgettable as they come. The dialogue is cringeworthy in places, and repetitive in others. With that said, the show’s fans should enjoy seeing more of the characters after five years. If you are not a show fan, however, definitely skip this.
Score: 5/10
Teen Wolf: The Movie is currently streaming on Paramount+
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