Weekend Watch - Werewolf by Night
Welcome back to the Weekend Watch where each week we take a look at a new piece of film or television media and give it a rating, review, and recommendation. This week’s subject, as voted by the blog’s Instagram followers, is Marvel’s first “Special Presentation” Werewolf by Night. The hour-long special features performances from Gael Garcia Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Kirk R. Thatcher in what amounts to an MCU Halloween Special that draws heavily on 1930s and ‘40s monster movie influences. Let’s get into it.
Letter Grade: B+, heavy on style and content, but slightly lower on substance, this is one of Marvel’s most successfully unique offerings in a while
Should you Watch This Television Special? If you already have a Disney+ subscription, then yes. It’s imperfect but thoroughly entertaining for a quick spooky season evening watch.
Why?
Werewolf by Night relies heavily on its stylistic flair to entertain with a fairly basic story and characters that may or may not interest you, depending on your sensibilities. The use of black and white film, a plethora of practical effects, limited CGI, intensely violent sequences, and simple sets allows the special to be a thoroughly original homage to the monster flicks of the 1930s and ‘40s that happens to also be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (implicitly). The cinematography, fight choreography, and production design for this special are remarkably well-executed, immersing the audience well in the world and mood that the filmmakers wanted to create – particularly in the moment when the werewolf is finally revealed. Michael Giacchino’s direction and musical score come through beautifully, blending a few superhero tropes (generic armed guards, a crystal that’ll solve most of the problems, and a will-they/won’t-they relationship between the two leads) with a predominantly original concept, introducing Marvel fans to a part of the universe that had only been hinted at up to this point. With an entirely new cast of characters, most of which are throwaways, Werewolf by Night still manages to achieve buy-in thanks to its production value – something shows like Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel have struggled with to some extent. The characters that make it out of the special are certainly worth exploring further, and the performances across the board, while basic, were solid. Gael García Bernal shines as Jack Russell, bringing his own take to the character, hinting at his tortured soul while also delivering some of Marvel’s textbook wittiness. Laura Donnelly’s Elsa Bloodborne works well in the combination role of femme fatale and damsel in distress, succeeding at being both action star and potential love interest, it’ll be fun to see whether her character is revisited in the future or not. Finally, Harriet Sansom Harris fully commits to the role of Verussa Bloodborne, the host of the evening and seemingly sinister cult leader as well. I say that their performances are solid but basic because these actors are not given much to work with in terms of story, which is the special’s biggest weakness. Because they were shooting for that hour-long runtime, the story beats come quite quickly, and a lot of character development has to be told rather than shown to keep the action moving along. The story is not a total failure, however, because it does give the audience enough to care about the characters and showcases their roles in the universe well enough that by the end of its time, you do want to see more of them. Overall, Werewolf by Night is a successful introduction to this new style of production from Marvel thanks to its good casting choices and unique production design that pays homage to classic monster flicks. I’m excited to see where they continue to take these particular characters and to see what they do in the future with this particular mode of production. Check it out, now streaming on Disney+.
