Crying Wolf

CAST: Amanda Seyfried,Billy Burke,Gary Oldman,Shiloh Fernandez,Max Irons,Julie Christie

rating: 1/2

From director Catherine Hardwicke to the dad played by Billy Burke,from the dense forests to the love triangle,and from the werewolf to a pretty young virginal thing in distress,this is Red Riding Hood in Twilight zone.

Hardwicke,who also helmed the Twilight series,even wanted one of its lead actors,Taylor Lautner,for one of the romantic leads here. So what if he refused? The

Twi-hard fans will recognise their Twilights here,even if others may struggle to recognise some bits of the little girl who crossed a forest in a red hood “700 years ago” (the film’s emphasis).

And that’s despite casting Seyfried as that little girl,Valerie,and giving her and her friends baskets to tote. From a promising start,which includes her hunting down rabbits and coldly discussing the prospects of skinning them as a child,Valerie grows into a girl with shiny blonde hair,large eyes,fair skin,and full lips that are as red as the cape she later dons.

When such a striking young thing as that,in a village called Daggerhorn,“on the edge of a forest”,haunted by a werewolf for two generations,decides she wants ordinary woodcutter Peter (Fernandez),what is he to do? Dressed better than his village cousins,in what seem suspiciously like skin-tight jeans and gelled hair,he has few ideas other than running away.

But if Peter is dull in a vampire-who-can’t-let-his-passions-get-the-better-of-him kind of way,Valerie’s other suitor only mopes in silence,making moony eyes at her. That’s the richer one,Henry (Irons) — the “better choice”,her mother says.

However,it’s not just these two who want Valerie,it seems. So does the werewolf,who tries desperately to inject some action into this love triangle,apart from providing Valerie and Peter opportunities to throw themselves in each other’s arms.

Oldman as Father Solomon,whose godly principles as he goes about trying to kill the werewolf are about as pristine as his scarlet robes,tries his best to salvage this film too. His questionable morals and means keep the film on edge,as does the slightly manic acting by Christie. She plays the grandmother,the one who lived at the other end of the forest in the original Red Riding Hood,and in the first few instances,she is queer if not downright suspicious.

As for Daggerhorn itself,it is the sort of village that,having lived with a werewolf for years,decides to celebrate the possibility (just the possibility) of its decimation on a “blood moon” (you don’t want to know) night,with residents dressed as wolves and howling like one for music. Which self-respecting werewolf would let that pass?

shalini.langer@expressindia.com