Catherine Hardwicke’s films have been on a steady decline since she became a known entity with the controversial coming-of-age drama Thirteen and a look at the world of skating in Lords of Dogtown. Her efforts at direction since then have resulted in horribly formulaic and empty films filled with clichéd dialogue and plot points. Red Riding Hood is the next link in that chain and, rather than attempting to buck the trend and imbue the film with a little more substance, Hardwicke went all out with a glossy mess that looks like it was filmed on a soundstage. To make matters worse, Red Riding Hood has one of the worst scripts in recent memory complemented by every single cheap music cue Hardwicke could conjure up in her failed attempt to turn a fairytale into a Thriller.
Contrary to what you might think, the version of Red Riding Hood adapted here isn’t entirely based in the Brothers Grimm tale, and not only because it includes an insipid love triangle. The slight departure is in the introduction of the nod to the trial of Peter Stumpp and the wolf trials that ensued as superstitious country folk fell prey to their own fears and began accusing their family and neighbors of being werewolves. The similarity to the witch trials should be obvious, and it’s truly an interesting dynamic to add to this rendition of Red Riding Hood, though it’s not without precedent as this was a feature of the tale in its earliest forms. Sadly, it’s understated in favor of the clichéd romances some truly inane character interactions that neuter the more daring aspects of the original Grimm tale to create something stylistically vapid.
The village of Daggerhorn has maintained an uneasy peace with a local werewolf for decades by sacrificing their prime livestock in exchange for the safety of the people within the fortified walls. Their sense of peace shatters when the werewolf claims the sister of Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) and ushers in a sense of distrust in the once happy people of Daggerhorn as the arrival of famed werewolf hunter Solomon (Gary Oldman) educates them that everyone in town is a suspect. Solomon barricades all exits out of town and begins the witchhunt – but for a werewolf. You get the idea. As encounters with the beast increase, Valerie discovers a connection to the fanged monster, and suddenly she finds it hard to trust her father (Billy Burke), mother (Virginia Madsen), grandmother (Julie Christie), or two love interests (Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons).
Where Hardwicke truly failed in her presentation of Red Riding Hood was in the creation of atmosphere. Nevermind all the stodgy dialogue and her use of daunting music to give the film tension it couldn’t have any other way. The village never once feels like anything but a large set on a soundstage despite the fact that it’s a remote sliver of civilization embedded in a foreboding wilderness that until just recently they believed housed a large and deadly predator. Though a flyover shot shows the village to be a spot of light in an otherwise large forest, scenes in an open field with bound bales of hay play out with no explanation as to its proximity to this previously secluded settlement. Equally disparaging is Hardwicke’s choice of music, a mix of techno and tribal drums, which utterly destroys the feel of the village and prevents Red Riding Hood from being a suspenseful thriller and takes it into the realm of trashy teenager romantic thriller, which will undoubtedly drum of memories of her thematically and structurally similar film with vampires.
Though Hardwicke proves incapable of instilling the necessary elements to make Red Riding Hood feel real, she did lens an otherwise attractive looking film – but that’s all that can be said for it. It’s all beauty and no brains or brawn. The CGI used on the wolf though is nothing special and Hardwicke opted for blurring its motions to hide this, up until we get a direct, face-on look at the wolf, at which point the poor technical quality becomes apparent. Consequently, the release of the film on Blu-ray is deceptive, sure it’s visually appealing for the most part, but if you have to listen to the dialogue and music with it, the film is unbearable overall.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
On almost any other film I’d encourage you to check out the picture-in-picture commentary track, but the only person featured in it who didn’t fail the film entirely is Amanda Seyfried who carried the film on her shoulders (only to have her effort crushed under its weight). Hardwicke seems oblivious that she did anything wrong here. Listening to Max Irons and Shiloh Fernandez speak about their “acting” just hurts considering how wooden their performances were. To make matters worse, there’s another featurette dedicated entirely to Irons and Fernandez and how they snagged their parts. If you’ve watched the movie, you’ll still be hard-pressed to figure out why anyone would cast them. A digital copy, a gag reel, two music videos, and deleted scenes round out the featurettes.
"Red Riding Hood" is on sale June 14, 2011 and is rated PG13. Drama, Thriller. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Written by David Leslie Johnson. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Billy Burke, Gary Oldman, Shiloh Fernandez, Virginia Madsen, Max Irons.
