Okay, first of all, damn you, movie and title, for making me believe I would see Sonny as a werewolf wreaking havoc or something like it. Truth is, there's none of that.But yeah, most of the film is about Sonny using his "mystical powers" to take down some bad guys who, among other things, want to use his blood to gain some of his lycanthropic powers. Chiba is pretty good in the role, oozing some of his charisma and coolness, though other than his powers, the character is very much in line with many of the other roles and detective characters he's played that have graced the screen. The film makes some use of his martial arts background, though the few fight scenes we get aren't particularly memorable — some will call it boring, which, considering Chiba's skills as a fighter and the premise, is a shame, since there was plenty of room for some awesome martial arts stuff. Much of the detective stuff is alright, though, again, with all the powers our lead has, I don't feel there was great use made of it.Now, there are a few good things that kept me from getting completely bored. The whole body-scratching and invisible-tearing-apart stuff was awesome and pretty brutal. The cinematography was really good—I loved some of the use of crash zooms, and the camerawork for the most part is very dynamic. I wasn't expecting this to be kind of sensual at times, especially in that cave scene, and Etsuko (?) did a good job as this almost femme fatale—I guess there's a plot twist with her character. I don't know, man, the premise could get a little convoluted at times. The ending was great; it certainly ends on a pretty high note.All in all, many people seem to love this more than I do, so I'm in the minority. Chiba and some of the silliness kept this from being a boring movie. At the same time, I can't help but feel there was some untapped potential.TODAY SCHEDULEWolf GuyThe Mad FoxStar Trek: The Search for Spock
