‘Teen Wolf: The Movie’ a miss

Film Review

Tinashe Kusema

“IT’s okay to look back at the past, just don’t stare.”

This is an old adage that happens to be one of my favourites. It has been almost seven years since the MTV series “Teen Wolf” ended, and on a satisfactory note, after six long seasons. Since the finale, the series has since been elevated to cult status, with the stars going on to do bigger and better projects.Two of the show’s biggest names and star attractions — Tyler Hoechlin and Dylan O’Brien — have gone on to feature in bigger projects. Hoechlin currently stars as the Man of Steel in the CW show “Superman & Lois”.

O’Brien voiced transformer favourite Bumblebee in the 2017 “Bumblebee” movie and also starred in the “Maze Runner” trilogy.

The rest of the cast, for the most part, seemed to disappear, with a few making cameo appearances here and there on the big and small screens.

The “Teen Wolf” fandom, however, simply refused to move on.

They crowded message boards, created online groups and even went to great lengths to petition for the show to either get a series reboot or a movie. Well, one of those wishes has since been granted, and, boy, do they regret it now? Let me start by saying I was a fan of the series. Likewise, I rejoiced when news filtered through that MTV had finally buckled and gave the greenlight for a movie.

To call the movie a disaster would be a gross exaggeration, but the cons do outweigh the pros. “Teen Wolf: The Movie” takes place 15 years after the events of the finale, with most of the Beacon Hills teenagers who grew up before our eyes now adults.

Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) finally moved out of Beacon Hills and now runs an animal shelter in Los Angeles, while Lydia Martin (Holland Roden) works at an energy company in San Francisco.The Hales — Derek, Malia and Peter — still live in Beacon Hills and now run an auto repair shop, together with the latest addition to the brood, Eli (Vince Mattis).

While the crew seems to have gone their separate ways, Chris Argent (JR Bourne) brings them together, when he reveals that he has a recurring dream in which his dead daughter, Allison, keeps crying for help from beyond.

The entire team returns to Beacon Hills in an attempt to conduct an ancient ritual that is aimed at helping Allison’s soul cross over and find peace.

However, before they can conduct the ritual, they find out that Allison has returned from the dead and lost most of her memory.

Unfortunately, she is not the only one who has returned as an old foe. The Nogistune has returned and is hell-bent on revenge on McCall and his friends.

The team decides to find the Nogistune – which is an ancient evil spirit that feeds on pain, tragedy and chaos – all the while trying to help Allison.

I could try to come up with clever little insights into why this movie fails, but the truth of the matter is that there is only one, and that is O’Brien’s absence.

Yes, the film fails to fill the gaps of the 15 years that have passed, as most of the characters just appear and go about their business with no explanation whatsoever.

Old friendships like that of Liam (Dylan Sprayberry) and Mason (Khylin Rhambo) have no interaction whatsoever, while old relationships like McCall and Malia seem to have been erased.

The movie’s main villain, the Nogistune, has great justification, but his return is poorly handled.

The nostalgic return of the entire series and crew makes up for all of this, and most of the returning cast members revert to their characters with great ease.

All except O’Brien’s Stiles Stilinski.

For those not familiar with the show and character, Stiles Stilinski was the heart and soul of the “Teen Wolf” series during its six-year run between 2011 and 2017.

The character brought lots of charm and humour to the show and remains one of O’Brien’s best performances.

For six years, the entire “Teen Wolf” fandom was in awe of this character.

Prior to the movie’s release, it was revealed that O’Brien had opted out of returning as he argued that he was at peace with his character’s arc.

There was also the subject of scheduling conflicts during production.

The writers try their best by introducing a new character Eli Hale, the son of Dereck Hale, whom they equip with some of Stiles Stilinski’s charm and quirky traits. The role of Eli Hale is played by Vince Mattis.

However, this experiment fails as the character does not get a proper introduction and Mattis is no O’Brien.

O’Brien’s absence leaves the writers in a fix as they cannot lean into the Lydia Martin and Stiles Stilinski romance, which was another strength of the show in the first place.

In short, there is no “Teen Wolf” show or movie without Dylan O’Brien (Stiles Stilinski).

MTV should have known that!