Movie Wolves 2014: Purebred Fight between Father and Son

Wolves (2014) is a Canadian action-horror movie starring Jason Momoa and Lucas Till. It concerns a high-school student, Cayden (Till) who discovers that he is a werewolf after he exhibits preternatural strength and agility, and also turns into a werewolf.

Wolves 2014 cast

• Lucas Till as Cayden Richards: a promising high-school quarterback who discovers that he is a purebred werewolf.
• Jason Momoa as Connor Slaughter: the violent leader of a pack of small-town werewolves.
• Merritt Patterson as Angelina “Angel” Timmins: a bar owner and Cayden’s love interest.
• John Pyper-Ferguson as “Wild Joe”: a fellow purebred werewolf who mentors Cayden.
• Stephen McHattie as John Tollerman: a farmer who hires Cayden as a farmhand.
• Janet Laine-Green as Clara Tollerman: John’s wife.

Wolves 2014 full movie synopsis

Cayden Richards is an athletic, handsome high-school quarterback who somehow still doesn’t fit in. He first becomes alerted to his werewolf side after another dude head-butts him at a football game and Cayden messes him up wolverine-berserker style.

Later that night, after his girlfriend decides she doesn’t mind that he’s a violent, unstable maniac, the two start to get it on in his car. Unfortunately, this triggers his wolf side again and he almost kills her before she escapes.

Cayden wakes up on his bed, covered in blood. He goes into the living room and realizes that in his rage he killed his parents. Cayden gets the hell out of Dodge as his (now presumably ex-) girlfriend screams that he’s a monster because the police brought her along to arrest her attempted murderer.

Cayden is now a badass drifter with nothing but the clothes on his back. He also maintains an unimpeachable physique despite drinking in trucker bars every night. One night, he decides to help out a prostitute who is being beaten by two cartoon thugs. Cayden wolfs out and rips them to shreds. This murder is never followed up despite Cayden stealing one of their very expensive and noticeable $12.5k Victory motorcycles.

In another trucker bar, Cayden meets a man called Wild Joe. Wild Joe is the most obvious werewolf since Jack Nicholson was a werewolf in Wolf. Wild Joe approaches Cayden and starts telling him all about his lupine heritage, but then refuses to elaborate further because of the plot. He leaves Cayden a clue, however: a town called Lupine Ridge, presumably because ‘Wolfy Werewolf Clawfang Mountain’ was taken.

Cayden goes to Lupine Ridge and is immediately hit on by three model-quality women who happen to live in this Podunk town. One of these women, the bar owner, is named Angel and is Cayden’s obvious future love interest.

Cayden is given a work by a kindly old farmer stereotype. The kindly old farmer notices Cayden’s super-strength but minds his own business.

Cayden is approached in town by a single-serving expository device named Carter. Carter tells Cayden that he’s in danger because Jason Momoa looks like Connor Slaughter (Jason Momoa). Having served his plot purpose, Carter is hunted and eaten by Connor and his buddies, who are werewolves.

Later, it turns out that the kindly old farmer stereotype is actually Cayden’s long-lost great-uncle. He explains that Cayden’s mother was raped by Connor, gave birth in secret, and then killed herself because she completed her purpose as a plot device and was no longer necessary. Also, it turns out that Angel is betrothed to Connor because of werewolf politics.

Cayden starts a relationship with Angel and doesn’t want her to mate with Connor. The town werewolves who are quite literally introduced as the town werewolves are all about keeping the peace and being part of the establishment (one of them is the mayor), which is the least badass take on werewolves ever.

Cayden goes off half-cocked and gets totally mauled by Connor’s mountain pack at the end of act 2 moment of despair. Luckily he is a purebred werewolf and gets better after transforming again.

Cayden and the kindly farmer uncle stereotype come up with a Home-Alone-style-plan to kill Connor and his pack. Unfortunately, everyone except Cayden is kidnapped; Cayden prepares to violate Angel in a borderline-offensive tone-deaf comedy scene about public rape.

Cayden turns up and starts tearing mountain wolves up, luring Connor back to the farm. Cayden and his uncle blow everything up and Cayden beats Connor in single combat.

Connor reveals that he was actually in love with Cayden’s mother and the rape story was just made up to prevent his grandfather from honor-killing his mother. This is an attempt at a last-minute redemption arc for Connor even though he was preparing to rape Angel ten minutes ago.

Wild Joe turns up and turns out to have totally been the bad guy all along. He boasts about manipulating Cayden into coming to Lupine Falls by murdering his parents, as he wanted Cayden to kill Connor. He then rips Connor’s throat out, making you wonder why he needed Cayden for this needlessly convoluted revenge plot if he could have just done it himself.

Cayden kills Wild Joe by blowing him up. He then leaves town on his chopper with Angel. The kindly old farmer uncle stereotype has gifted them with a genealogical map of every werewolf family in North America, possibly setting up a sequel.

Wolves 2014 movie review

Wolves 2014 is unlikely to win any awards, but nor is it trying to – it’s a dumb, schlocky action-horror movie with its tongue firmly in cheek and Jason Momoa hoovering up the scenery with his alpha wolf intimidating the hell out of everyone and also eating people.

The plot is straightforward and a little predictable, though it does have the odd curveball twist (particularly revolving around Connor’s relationship with protagonist Cayden) and even completely out-of-left-field twists (Wild Joe’s whole plot).

Wolves 2014 also has an unfortunate tendency to treat its female characters rather poorly. At best – as in Angel’s case – they are prizes to be won. At worst, as in the case of Cayden’s mother, they are convenient wombs, to be tossed aside once their primary purpose of birthing the menfolk has been accomplished.

All in a very watchable – if a bit dumb – werewolf movie for some mindless Friday-night entertainment. Grab a pizza, throw some popcorn in the microwave, and turn your brain off for Wolves.