The year 2015 was the last time I watched a Frankenstein movie in the theater. It was when I watched Victor Frankenstein with my brother Dave at the Tower Theater in Sacramento. The only reason I didn’t walk out was because I would have had to wake the person seated next to me.
But let’s review this fairly recent entry in the Frankenstein pantheon.
The Plot: This is essentially a buddy movie, with Victor Frankenstein (the forgettable James McAvoy) and Igor (Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame). Victor is pursuing experiments in resurrecting life, while Igor is a hunchbacked circus performer whom Victor takes under his wing. The two of them work together on Victor’s experiments, which climax in a horrific creation of a living human created from corpses. There’s a subplot, where Igor’s girlfriend, Lorelei (the same name of Marilyn Monroe’s character in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, by the way) objects to Victor’s experiments. (It should be obvious that none of this has anything to do with Mary Shelley’s book.)
But wait! Victor’s proto-Nazi classmate, Finnegan, is intrigued by Victor’s experiments and wants for him to create a race of supermen. (Sound familiar?) Finnegan supplies Victor with a laboratory and funding to create this super being (named “Prometheus,” in an obvious reference to Shelley’s subtitle). Finnegan plans to weaponize the new creature, a motivation which Igor has divined. So Finnegan attempts to murder Igor, though he survives.
Victor manages to create Prometheus, and the process unintentionally kills Finnegan. The creature (Prometheus) then kills a police inspector, and attempts to kill Victor and Igor, until they manage to kill the creature. Victor goes off to Scotland, and leaves Igor to enjoy his life with Lorelei.
The Monster: This is a true monster. But there’s no character development, no focus on its feelings or motivations. It’s just a brute. It’s just a problem to be eliminated.
The creature is played by Spencer Wilding, an imposing actor who has played Darth Vader and has been in the Harry Potter series.
The Atmosphere: The atmosphere of this movie sucks. It’s why I almost walked out on the movie. The action sequences with the creature, as well as earlier scenes with Frankenstein’s reanimated monkeys, rely heavily on CGI. It’s just numbing, all this overwrought action with no meaningful storyline.
There’s also an annoying habit of illustrating Daniel Radcliffe’s knowledge of anatomy with little schematics that keep showing up on the screen. This is another of those movies that seems to think you can compensate for a lack of engaging plot and good acting with lots of whiz-bang graphics. This is a mistaken premise.
General Comments: Even though this movie is titled “Victor Frankenstein,” it’s told from the perspective of Igor. And Igor, of course, was not a part of Shelley’s original story. This whole movie introduces motivations, plot devices, and characters that have nothing to do with Shelley’s novel. And it’s much more focused on CGI than any real story line. I can’t recommend this movie.
Tomorrow, we have our final installment of this month-long review of Frankenstein movies. I can sense your disappointment that it has to end. The final installment will be a surprise, but let’s just say that it returns to Frankenstein’s cinematic roots. I’ll also provide a listing of all the movies we’ve reviewed, and will reveal my picks for the top five Frankenstein movies.
Until then!
Chasing Phantoms 