[three-star-rating]James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe[/three-star-rating]
Victor Frankenstein misses a monster opportunity.
It has great acting, a jaunty pace, beautiful costumes, a fantastic score, top-notch art direction, and buckets of gore. What it lacks are a satisfying lightning bolt of a climax and a clear path there. Oh, sure the monster comes alive, but he’s not given enough space to rampage – for us to poke and prod him, to find out who he really is.
You may have noticed that this lively, visual film is named after the doctor, and not the monster. Igor the hunchback narrates, saying this is really about him. The setting is moved from 1790s Europe to 1890s London. All of these are not bad ideas, per se. The problem is that Dr. Frankenstein’s madness and Igor’s obedience are only half the story. The monster they create is the other half. Without exploring both halves equally, we end up with a film that doesn’t fulfill its historic promises.
As a character – even with some embellishments – Igor isn’t enough to replace that missing heart at the center of the film.
Igor (Radcliffe) is a contorted circus clown obsessed with physiology and medicine. This has led him to study secretly; his deformity covers up his intelligence. Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) notices and rescues the Igor from the circus. He helps the hunchback heal and explore his full potential. In return, Igor helps Dr. Frankenstein create life.
The rescue from the circus and the early lab work is brilliant fun – briskly told with gross, Gothic panache. There are small references to the original Mary Shelly book: Prometheus, Lazarus, and the same Biblical quotes. Even the lab where the monster is created resembles Prometheus’s famous volcano. Clever!
Perhaps Igor’s stitched-on love story and Frankenstein’s haunted past are there to breath more life into the film as it wanes. What these bits actually do is slow down the story on its way to the monster.
Let’s be honest; we want to see the creature! We want to know the creature. Sure, the tale of how everything unfolded up to that famous night in the lab is cool. However, Igor just isn’t as interesting as the hulking flesh glommed together and lumbering to awesome, terrifying life.
Perhaps the horrible monkey creature Victor and Igor mess around with early on will fulfill some audience’s desires.
That leads me to a tangent. This movie – with its bloody bits, violence, pus, and body parts – is rated PG-13. A film that merely talks about priest’s sexual abuse (Spotlight) is R rated. The Hollywood rating system makes no sense whatsoever!
[rating-key]
Victor Frankenstein also loses some sense. The interesting illustrated animation that starts the film gets picked up and dropped willy-nilly. Too much of this seems derivative of the new Sherlock Holmes films. Finally, Radcliffe’s narration disappears for nearly an hour in the middle – in fact, right when we’d probably need it the most. Where do the body parts come from? How does Victor go from animal parts to human parts?
Even as it misses some gargantuan opportunities, Victor Frankenstein is still worth seeing. McAvoy and Radcliffe have talent and chemistry. I just kept wishing their cozy, bloody little duet would hurry up and become a terrifying trio.
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