Victor Frankenstein

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay, Andrew Scott, Charles Dance, Bronson Webb, Daniel Mays
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) befriends the brilliant Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) and begins helping him with his unnatural experiments.

Review:

Tim: Did we really need a new Frankenstein movie in 2015? Honestly, I don't know why this movie was made. This story has been done to death. It's time to retire it and I don't know, come up with something original? While Victor Frankenstein can't shake the feeling that it never should have existed in the first place, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. This still isn't a good movie, but it's a decent one.

There's a few appealing things about this film. The first is that the story is told from Igor's point of view. This is a small twist, but it helps to make the movie feel slightly less stale. If you're going to tell a story that's been told dozens of times already, you need a new angle. This movie at least attempted to be different, which I appreciated. The second big strength was casting Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy as the two leads. Both are likable and charismatic. Seeing them together was fun and definitely added to the movie. Radcliffe makes for a very unique Igor. He is able to connect well enough with the audience with his persona of naivety and innocence. I liked him in this role. McAvoy was fantastic as Frankenstein. His performance was explosive and unhinged. He stopped millimeters away from sliding into the absurd. He was over-the-top, but in a very good way. It was great fun seeing him embrace the unbalanced side of this character. I actually loved his performance. As another strength, I'll mention the twist of Igor's escape from circus life and the scene with his hunchback were outstanding. The "draining" scene was one of the most effectively nasty, grotesque scenes I have witnessed in a long time. It was disgusting but memorable.

Now, outside of these positives, the rest of the movie is pretty lackluster. We know the story very well. The movie tries to add new things while paying tribute to the legendary moments in the Frankenstein story (lightning, etc.). It's okay, but it's mostly comprised of things we have already seen before. The movie doesn't do enough differently to really draw the audience in. I was mildly interested throughout the film, but felt myself fighting to stay connected with the story. The movie might be a tad bit long at 1 hour, 50 minutes. The problem is that the story is ultimately too generic. It feels like another film without a big enough budget, so the special effects are a little on the cheap side. You have good performances, but director Paul McGuigan doesn't have enough talent to bring all his pieces together as effectively as is needed. The movie doesn't draw you in nearly enough.

I didn't have the highest expectations going into Victor Frankenstein. I still am not convinced this movie was a good idea. However, there were moments of the film I genuinely enjoyed. I give it credit for those scenes, although I also lament that there wasn't more of them. This is a decent movie in the end, but if you're redoing Frankenstein yet again, you really needed to hit a home run.

Rating 1-10

Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: I, Frankenstein, The Woman in Black