A cleverly reimagined but lightweight horror chiller, “I,
Frankenstein” (*** OUT OF ****) qualifies as an entertaining, PG-13 rated,
supernatural saga about the further adventures of the infamous monster. “Tomorrow, When the War Began” writer &
director Stuart Beattie and “Underworld” scenarist Kevin Grevioux, who wrote
the Darkstorm Studios graphic novel prequel, have forged a fast-moving fantasy
that borrows from the “Underworld” franchise, “Legion,” “Priest,” “Batman,” and
“Constantine.” Unlike previous
“Frankenstein” films, however, “I, Frankenstein” occurs in a contemporary
setting after a brief 18th century prologue. Our stitched together protagonist finds
himself caught between an order of virtuous Gargoyles and wicked Demons in an
apocalyptic battle for the fate of Earth.
Essentially, with regard to Biblical time-lines, the action takes place
after the fall of Satan. Leading man Aaron
Eckhart has definitely surpassed himself not only with his chiseled, six-pack
physique as the centuries old monster, but also with a haunted performance that
evokes sympathy for the anti-heroic monster.
Mind you, Frankenstein’s monster remains a treacherous character, rough-hewn-around-the-edges,
without a twinkle in his gimlet eyes. When
Eckhart isn’t striking a cool, anti-heroic pose, Bill Nighy’s nefarious villain-in-charge mesmerizes
us with another polished performance.
Naturally, Nighy is cast as the supreme Demon, Prince Naberius, who looks
quite a sight when he shape-shifts into a Demon. Listening to this seasoned British actor
deliver his dialogue with a succulent relish for each syllable is a treat in
itself. Meantime, director Beattie
stages several exciting entrances and exits by both the Gargoyles and our hero. Heroes and villains love to plunge through
ceilings like Michael Keaton did as the Caped Crusader in the 1989 “Batman.” The close-quarters combat sequences are
reminiscent of “Priest” (2011) with the monster wielding two-and-a-half
foot-long sticks. The settings and the
costumes imbue the action with atmosphere. “Wolverine” director of photography Ross Emery
makes everything appear visually resplendent, particularly when Demons die in
battle. When a Demon dies, its body glows
incandescently and then erupts into fireballs.
“I, Frankenstein” picks up Mary Shelley’s classic narrative
thread and then ushers its immortal monster into a contemporary setting. In voice-over narration, the grim monster
provides us with all the important details about Victor Frankenstein (Aden
Young of “Black Robe”) and his success with reanimating dead tissue. So disgusted did Frankenstein feel about what
he had created from eight corpses and brought to life using electric eels that
he bundled it up and dumped it into a river. Nevertheless, the monster managed to survive,
and it murdered Frankenstein’s wife. Frankenstein
pursued the blasphemous creation into the frozen wilderness, but the mad
scientist succumbed to the elements before he could dispatch the monster. Afterward, the notorious Prince Naberius (Bill
Nighy of “Underworld”) learned about the monster and included him in his
ambitious plans to resurrect an army of Demons confined in Hell. He appoints Zuriel (Socratis Otto of “Gone”)
to capture the monster after the latter has buried his creator. Two Gargoyles intervene on the monster’s
behalf as the Demons challenge him at his father’s burial site. After repulsing the Demons, Frankenstein’s monster
finds himself airlifted by the Gargoyles to a cathedral where he meets their matriarch.
Queen Leonore (Miranda Ott of “War of
the Worlds”) refuses to let her brawny second-in-command, Gideon (Jai Courtney
of “Jack Reacher”), slay the monster. Instead,
she names the monster “Adam.” Could anything
have been less symbolic? She explains that the Gargoyles and the
Demons have been waging an eternal war that mankind knows nothing about despite
the high body count on both sides. At
the same time, Naberius has fooled two scientists into working for his cause to
replicate Frankenstein’s success with bringing the dead back to life. Naturally, Terra (lovely Yvonne Strahovski of
“Killer Elite”) dismisses the legend of Frankenstein as hokum. Eventually, she comes face-to-face with reality
when she meets not only Adam but also peruses Frankenstein’s journal. Mind you, “I, Frankenstein” emphasizes
thrilling, athletic action set-pieces so our hero and heroine have no time to
enjoy intimacy in a romantic sense.
Terra spends her time sewing up part of Adam’s back when he isn’t
rescuing her as a damsel-in-distress from Prince Naberius’ minions. For the record, Naberius’ chief henchman, the
hulking Dekar, who speaks in a voice that sounds like it comes from the pit of
Hell itself, is played by writer Kevin Grevioux!
“I, Frankenstein” is a good movie, but it suffers from
several shortcomings. First, exposition
dominates the action. Any time you
conjure up a fantasy world, you must explain who is who and what is what. Virtually every other line of dialogue serves
to explain details. Director Stuart
Beattie and scripter Kevin Grevioux shoehorn in a plethora of information about
whom and what into this lean and mean movie that takes up less than 90 minutes
when you subtract the end credits.
Incidentally, you need not sit out the end credits for fear of missing
any additional scenes. Nonetheless, some
of their exposition must have hit the editing room floor. For example, we are told neither how the
monster acquired his superhuman strength nor his immortality. Between the times that Adam finds his creator
frozen in the snow and encounters Terra, more than two hundred years have
passed! Second, the visual effects are
lackluster. The Demons look like they
don Halloween masks when they transform and the Gargoyles look pretty hokey as
they hover in flight by flapping their reptilian wings. Presumably, the $69-million budget went to
other things. Happily, Beattie and
Grevioux discarded everything else about the traditional Frankenstein monster’s
hideous appearance from the original movies.
He doesn’t have bolts protruding from his neck. He doesn’t stomp around like a sleep-walking soldier
and he speaks in complete sentences. He
is more like Robert De Niro’s monster in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (1994)
because he possesses intelligence. Altogether,
despite some obvious weaknesses, “I, Frankenstein” is a lot of fun to watch,
and I enjoyed it so much that I saw it a second time.
