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Victor Frankenstein Unfortunately Disappointing
by
Kristin Battestella
I
had hoped Gothic dramatizations and Victorian horror were making a
comeback. Unfortunately, with the cancellation of Penny Dreadful,
the less than welcoming reception of Crimson Peak, and the
disappointing result of the 2015 Victor Frankenstein, the
potential for dark romanticism and steampunk gone macabre trends
seems over before it could really start.
The
hunchbacked Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) is rescued from the cruel circus
and healed by the visionary but radical Doctor Victor Frankenstein
(James McAvoy). Dismissed from his medical college, Victor is
reanimating small subjects and intends to create life with a new
man-made cadaver. Unfortunately, Inspector Turpin (Andrew Scott) is
following the gruesome trail back to Victor, and he objects to
Frankenstein's amoral and godless plans – which need Igor's raw
medical talents to be completed.
Victor
Frankenstein is slow to
start with more telling than showing when the waxing on man versus
monster making could all be seen rather than told. These talkative
delays underestimate the audience, compromising atmospheric immersion
and period mood with “little did I know” narrative breaks.
Where's the Victorian carnival flair and underlying horror? Victor
Frankenstein has a unique angle
on this oft told tale, but the action is styled for the cool circus
escape with unnecessary slow motion and leaping over a box
being highlighted as more important than freakish servitude and
characters in peril. Viewers can see Victor observing Igor reading
medical texts – we can feel the characters if you let us instead of
cutting corners with fast moving dialogue, hectic editing, and shaky
camerawork. Victor Frankenstein isn't
really sure how it wants to present itself because the
required flashy becomes more important the the man versus nature, man
versus man, and man versus himself horror possibilities. Mischievous
animal part thefts and science montages happen quick with little time
to enjoy the mad science. Of course, Victor Frankenstein isn't
true horror, yet the soft romantic scenes and rags to riches
drama feels at odds with the macabre. Debates on magic and
superstition versus emerging science and technology make for better
drama alongside failed science presentations and medical mistakes
letting us know where each character stands. Although the hissing
monkey prototype has some creepy moments and could be a sinister step
to the monster making, these scenes come off as a laughable detour.
Real science probables such as two hearts and four lungs and numerous
design montages become too busy, hindering the grossly fantastic and
the character drama. Is Victor Frankenstein about Victor's mad
descent or Igor's misused intelligence? If this is about Victor's
coming to this ghastly point, the story should begin before his
experiments and conclude with the onset of his creation. If Victor
Frankenstein really is about
Igor's role in the monstrosity, then the science should be
nearer completion. Instead, Victor Frankenstein meanders
for over an hour before London on the lamb and double crossings throw
more wrenches into the quick monster finish. Past reasons why come
too late, and tacked on narrations do nothing to explain what Victor
Frankenstein is about beyond an
opening ending in hopes of a sequel.
With
his slick 'stache and Victorian finery, James McAvoy (X-Men:
Apocalypse) looks the titular mad scientist with an ulterior
reason for inspiring Igor. Arrogant Victor thinks he's too
intelligent, admitting he prefers his vanity to being called a
criminal and will speak slowly when talking to lesser people. Victor
gets too far ahead of himself in belittling believers, life, and
theology. He's too excited over his own experiments and uses a fast
talking wit to confuse others into not questioning his brilliance.
Unfortunately, this flippant, condescending double talk effect is
exactly how the audience feels when watching
Victor Frankenstein. It's more interesting to see
Victor educate and raise Igor almost like he would do the monster. He
doesn't care about charity just control – Victor needs Igor's
talent to finish his life and death projects while he takes the
credit. He fixes Igor's hump in a gross, back cracking pinning while
sucking the fluids out through a tube in one erroneously forced and
homophobic scene, and comedic dialogue perceiving them as friends
jars against the feeling superior Victor using Igor for his own
devious ends. We meet Victor Frankenstein after
the doctor has already left any morality questions behind and
made his leap to madness, leaving what could have been an intriguing
science versus soul debate as stubbornly unlikable assery. Victor's
motivation is revealed too late and very little consequences follow
his actions. McAvoy is left doing more shouting than anything creepy,
and his Scottish accent bleeds through into a not necessarily
British, just toned down affectation akin to the meh at hand.
Fortunately,
Daniel Radcliffe's (Harry Potter) Igor is developed as a real
assistant rather than an idiot in Victor Frankenstein. Despite
learning nothing but cruelty from people as a circus hunchback, Igor
is also a self-educated amateur doctor who cleans up nice and tries
to remain loyal thanks to Victor's kindness toward him. Of course,
this Victor Frankenstein can't
be told wholly from Igor's perspective as promised when he is absent
from several scenes and critical information is given without him.
Igor's narration also comes and goes – oddly returning for his moon
eyes over a girl when the fantastic science is afoot. Igor is also
able to run, swim, and scale a rock cliff just by putting on a back
brace after having spent a lifetime as cripple...okay. Staying
entirely in Igor's point of view would have helped Victor
Frankenstein tremendously as his
voiceovers or journaling montages could explain the number of weeks
or months passing while giving the audience his private observations
on the increasing madness. Instead, Igor flip flops too much to be
the viewer's anchor and changes his tune on Victor's plans – first
he's reluctant to proceed due to a financial deadline and wants to
discuss the peril of creating man in his own image but then he feels
obligated to Victor for giving him life thanks to metaphoric
contrivances. Igor knows the jealous Victor has become an
embarrassment, used him, and interfered with his romance. However,
the two hearts and two brothers parallels between bad Victor and good
Igor seem more important that Igor's fresh perspective, and the idea
of Victor being a positive benefactor raising up life through Igor
ends up too muddle to save Victor Frankenstein. However,
the hunchback does get the girl in a hammy but surprisingly not
exploitive sex scene. How often can you say that?
The
supporting players in Victor Frankenstein sadly
also serve as little more than stereotypes, including Jessica Brown
Finlay as the pretty acrobat turned beard Lorelei. Despite
potential for a would be love triangle, Finlay only appears in a
handful of scenes looking too modern, out of place, and too small in
her swimming costumes – and it's all so odd because she was so good
on Downton Abbey. Lorelei is
merely used as a brightly color standout when some symbolism
is necessary before inexplicably disappearing for the finale. While
Andrew Scott's (Sherlock) Turpin is a shrewd inspector not
falling for Victor's spin, the intriguing idea of his pursuit of
Frankenstein for religious beliefs rather than legal prosecution is
dropped for a standard case of lawman with manpain. Scott also feels
either out of his depth or too much for the material, for his scenes
seem like they come from another movie. Turpin may also loose an eye
or hand at some point – but he ends up still having them both later
anyway. Whoopsie! Elder Frankenstein Charles Dance (Game of
Thrones) does add an
element of stern class in his sacrilegiously short screen time. One
frigging scene! The Baron gives Victor a good talking to with a
well-deserved chastising and slap, and Victor Frankenstein needed
much more of these father and son aspects.
Victor
Frankenstein has
sweeping Victorian scene setters with colorful circus
tents, exterior facades, and zooming in entries – and viewers can
tell it is all unnecessary CGI. What's happening under the circus
tent and inside the laboratory are cool enough thanks to nighttime
gaslight glows, crackling electricity, and large gears. Up close
foggy streets, bleak hospital interiors, and horse drawn carriages
accent more alongside period medical sketches, Victorian zoos, steam
gizmos, disembodied eyes, and more creepy specimens in green tanks.
Mirrors and reflections mimic the duality in Victor Frankenstein,
and overlaying anatomy
lines, diagrams, body labels, and human schematics do better than any
trite slow motion. Unfortunately, the mad science blueprints are used
onscreen early, then dropped for most of the picture until the final
monster design montage – almost to cop out on not actually showing
any of the monster work. Daylight scenes in Victor Frankenstein
reveal the color, costumes,
golden rooms, and would be splendors of the time like heat and
running water, but the bare minimum period setting remains Victorian
light rather than fantastic steampunk. Top hats, a crinoline, and a
few big skirt twirls don't hit home the costumes, and modern tattoos
can be see when wearing those strapless gowns. Victor Frankenstein
never even says the year,
and despite its obviously expensive intentions, this feels low budget
messy and unfinished. Stormy, gloomy Scottish atmosphere comes too
late in the final act – where the raising of the monster is an
orchestration in action set pieces followed by a spectacular
destruction. All that fiery, confusing hurrying and Victor
Frankenstein limps into over
five minutes of credits with little to show for it.
This
not a horror movie nor a character drama, but Victor Frankenstein
isn't really science
fiction and has no fantastic to its creation either. The rush to be
modern cool or more Hollywood than nineteenth century British
sacrifices any Gothic feeling, and the condensed script or production
changes on the fly lack period finesse. It's tough to view Victor
Frankenstein as what it is but rather what it could have been,
and the cast, setting, and story deserved better. While serviceable
for audiences who haven't seen any other Frankenstein adaptation,
Victor Frankenstein makes
older audiences appreciate the panache of the Hammer
Frankenstein films all the more. If
you're looking for the book you won't find it – like a game
of telephone, Victor Frankenstein starts
with Mary, passes through Universal, and quotes Young
Frankenstein before this
disappointing result that never takes its original possibilities to
the next level.
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