Director: Paul McGuigan
Starring: James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Andrew Scott, Charles Dance
Released: 2015
Trailer
After reviewing Young Frankenstein, it seems appropriate to round it off by reviewing another iteration of the iconic story of a scientist creating life from a patchwork of body parts. That iteration is 2015’s Victor Frankenstein, starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe as Victor Frankenstein and Igor, respectively. The film is a retelling of the Frankenstein story, centering more on Frankenstein and Igor’s friendship and less on the famous monster of the original story, as well as focusing more on action and comedy while also trying to maintain a dark tone. Does it ultimately work? Well…
The set design for this film, like most iterations of the Frankenstein story, is fantastic. The looks of Victor’s lab and his apartment are both very detailed and visually appealing. The circus setpiece at the beginning is also nice, having that gritty aesthetic while also being somewhat colorful. In addition to set design, the costume design is also very well done.
The breakdowns of the anatomy of people and animals at the beginning of the film from Igor and Victor’s perspectives are creative. The inner workings of people and circus animals are shown to the viewer like the main characters have x-ray vision, only the bones and anatomical pieces look like illustrations from the Victorian anatomy books. Seeing Igor’s thought process in this manner while treating a woman’s broken clavicle and dislocation is interesting and innovative.
James McAvoy is fantastic as Victor Frankenstein. McAvoy plays Frankenstein as passionate about his work, but not very good at interacting with people. Many Frankensteins in the past often come across as anywhere between fairly self-assured to confident because they are essentially psychotic. Victor is confident in his work around Igor, explaining it to him like he could do it in his sleep. But put him in a barely populated lecture hall, and he clams up and stumbles over his words when presenting his greatest creation. It’s an interesting twist on the character.
Also, making him not an entirely good character is interesting as well, and pretty close to the original book. In the book, though the monster was pretty awful, Victor was no saint, either. The fact that he had no qualms about harvesting the parts of dead bodies or with spurning his creation once he saw how supposedly hideous it was indicates some messed up sociopathic tendencies. And the fact that this is brought up in the film is an interesting touch that is often lost in films casting Victor as the protagonist.
The chemistry between Victor and Igor is great. Other than something like Young Frankenstein, a friendship like this isn’t usually presented in a Frankenstein film. And were it anyone else in the roles of Victor and Igor, perhaps it would not have worked as well as it does here. This chemistry between McAvoy’s and Radcliffe’s characters is honestly something that can’t be adequately described here; it has to be seen.
Some of the humorous bits are really well done. One example is when Igor gets the pus in his back hump drained into a kettle, and Victor runs to dump it out the window and over the balcony. Two women in the distance are heard shouting, most likely in surprise as Igor’s back pus spills onto them (yuck). The other involves Igor and his girlfriend interacting with each other at a large party. They are talking about Victor, who is making mischief on the floor below them. Igor talks up Frankenstein’s reputation, only to have Victor suddenly appear next to him several seconds into his defense. This prompts Igor to look at Frankenstein, then down over the balcony, questioning how he got up there so fast. Yes, it’s a joke used in Young Frankenstein, but it’s still amusing here.
Also like Young Frankenstein, this film is peppered with references to other Frankenstein films. For example, Turpin’s prosthetic hand is a nice nod to Inspector Krogh’s prosthetic arm from Son of Frankenstein.
Ultimately, this film definitely has that B-movie, Hammer Horror vibe to it, which may be offputting to some (or most, if the aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes is any indication), but incredibly enjoyable to those who enjoy campy horror films. Or, at least during the first half of the film, before the monster making comes into play.
Despite all the good things this film has going for it, there are a great deal of flaws that mostly come into play later in the film, but some appear early on, only to grow worse as the film continues. First, the tone waivers a lot throughout the film. The first half of the film is comedic and over-the-top goofy. But once Victor creates life for the first time, the film takes a much darker turn than in the first half. But even in the first half, there are many dark moments peppered in that feel like they clash with the overall campy tone it establishes.
The main villain, Inspector Turpin, is also weak, writing-wise. Inspector Turpin is a strong believer of religion rather than scientific discovery. True, he is not entirely wrong, for Frankenstein is meddling in affairs that are truly beyond his control, but it could have been done in a more interesting way. Something like Jeffrey Combs in The Frighteners where he’s antagonistic, but he’s still entertaining to watch would have been preferable to the dull, monotone copper we get here. And the fact that he suddenly wants to kill Victor for violating the laws of God and nature later on in the film seems a bit ridiculous. Maybe if we knew more about him, this turn would work better. What’s less of an issue than ridiculous characterization is the consistency of his injuries after his first physical confrontation with Victor. When did he lose his eye? I know it looked a little red after the confrontation, but why is he wearing an eye patch in some scenes? Maybe he was wearing a prosthetic eye in some scenes, but it doesn’t look prosthetic at all—it looks like his real eye. And later, after seeing him in the eye patch for one scene, he suddenly isn’t wearing it again. A nitpick, yes, but it distracts the viewer and makes the film harder to enjoy.
There’s another villain, Finnegan Weyland, who comes a bit too late in the film to feel like a decent villain, let alone a fleshed out character. Perhaps if they had stuck to one antagonist instead of two, or at least balanced them better, Weyland may have worked as the main villain. But here, he doesn’t show up until almost halfway through the film, and his villainy really doesn’t shine through until about 2/3 into the plot. Like the Inspector, this character and his position in the story could have been introduced a bit earlier, with some foreshadowing as to the character’s true intentions. And the fact that his motivation is spelled out in a couple of lines feels sloppy and lazy. The worst thing, however, is that his plot line is resolved in an incredibly anticlimactic manner. The heroes don’t vanquish him, and there’s no real dramatic comeuppance. It’s a split-second moment of, “Oh, and that takes care of him.”
Igor’s love interest, Lorelai, is an afterthought in the script. She’s not a horrible character by any means, but she’s not in the film enough to justify her presence, other than to reiterate and reinforce things that Igor is already thinking about. In fact, having her not there to advise Igor would have made him a much stronger and more dynamic character as he would have come to these conclusions on his own rather than relying on others to push him in a certain direction.
And while the friendship between Igor and Victor seems to work at first because of the actors’ chemistry, the actual writing of the characters’ friendship indicates otherwise. Why should we care about Victor’s relationship with Igor? Victor is manipulative and toxic, as illustrated in the scene where the two men discuss the fate of the origin of Igor’s name (long story) as well as the morality of their actions. Victor berates Igor for remotely questioning his methods and actions (when he has every right to do so), blames Lorelai for swaying Igor, and then promptly disowns him. And yet, we’re supposed to care about Victor’s well-being and their friendship just because of a pocket watch and the tragic story behind it? The fact that Victor is responsible for everything Igor has and what his life has become, for better and for worse, is no excuse for his manipulative tendencies.
Speaking of that watch, the reveal of the pocket watch’s significance would have been helpful earlier in the film, rather than awkwardly cutting before the conversation regarding the watch took place, only to flash back to it after Igor and Victor inevitable suffer their second act breakup. It seems awkward and unnecessary, like the writer wanted to craft something clever by withholding information, then revealing it at what he considers the best time to “blow the audience’s minds.” Had we known this earlier, perhaps Victor’s anger toward Igor’s seeming betrayal would have been more justified and not just come across as Victor being a complete manipulative bastard. Granted, he still is a manipulative bastard, but he could have been somewhat sympathetic. This reveal comes too little, too late.
The pacing of the plot is all over the place, and the organization of the story’s events is sloppy. The sudden appearance of Victor’s father is especially jarring in the film, as there is basically no buildup to this. He just appears, lectures Victor about his failing grades, and then vanishes. This and Igor’s encouragement of Victor to proceed with plans to build the Modern Prometheus goes against what came before this scene began, where Igor is rehearsing his speech that he plans to give to Victor regarding how unsure he is about what they are doing. It would have worked if Igor still seemed unsure about the work during the whole designing the monster montage, but he seems incredibly fascinated and gung ho about the work. It’s not until they are forced to go into exile that Igor begins to again question Frankenstein’s work. The love story aspect is very thin at best, with a love scene that feels unearned because Igor and Lorelai have really only shared maybe ten, fifteen minutes of screen time before that, with a good chunk of that time having her either seemingly unaware of his existence or unconscious.
And then the monster featured in the last ten minutes of the film becomes one of the worst iterations of the monster I have ever seen. He is a mindless killing machine, with no spark of life, essentially a hulking zombie. The design looks okay, but the film misses the point of the original story. Even the Frankenstein monster from the 1931 film was closer to the one from the original book than this. And the fact that ending just becomes a big dumb final monster fight we’ve seen a million times before just solidifies how much this film ultimately fails to even remotely do justice to not only the source material, but the other Frankenstein films that preceded it.
Like many horror films I’ve reviewed on here, Victor Frankenstein is a mixed bag. It starts off entertaining, but ends up losing its way about halfway through while introducing more and more characters and plot points that often go nowhere substantial. This is a film that has a decent cast and decent costume and set design, but these elements are wasted on a plot that quickly becomes dull and confusing. Everyone involved deserved better. The original story of Frankenstein deserved better.
Final Score: 3/10
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