Wednesday Review: Victor Frankenstein

I saw both Creed and Victor Frankenstein this past weekend. While I can't' really do a review of Creed on a horror blog, I highly encourage everyone to see it. It's a movie that deserves to be the successor to Rocky.

Now, to address the movie I'm actually supposed to be talking about: this film is pure wasted potential. The PG-13 rating absolutely kills what otherwise might have been an excellent retelling of the Frankenstein story. This feels like a horror movie that's afraid to be horrifying.

The most obvious example of this comes near the beginning: after rescuing Igor from the circus, Frankenstein reveals that he's not a true hunchback, but actually has a puss-filled growth on his back forcing him to bend over. Once the growth is drained, Victor puts Igor in a back-brace to help him stand, and the issue seems to be completely resolved. Igor's mobility problems have ceased moments later, and there's no indication looking at his bare back that there was ever anything wrong with him. No stretched skin on his back, no scar where Frankenstein drained him, no nothing.

I don't object to this turn of events. In fact, I think it seems like an excellent way to establish Victor's brilliance. However, why not show us Igor's gradual recovery over the course of the film? Is this movie really that terrified of the grotesque, to the point that we can't even see a disabled man for more than a few minutes?

The characters themselves definitely deserve a better movie. James McAvoy's Frankenstein is brilliant and terrifying in his madness. He seems to think of nothing beyond his experiments. I'd call him an interesting mixture of the Colin Clive and Peter Cushing interpretations of Frankenstein, with a nice touch of Herbert West thrown in as well. Daniel Radcliffe doesn't feel like he's taking the movie quite as seriously, but even at his worst is still excellent, and we feel for Igor.

This version of Igor doesn't really fit into any previous film versions. I believe everyone likely to read this blog knows that the original hunchback assistant was Fritz, and Ygor was a broken-necked shepherd introduced into the Frankenstein series several films later. Here, our Igor is a self-taught medical genius, rescued from a life as a circus clown by Frankenstein.

This creates a very different relationship, where their relationship varies. Igor seems to see Victor as a social superior because he was raised to view everyone as his better, but Victor recognizes Igor as an intellectual equal. When they first meet, Igor is able to save a woman's life with just Victor's pocket-watch, proving himself a medical genius.

The relationship is probably best shown when Frankenstein introduces Igor to his laboratory. Igor is probably the first character in any adaptation of this story to show no more than mild surprise when presented with Victor's work. He's already brought a pair of eyes to life. Igor is able to see how it's been done at a glance, and even tells Victor how to improve it moments later.

Moments later, though, Igor reacts in shock when he's told he can read any of Victor's books he wants. Igor is actually less surprised by the re-animation of the dead, than by the idea that he's met someone who views him as an intellectual equal. This relationship is a strong point of the film, and in a more macabre movie, might have bordered on Oscar-worthy.

I should mention that as a hunchback, Igor had been nameless. So, he takes on the name of Frankenstein's drug-addicted roommate who's “never around,” Mr. Igor Straussman. This is another example of a completely wasted opportunity. After enough time had passed in the film that I was sure the real Straussman wasn't going to show up, I began to suspect that the man we knew as Frankenstein was the real Igor Straussman, who had killed the real Victor and assumed his identity to fund his work...nope, no such luck. The actual twist involving Igor Straussman is unpredictable only in how uninteresting it is (I don't consider telling you what twist doesn't happen to be a spoiler)

The movie makes an interesting choice in saving the creation of the creature until very late in the film. I don't fault it for this at all. In fact, I think it makes it unique as a Frankenstein story, almost completely focused on the act of creation, rather than the results. The monster, however, isn't anything special, and the events that lead up to it's creation are eye-rollingly non-graphic.

I would say rent this film. McAvoy's performance alone merits that. However, it's really not worth a trip to the theatre.