Ok……sometimes I used to pride myself at feeling like, as a whole, I tended to pick winning films to go see. Now sure, along the way, there were some bumps in the road, some NOT so great choices made. However, it generally seemed that almost every film I chose to watch, I came out saying how much I liked it. A month into 2014, and I have hit an unexpected wall of disappointment with the fantasy genre’s two main entries so far…..the previously reviewed “The Legend of Hercules” and now “I, Frankenstein”.
From (mainly) writer, and now 2 time director, Stuart Bettie comes this overall travesty of a film that begins 200 years ago and seeing Victor Frankenstein’s creation, played by the diverse and talented Aaron Eckhart, taking revenge on his creator for making him what he is and then fleeing to the mountains where the good Doctor attempts to follow him in a poorly executed plan that costs him his life without the creature ever touching him. Frankenstein takes his fallen creator and buries him in the family cemetery. There, he is then unexpectedly accosted by demons bent on capturing the creature for an as yet unknown purpose. This would seem to be what will occur until out of nowhere come two Gargoyles who destroy the demons and ultimately reveal they were wanting possession of the Doctor’s journal, which contains all the secrets of reanimation. The Gargoyles take Frankenstein to their queen, Leonore (Miranda Otto), who decides to give him a new name, Adam. They offer Adam the choice to join them, as they had witnessed him “descend” a demon, but he wants no part of it, and goes his own way to wage war against the demons and his past deeds.
Fast forward the 200 years to present day, and we find Adam still hunting demons, who are still likewise hunting HIM in the hopes of getting the journal, at the command of their Prince, Naberius (played by a staple of these types of films, Bill Nighy). Once Adam attracts the attention of Leonore and her Gargoyle Order when a human is killed during a fight with demons, they start thinking he needs to be on the sidelines as their war with the demons is supposed to be hidden from mankind. Meanwhile, Naberius has been utilizing his own scientists to perform experiments in reanimation, and it is during this sequence of events that we learn he’s been collecting human dead with plans to ultimately create a demon army and overrun the world. One of the scientists, played by “Chuck” alum Yvonne Strahovski, ends up having a run-in with Adam and learns that her boss isn’t exactly who she thought he was, and joins up with Adam to try and stop Naberius and his nefarious plot. As one would probably guess, and guess correctly without much effort or thought, battles ensue, truths are revealed, demons are descended, Gargoyles are ascended, and this special forces style Frankenstein, oh, I’m sorry Adam, takes on the baddies and stops the impending doom of mankind.
While I will say that I at least got a LITTLE entertainment value from this (which is more than I could say about “The Legend of Hercules”), I still realized afterwards just how utterly pointless and kinda messed up this film actually was. I am honestly a huge Aaron Eckhart fan. His turns in films like “The Core”, “Erin Brockovich”, “The Dark Knight”, and “Olympus Has Fallen” were solid and I am confident some of his other works are most likely just as good. Here, it truly feels like talent wasted. While his low voice and intense gaze most certainly lends itself to something LIKE this…..this was NOT the film to have it in. And the supporting cast with talents like Nighy, Strahovski, and Otto also laid waste via this material was equally saddening. Some of the battle sequences I caught myself ever so briefly “ooo-ing and ahh-ing”, but the other fact about this film is that the producers behind it were also from the highly successful “Underworld” series, and I think like so many other critics have commented on, this film seriously suffered from some “Underworld” envy. This just wasn’t as well written or produced as that series. I think MAYBE there was potential here had it been executed correctly. But, it wasn’t and it ultimately missed for me.
As always, this is all for YOUR consideration and comment. Until next time, thanks for reading!
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