I, Frankenstein – Review

Film, Reviews, Theatrical Reviews, Top Story

Because I, Feces Isn’t Appropriate Language In Public

There’s bad, there’s horrible and then there’s I, Frankenstein. Dumped into January, where bad films go to die, the first contender for “worst film of the year” is already in the books as even Aaron Eckhart can’t manage to care enough about this film to make it even more than passably awful.

Simple premise. Frankenstein’s Monster (Eckhart) is brought to life and manages to become the object to interest to both angels and demons. The angels are afraid of him and want him to remain with them whereas the demons want him as part of a nefarious scheme to end humanity and replace it with an Earth full of demons. Throw in a beautiful heart scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) trying to understand how Frankenstein exists and a demon prince (Bill Nighy) hell bent on world domination and you have the setup for something interesting.

Instead you’re left with something awful.

The problem with the film is mainly how cheap it looks. It infects the film like a virus, destroying any real sense of credibility it could have. Everything just looks so awful that one wonders if everyone knew about it beforehand and just said “screw it” and cashed a check. This feels like the ultimate paycheck film for all involved.

For a film that came out of a major studio, and has a fairly impressive cast, it looks like a film that was supposed to go directly to DVD but somehow managed to find its way into theatres. It looks cheap, with awful CGI and a campy plotline. This would be acceptable if the film had a lighter air to it, or embraced its awfulness, but unfortunately there’s a profound seriousness to it all that makes it unintentionally hilarious. Even Bill Nighy, king of being able to turn it hilariously campy performances in bad cinema, looks like he’s going through the motions in unimpressive fashion.

In the spring this film is probably going to find its way onto DVD shelves, perhaps sooner than later, and people will have a choice. They can spend their hard earned money on this or light it on fire and watch the flames. Burn your cash instead; at least the fire will be entertaining.

Director: Stuart Beattie
Writer:Stuart Beattie, based on the graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux
Notable Cast:
Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Strahovski, Bill Nighy, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, Socratis Otto