BeautifulBallad Reviews Victor Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein, directed by Paul McGuigan, fails to achieve, what Dr. Frankenstein was able to, bringing a creation to life. Starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy, this new tale, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, is a slow and messy journey, speckled with pointless characters and underused actors.

In the film, an abused hunchback is saved from the circus by an up and coming doctor, Victor Frankenstein, and molded into his assistant, Igor. Over the next hour and a half the audience follows as this pair set out to bring life back from death by creating a man out of deceased body parts whilst dodging an overly moral inspector among other things.

Radcliffe and McAvoy do a decent job in the film. Radcliffe’s transformation from a deformed insecure hunchback to a confident assistant was spot on and McAvoy’s portrayal of Frankestein’s obsessive, almost insane, determination to fix his past by creating new life is great. However, what McGuigan failed to do was utilize the chemistry between McAvoy and Radcliffe. The two played so well off one another and scenes really shined when they got into their groove, but those scenes were few and far between. One couldn’t help but wonder why two good actors with extraordinary chemistry were in so little scenes together and when they were in scenes together, why were they not trying to capitalize on the chemistry.

Instead, the director spent the film focusing on creating the relationship between Igor and Loralie, played by Jessica Brown Findlay, a relationship that was only used as a plot device in order to build up Igor’s confidence. He also spent far too much time on the build up to the creation of the monster and less on the actual creation.

The one positive about the film was its cinematography. The dreary back drop of London mixed with a hint of steam-punk edge made for a beautiful picture. The special effects department also gets a thumb up for creating two very creepy looking monsters.

Overall, this is definitely a film not worth seeing in the theater. If you are a die-hard fan of Radcliffe’s or McAvoy do yourself a favor and wait until it comes out on Blu-Ray/DVD.

Grade: C