Review: I, Frankenstein

We begin with Frankenstein’s monster (Aaron Eckhart) killing Frankenstein’s wife, and Frankenstein himself (Aden Young) also dies in pursuit of the monster. The monster ends up at a cathedral that houses a group of gargoyles headed by Queen Leonore (Miranda Otto), who takes the creature in, and dubs him Adam. Flash-forward to modern times (?) and Adam is helping his fellow immortal (really?) gargoyle friends (including Jai Courtney and Caitlin Stasey) battle demons, led by Naberius (Bill Nighy). Yvonne Strahovski plays a human scientist caught in the middle. Socratis Otto plays Naberius’ number two, whilst Bruce Spence has a walk-on as another scientist.

 

Look, this isn’t a good film. Based on a graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux (who co-wrote the story here and came up with the concept for “Underworld”), this 2014 film is clearly more inspired by “Underworld” than Mary Shelley, and that’s a shame. Directed by Aussie Stuart Beattie (director of “Tomorrow, When the War Began”, screenwriter of “Collateral” and “30 Days of Night”), it’s a messy hodgepodge and pretty much of an “Underworld” rip-off (from the same producers), right down to the casting of Bill Nighy, and instead of werewolves and vampires, it’s gargoyles and demons.

 

The strange thing is it’s really kinda watchable in a seriously goofy way. It doesn’t remotely work or come together as a cohesive whole, but boring it ain’t. This is especially so when Bill Nighy is around as the chief villain. He doesn’t phone it in like you might expect, and dryly glides through the whole thing like the coolest mofo in the room. Massive waste of Aussies Aden Young and Bruce Spence, though, barely getting cameos. Looking alarmingly like Christopher Lambert in the early scenes, Aaron Eckhart tries his best to take this thing seriously and not look too silly. However, if I were him, I wouldn’t have taken on this part, it doesn’t give him a whole lot to work with. Miranda Otto tries really hard too, but her character and her followers suffer from Beattie’s not so strong storytelling here. It’s a pretty wretched narrative at times, choppy and confusingly underdone in parts. That’s weird given Beattie’s background, but at times I found it hard to peg down the time and place this was set in, let alone just what species Otto and her cohorts were. Having said that, it’s all so crazy and weird that choppy or not, you keep watching the damn thing anyway.

 

Some of the CGI is good, some definitely isn’t. However, the camerawork by Aussie cinematographer Ross Emery (“Bait”, “The Wolverine”) is busy and pretty enjoyable. Beattie is clearly a visual stylist. The best asset in the film is the impressive music score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek, making the film seem bigger and classier than it actually is.

 

I don’t know what is wrong with me but I didn’t hate this. I know I should have. It’s stupid, awfully messy, and I’m not a fan of the “Underworld” series that it quite clearly emulates. Scripted by Beattie, it’s too strange to be boring though, and you’ll keep watching it out of some kind of odd curiosity, even if it doesn’t really come off. I think many have been a bit mean towards this one. It’s not “Frankenstein” or even “30 Days of Night”, but it’s not “Van Helsing”, either.

 

Rating: C+