Two hundred years after his shocking creation, Dr. Frankenstein's creature, Adam, still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over the fate of humanity, Adam discovers he holds the key that could destroy humankind
Aaron Eckhart in I Frankenstein
Dudley-born former prisoner of war turned film-maker James Whale created one of the landmark films in cinema history with Frankenstein (1931) – and he reunited with star Boris Karloff four years later for the seminal sequel, Bride of Frankenstein.
By comparison, it takes less than four minutes to realise that this Underworld-style, graphic novel adaptation won’t keep anyone in the audience sitting bolt upright for long.
Shot in Australia and only the second film after Tomorrow, When the War Began to have been directed by the original Pirates of the Caribbean writer Stuart Beattie, this twisting of the Frankenstein legend never feels right.
Even a decent actor like Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) is unable to make any impression as the artificially-created creature trying to find his purpose in life – but then so did the heavily made up Robert De Niro before him in Kenneth Branagh’s more traditional 1994 version.
In a limp story supposedly reigniting a two-centuries old war between the rival clans of the Demons and the Gargoyles, I Frankenstein feels less like a new Apple product (the iFrank), more like a tenth-rate Batman.
Bill Nighy rarely lets anyone down, but the Love Actually star lacks so much malevolence as the Demons’ bad boy Naberius he reminds us of former MP Michael Heseltine preparing to announce a 1980s-style Enterprise Zone.
While the digital filming is exposed by the flimsy 3D, the sound architecture works better, particularly through the incredibly long credits which finally say: ‘Thanks to Mary Shelley’.
She’s the 19th century author (1797-1851) whose original book was first published anonymously in 1818.
Next January there will be yet another Frankenstein film, with James McAvoy starring as Victor Von Frankenstein alongside Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe as Igor.
Shelley really did create a monster!
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