VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN – The Review

By Cate Marquis

James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe star in VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, a kind of origin story/re-imagining of classic monster story told from Igor’s point-of-view.

Medical student Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) is visiting a circus in Victorian London in search of animal body parts for his secret experiments, when a beautiful trapeze artist (Jessica Brown Findley) falls from her perch. The doctor rushes to assist but she is already being aided by the circus’ self-taught doctor, a hunch-back clown (Radcliffe). Impressed by the nameless clown’s skill and knowledge of anatomy, Frankenstein helps him escape the circus and takes him back to his laboratory, where he treats his physical problems. Given the name of Victor’s missing roommate, Igor Straussman, Frankenstein offers him friendship, a place to stay, an extensive library and a chance to help in his effort to create life.

The film is a mash-up of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, the 1930s James Whale-directed Boris Karloff movies, plus a good dose of new invention that shows heavy influence from the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” movies. The story is re-set in Victorian England, where the brilliant but obsessed young Victor Frankenstein befriends and is assisted by an equally-brilliant Igor. Depending on how one responds to all that, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN will either amuse or irritate.

After last year’s disastrous I, FRANKENSTEIN, it is surprising anyone would try another Frankenstein story. However, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN takes a very different tack, more an action/adventure tale with a bit of humor rather than a horror tale.

To its credit, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN brings back more of the novel than most Frankenstein movies, and the film is packed with references to the classic movies – Victor’s brother Henry is the name of the doctor in Whale’s first movie, Igor is not the original name of the assistant – plus bits from other literary and cinema sources. The sampling includes bits of “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Elephant Man,” and “Les Miserables.”

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN is less horror than action/adventure in the style of those “Sherlock Holmes” movies mentioned above. There is still a monster (two, in fact) but no spoilers about that here. The tone and style are like the “Sherlock Holmes” movies – fast-paced, wildly improbable, spiked with humor, with McAvoy and Radcliffe playing over-the-top characters who inhabit a slightly steam-punk Victorian world.

But despite all that and a good cast, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN never quite gels. That good cast includes Charles Dance, “Games of Thrones’ ” fearsome patriarch Tywin Lannister, who plays Victor’s disapproving father, and Andrew Scott, who played Moriarty on the BBC “Sherlock” TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and plays the obsessive policeman pursuing Victor. In fact, director Paul McGuigan directed several of episodes from that series, as well as the films “Wicker Park” and “Lucky Number Slevin.”

The movie gives Frankenstein movie fans some of what they want – Igor does say “Yes, Master” at one point and Victor does say, “It’s alive” although not the way Colin Clive did – it does not give a lot of screen time to the monster itself. It is really about Igor and Victor, who are a sort of Sherlock and Dr. Watson team.

A little more humor and a strong focus might have saved this film. It is still entertaining at times, although all the references, its frenetic pace, and McAvoy’s loopy Victor and Radcliffe’s sincere Igor will either strike a chord or not. Those open to another kind of Frankenstein movie might enjoy this one but monster fans can probably skip it.

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN opens nationwide
Wednesday, November 25, 2015.