I've admitted on more than one occasion that I am a horror
film fan. True horror fans love nearly every horror film made, the bad as well
as the good. Truth be told the majority of those films fall somewhere in the middle,
never quite reaching classic status but rarely being so bad as to be putrid. So
when you find one that sits in the middle but teeters toward the good side it's
a joy. I, FRANKENSTEIN
falls into that category.
The film opens with a retelling of the Frankenstein tale as
told by the creature (Aaron Eckhart) to the point of his creator dying of cold
at the North Pole. The creature returns his body to his homeland and buries
him. Before leaving the graveyard he is attacked by demons. Saving the creature
from their attack are the gargoyles. A nice twist on the concept of appearance
is that the demons look like humans and the gargoyles are actually angles sent
to protect mankind. They offer to protect him, going so far as to give him a
name (Adam), but he turns them down, accepts the weapons they provide him and
wanders the Earth for the next 200 years.
During that time Adam finds himself fighting off demons with
greater frequency until he is finally drawn back to where it all began, where
he was given a chance at redemption. Why is it the demons are searching for
Adam? What is it they could want?
The story unfolds in bits and pieces, details of which I
won't share here. Suffice to say that the lead demon (Bill Nighy) needs either
Adam or the book written by Frankenstein himself which explains how he was able
to re-animate the corpses he sewed together. It seems that Nighy is funding
research on bringing back the dead for supposed scientific purposes. Face it;
we all know this won't end well. The truth lies in the fact that Nighy is the
lead demon and his real reasons won't be revealed early on.
You know from the earliest moments in the film that an
eventual beat down between the demons and gargoyles will happen before the film
ends. You also get the idea that Adam will be caught in the middle of it all
and will be taking out as many demons as he possibly can during that battle.
But will he and the gargoyles succeed or will the demons win this battle? And
what is their ultimate reason for seeking to re-animate the dead?
All questions are answered by the end of the movie. It is
the journey to that point that is enjoyable.
I've seen numerous reviews slam this movie as having the worst twist on
the Frankenstein creature ever filmed but I have to disagree. With so many
standard versions having been made it was nice to see a different direction
taken for once. Most importantly with this twist is the discussion rarely held
about the creature, the discussion of his having a soul or not. Does he or
doesn't he? And if he doesn't is that something that can be changed?
In such wild roles you would think actors would come off as
over the top, but that's not the case here. Each and every one makes their
character believable, not and easy task with this material. To help them along
an extreme use of CGI (computer generated
images) are used to make both demons and gargoyles seem alive on screen.
Brought to you by the same people responsible for the
UNDERWORLD series of films, this movie looks a lot like those with vampires and
werewolves replaced by demons and gargoyles. It has that same blue tint to
nearly the entire film and given that Nighy was in the earlier series there are
moment you could see it as just another episode. But the change in creatures
helps alter that a bit.
Is this the greatest thing since sliced bread? By all means
no. But it does offer a brief entertainment that will have you rooting for the
creature and enjoying some fantastic special effects. It's one I've thought I
might continue to enjoy in the future. It all depends on your likes and
dislikes. For me it was worth watching.
Click here to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment