With a title as dumb as that with a generic trailer, there was no way I was seeing I, Frankenstein. But unfortunately, a joke between my friend and I led to us making the smart decision to actually pay money to go see this future Oscar nominee. We knew the movie would be bad but we were hoping to laugh our way through it and have a good time. So you can imagine my surprise when I, Frankenstein didn’t turn out to be the abysmal nightmare some critics are claiming it to be, but the film certainly isn’t good or even okay or even mediocre. It’s just bad, and not terrible enough where it was laughable or remotely worth the ticket price.
200 years after Dr. Frankenstein brought the dead back to life, his creation roams the Earth……slaying demons. These demons are at war with these gargoyles while the poor humans and Frankenstein’s monster are stuck in the middle of it.
The plot to I, Frankenstein has really next to nothing to do with Mary Shelley’s novel (obviously taking place after the creation). That’s a good and a bad thing. It’s good because we already have the awesome Frankenstein from 1931 starring Boris Karloff among other Frankenstein creations. So a different take on the formula is certainly refreshing. It’s bad because the plot in this movie is so absurd, I wish I was watching another rehash of the novel.
I’m down with Frankenstein being a badass and everything, but this movie is so confusing at times with the demons and the gargoyles and where the humans fit in and why is this a Frankenstein movie? The script has a serious problem conveying its plot and it’s thanks to the boring and sometimes laughable dialogue.
When the characters are just talking, it’s boring. After a long day of school, I almost passed out. It was so uninteresting and outright confusing at times that I stopped caring pretty early on in the film and just watched the pretty colors and Yvonne Strahovski. The movie is so ridiculous with so much crap going on that I can’t imagine anybody who isn’t a fan of the graphic novel, which the film is based on, had any idea what was truly happening in this movie.
It also doesn’t help that the dialogue is laughable at times, which is preferable here because laughing is more fun then boredom. But even the dialogue is made somewhat decent with the decent performances by the cast. Aaron Eckhart plays Frankenstein (or Frankenstein’s creature or Adam as the movie hilariously calls him) and he does a solid job. You can tell there was effort in his performance which is shocking considering the screenplay. The supporting cast also did a fine job with no good or bad standouts.
Despite the mediocre visual effects, the action was pretty fun. It’s not the best action in recent memory but I still had a good time when Adam jumps off a car and punches a gargoyle in the face.
THE VERDICT
I, did not enjoy I, Frankenstein. It’s not as bad as you might think it is and trust me, that’s not a good thing. I would’ve enjoyed the hell out of this movie if it was hilariously awful but instead it’s just another bad film. Go see a Best Picture nominee instead.
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