I, Frankenstein (2014)

Frankenstein's creature finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans.

Director:

Stuart Beattie

Writers:

Stuart Beattie (screenplay), Kevin Grevioux (screen story)

Stars:

Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Miranda Otto

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aaron Eckhart	...	Adam
Yvonne Strahovski	...	Terra
Miranda Otto	...	Leonore
Bill Nighy	...	Naberius
Jai Courtney	...	Gideon
Socratis Otto	...	Zuriel
Aden Young	...	Victor Frankenstein
Caitlin Stasey	...	Keziah
Mahesh Jadu	...	Ophir
Steve Mouzakis	...	Helek
Nicholas Bell	...	Carl Avery
Deniz Akdeniz	...	Barachel
Chris Pang	...	Levi (as Christopher Pang)
Kevin Grevioux	...	Dekar
Bruce Spence	...	Molokai

Storyline

Dr Victor Frankenstein dies frozen to death and the creature buries him at the cemetery of his family. However he is attacked by demons but he kills one of them and Gargoyles save him and take him to a Cathedral where the Gargoyles Order gathers. The Queen of the Gargoyles Leonore keeps Dr. Frankenstein's journal together with the treasures of the Order and gives the name of Adam to the creature. Then she explains to Adam that there is an ancient war between the Gargoyles that are angels and demons under the command of the Prince Naberius. She also invites Adam to join the Gargoyles in the war against demons, but Adam prefers to isolate in a remote place. Two hundred years later, Adam returns and finds a modern society. Soon he learns that Naberius has the intention of creating an army of soulless corpses to be possessed by demons. The scientist Terra is researching a process to create life and Naberius is seeking Dr Frankenstein's journal to help Terra and raise his army.

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Plot Keywords:

elizabeth frankenstein character | gargoyle versus demon | bladed weapon | long haired male | winged humanoid | 

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Taglines:

200 years later, he's still alive.

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense fantasy action and violence throughout

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the graveyard, after Adam has been saved from the demons by the gargoyles, but is unconscious, the female gargoyle exclaims 'it's alive, it's alive', just as Doctor Henry Frankenstein says in the original Frankenstein (1931) movie.

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Goofs

Frankenstein's notebook is written in English; as of 1790, English had not been established as the international scientific language yet, and thus it should have been written in German. The first page should also read ''Ingolstadt Universität'' instead of ''University''

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Quotes

[first lines]
Adam: I was cast into being in winter of 1795, a living corpse without a soul, stitched, jolted, bludgeoned back to life by a madman. Horrified by his creation, he tried to destroy me, but I survived.

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Connections

References Frankenstein (1931)

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Soundtracks

Misgiving
Written and Performed by Geno Lenardo & Daniel A. Davies (as Daniel Davies)

User Reviews

I... didn't find it so bad.

I must admit that I enjoyed watching this supernatural action flick heavy on CGI effects despite its flaws. I wondered why afterwards. First, it seemed to follow from the book events and made a good point that the creature is not actually called Frankenstein. However, the "creature" itself, played by a strong Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent in Dark Knight) did not look like any previous incarnation. Mostly, it looked like a normal-sized, muscular, even handsome man with scars, not like a tall, grotesque, patchwork of a man as it should have been. So, the film following this trend of making "monsters" sexy bugged me, but the performance of Eckhart won me over. He might not have emoted much, as befitted the character who didn't learn how, but he certainly had the charisma and gravitas necessary. He didn't look the part but he acted the haunted, grim part very well.

So, the story starts not long after the end of the Frankenstein book by Mary Shelley at the end of the 18th century (1795). While burying his creator, Frankenstein, he find himself attacked by "evil" demons (who look like men, but with demonic faces sometimes) and rescued by, of all things, "good" gargoyles (who look human except when they're CGI gargoyles). The creature is brought to the gargoyle leader and quickly given a name, Adam. He's made an offer to join them in a secret war against the demons over humanity's fate. He declines and lives the next 200 years alone (would have been nice to see, but glossed over in a few minutes), defending against demons. Cue modern day, where his presence is revealed once more to the demons who are trying to bring back life to dead bodies for their own purposes.

So, instead of the overbooked vampires and werewolves, we have demons against gargoyles, plus Frankenstein's creature thrown in to act as wild card. I, for one, found that refreshing. However, the demons looked and acted like standard evil vampires, except when you saw their red eyes or their faces reverting to demonic. Except for their sophisticated leader, they were quite underwhelming and even boring from lack of personality. The gargoyles fared a little better, switching from medieval-looking, grey-tunic-wearing human warriors to big, winged stone gargoyles like you see on some old churches. They were supposed to be good (angels in disguise), but I liked their ambiguity. I didn't initially care for their obvious CGI looks, but they eventually grew on me, and who knows what animated gargoyles might look like anyway.

Foremost, this is an action flick, not really drama or horror, so it doesn't delve much on the inner psychological turmoils of Adam or his everyday "normal" life, nor does it try to scare or gross you out. However, the somber, tormented portrayal by Aaron Eckhart (mostly with his face and eyes) made him an interesting anti-hero. The action itself was peculiar. There were cool set pieces where tons of demons fought gargoyles around a very impressive-looking Gothic church. It had an epic feel to it, it was quite exciting, but you seemed distanced from the action because it cut things fast and the camera often pulled back. Also, there was a particular vibe as the numerous, weak demons were mostly slaughtered by the fewer, powerful flying gargoyles. It was usually one blow, one kill. On the other hand, you had one-on-one fights involving Adam that were very good for the most part. There were still quick cuts, but it wasn't abusive, sometimes lingering a bit on an angle, making for more involving and easier-to-follow battles. The musical soundtrack was better than expected with epic-sounding classical music and dramatic choruses.

Storywise, I found the concept interesting, the demons' motivation made sense, and it didn't hinder my enjoyment with too much obvious stupidity, except a few places where I thought things were just too convenient (like no civilians in the streets or the "secret" base of the demons being so close to the church of the gargoyles). The dialogue seemed awkward or cliché at times, but it was said with such sincerity that it passed through anyway except for a few chuckles from the audience. I liked watching the film, but I don't think I would have wanted to pay full price for it in theatres though. It was like a summer blockbuster but in the middle of the winter.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Good)

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

USA Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 January 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

I, Frankenstein

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,610,441, 26 January 2014

Gross USA:

$19,075,290

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$76,801,179

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hopscotch Features, Lakeshore Entertainment, Lionsgate

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Atmos Auro 11.1 Dolby Surround 7.1 IMAX 6-Track Sonics-DDP

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1