‘Victor Frankenstein’ Theatrical Review

The classic story of Frankenstein wrestles with questions of science and progress, of what gives a human life, and whether we play with nature as if we were gods.

Victor Frankenstein, the latest retelling of this classic tale, doesn’t give these questions enough room to breathe, leaving the movie drowning in its own moral quandaries.

Writer Mark Landis tells the story of Frankenstein from the perspective of Igor (Daniel Radcliffe), Victor Frankenstein’s lab assistant and friend, though not a character from Mary Shelley’s book. Despite this detail, this choice gives the story new life.

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When we meet Igor, he is a nameless hunchback circus clown who is bullied by his circus family. He also happens to be the circus doctor, an odd turn of events I had a hard time buying.

But it’s Igor’s gift with anatomy that draws the attention of Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy). Frankenstein rescues Igor from the circus, straightens his back and names him Igor. In return, he just asks that Igor use his talents to help him in an experiment.

Even though this origin story is a major departure from the source material, it works in that it pits Frankenstein’s “creation” of Igor against his inevitable creation of the monster. This illustrates the question running throughout the movie: What makes a person alive to begin with? Is it just chemistry and biology that a mad scientist can replicate, or is there something more?

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However, just as with the title character, Victor Frankenstein loses steam with its lofty ambitions. Landis and director Paul McGuigan not only attempt to tackle the issue of what is life, but also ethics of science. Is there such thing as too much progress? Should humans challenge the laws of nature? Are science and the church at odds? Oh, and let’s throw in a bromance between Victor and Igor as well as a love story too.With so much going on it’s easy for the morals of the story to get lost.

The bromance, however, plays. McAvoy portrays a crazed, ambitious, arrogant Frankenstein, a true mad scientist, and he does it so convincingly that without Radcliffe’s Igor, McAvoy’s Frankenstein would just not be likeable.

Radcliffe shows us an innocent and vulnerable Igor who cannot bring himself to hurt the man who changed his life. Igor’s struggle between doing what’s right and supporting his friend is plain in Radcliffe’s performance. There is no guessing Igor’s motivations or his arc. Radcliffe carries it well.

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One performance that stood out was Andrew Scott as Inspector Turpin, the pious detective investigating Frankenstein for stolen animal parts. He is just as mad as Frankenstein, and Scott does not disappoint, this time bringing a more solemn tone to the crazy than his turn as Moriarty on Sherlock.

However, the character of Turpin seems redundant to the story with other characters voicing some of the same ideas but in a less crazed manner, particularly Lorelai (Jessica Brown Findlay), a beautiful acrobat and the only person who was kind to Igor during his time in the circus.

Findlay has little to work with in the character of Lorelai, who serves mostly as Igor’s love interest and moral conscience. It seems like the movie might have felt less cluttered had McGuigan and Landis chosen Lorelai or Turpin, not tried to fit both in.

This could have been a movie with powerful moments and emotional punches, but not many of those landed. Unfortunately, if a movie gets lost in its own moral quandaries, it can’t expect the audience to keep up too, regardless of the lead actors’ performances.

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