Movie Review: Victor Frankenstein 2015 *The Monster behind the Monster*

One of the most popular movies from early last year (2014) was I,Frankenstein which was certainly an “OK” movie by many standards. (Check out our write up for Top 5 movies of 2014 you should have seen by now). You might be also asking yourself this…  “Why another Frankenstein Movie?”

Victor Frankenstein isn’t a follow up or a sequel ….it’s an entirely different outlook of the obviously over told tales of Frankenstein’s Monster.

This Paul McGuigan directed story is told from Igor’s (Frankenstein’s Assistant) perspective. We get to see his troubled dark origins, his rescue and resulting friendship with medical student Victor Frankenstein, and his role in the creation of the legend of Frankenstein.

The movie starts with a narrative from Igor played by Daniel Radcliffe (Famous for Harry Potter) reminding you not to expect any retelling of the story you are most likely familiar with. Almost immediately you are prepared to expect the unexpected. The entire story line does well to give you a fair idea of exactly what led to Victor, played by James McAvoy  (The young Professor Xavier from X men: First Class) creating his monster.  The main plot focuses on the relationship between Victor and Igor but does not leave out essential aspects of their individual lives. Both characters in more than one way complement each other hence making the essence of the actual story being told more meaningful.

The first thing that is most likely to get anyone’s attention to go see this movie would be the fact that it stars Daniel Radcliffe. I mean anyone would be interested in seeing him in any other roles besides Harry Potter. (See also Horns). In this movie you get to see more of his acting prowess as he stuns you with his role as a hunchback who is overly brilliant and courageous yet, emotionally fragile and naive. The writer of this particular screenplay Max Landis, did well to show the character Igor as very complex yet likeable.  James McAvoy also does a commendable job of “OVER” playing a mad, goal driven genius physician who is bent on leaving an unforgettable mark on the world no matter what it takes.  It also stars, Jessica Brown Findlay as Lorelei, Igor’s love interest and Andrew Scott as Inspector Turpin, Victor’s adversary.

This movie tends to carefully blend Drama and Sci-Fi with a little bit of romance topping it with traces of Horror. But noticeable there are subtle hints of the never ending battle off faith, belief or religion versus science. There are several scenes where these elements can be picked up in the dialogue. The writer did well to keep the debate of weather God or mere science was responsible for human life fair and balanced.

It’s also obvious the movie didn’t play too much on the horror aspect. This was a bit disappointing for us who were expecting to be more scared.  If you are hoping to see Frankenstein’s monster terrorizing people and causing havoc then be warned that you would have to wait till the final scenes. Nonetheless be sure of getting the occasional chills down your spine as the story unfolds from the start. The visual effects necessary to sell the story were descent and pleasant to watch.

The romance bit was also not over done… I believe it was only necessary to help develop an emotional side to Igors character. But it still did add some spice to the entire story.

It is quite hard to fault this movie in anyway as it delivers on exactly what it promises; a good tale of events leading to the creating of Frankenstein’s monster Prometheus.

This is certainly a perfect twist in the story most people would accept and grow to love.

The story does not seem to drag on long and winding even though it lasts 110mins.

This was a very entertaining movie. Certainly a good way to start the holidays… GhMoviefreak rates this 6/10.

This is one of those movies you would best enjoy on a big screen so do well to go check this out at the Cinemas.

Watch Trailer Below

Igor: It’s alive.

Victor Von Frankenstein: Isn’t that rather obvious?