Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy
Grade: B-

Is it just me, or did you want to see Igor be a hunchback for much longer than he was? The potential quirkiness needed in this movie was missing. Not that he would’ve touched this film with a ten-foot poll, but if they tried to be less action-y and more horror-like, Tim Burton could’ve done wonders with Victor Frankenstein.

Summary

In 1860s London, England, an unnamed hunchback (Radcliffe) has been working with the circus for most of his life, playing a horribly mistreated clown in front of and behind the scenes. The only saving grace is Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay), the beautiful trapeze artist. He doesn’t have a relationship with her, but he gets to stare at her during her performances…

…so, he has that going for him, which is nice.

When he’s not performing, he is the circus company’s doctor. He studies constantly and is highly intelligent, though no one seems to give a fuck and passes him off as the deformed hunchback guy. One night, Lorelei falls during her act, and it looks like she’s about to die because she can’t breathe. One man in the crowd, Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy), runs to her to see if he can save her at the same time the hunchback does. Victor figures out the problem but realizes he can’t do anything if he doesn’t have any tools. Thinking quickly, the hunchback grabs Victor’s pocket watch and uses it to perform a quick, dry surgery to momentarily get her to snap things back into place so she can breathe again. This would buy her some time, so they can take her to a hospital. Amazed at the intellect of the hunchback, Victor insists that he is a physician and not a clown, and he must leave the circus at once. The owner sees Victor telling the hunchback this and interrupts before they take Lorelei away. The owner, pissed off at the thought of the hunchback even thinking about leaving, finds all of his research materials and books and burns them all. Then, he locks the hunchback in a cage. Later, Victor finds him and breaks him out just as the owner sees them at the last second. They chase Victor and the hunchback throughout the circus grounds, but they are able to escape. Victor takes him back to his place. Once they settle in, Victor aggressively grabs the hunchback with tools and explains that he’s not actually a hunchback. He has an abscess on his back, causing a fluid pocket to grow that has gone untreated for 18 years. Victor stabs a large syringe into his back and drains all the fluid out of it. Then, Victor violently cracks the man’s back and puts it into a brace because his skeletal system, at least for the time being, will be fighting to go back to the form it has been in for the last 18 years without it.

Now, the hunchback is no more.

Victor explains how he has school in the morning (he’s still in university), so he tells the former hunchback to make himself at home for the time being and to get cleaned up and such. He also says that his roommate, morphine addict and liar Igor Straussman, is never home so if anyone asks, the former hunchback will say that he is him. Since he’s never had a name before, he’s cool with it. The next morning, Inspector Roderick Turpin (Andrew Scott) and his partner investigate the hunchback case at the circus. He repeats what the owner of the circus claims what happens but comes up with his own theory, one that is exactly what happened. He even thinks that the newly christened Igor is innocent. However, after finding a drawn self-portrait of Igor in his trailer, he gives it to his partner and tells him to make a poster of it saying, “Wanted for murder”. Inspector Turpin is right in his assessment that Igor will lead to something bigger.

Back at Victor’s place, Igor wakes up to find a note Victor left, saying to be home for dinner. Victor even gives him some money. Having some free time, Igor goes to the hospital Lorelei is at and gives the nurse money to give her the right treatments. In addition, he tells the nurse to tell Lorelei he will be back. After he leaves, he sees his “Wanted” poster and is knocked down by a horse-drawn carriage as he stares. Back at police headquarters, Inspector Turpin thinks aloud about his theories on this new case. He notes that six months ago, a man tried to buy body parts of recently deceased animals from the London Zoological Gardens. Two weeks later, someone broke in and body parts from the dead animals were amputated and stolen. A month later, something similar happened at the Veterinary Academy. This is relevant because Turpin reveals that he confiscated the amputated paw of a lioness. He knows this “man” was the accomplice of Igor’s escape and that these incidents are clearly linked, though he doesn’t know that Victor is the man he’s looking for. That night, Igor shows Victor the “Wanted” poster, but Victor reassures him the public is after a hunchback, something Igor is no more. He looks different too because he cleaned himself up, shaved, and cut his hair a bit. At this moment in time, Igor is seemingly safe. At dinner, Victor tells him about his experiments with animal parts and how college has been incredibly easy for him, though frustrating because it’s too straightforward. After he explains how gifted Igor is and that’s the reason why he snatched him up to be his assistant, Victor tells him the reason he was there at the circus that night.

It was because he was talking to the circus owner about acquiring the body parts of some of the animals that recently died, so he could use them for his experiments.

It’s all for his sole goal: prove that death is a temporary condition.

He shows Igor his newest experiment, a pair of living eyes that have been brought back to life through electric, among other things. Igor does note how amazing Victor’s achievement is, but he notices that Victor connected some of the oculomotor nerves improperly. This is why they don’t move evenly. Victor is extremely happy to hear Igor pointing out his mistakes because it only proves his point that he chose the right man to help him in his goal. He tells Igor how he’s going to have assignments for him that will aide him in his biggest experiment yet and what that experiment is……is not of his concern at the moment.

Of course, this experiment will be major for Victor and Igor, and it will lead to a much bigger one that could potentially be disastrous, as well as be the biggest scientific achievement in the history of mankind. Unfortunately, Inspector Turpin is determined in stopping the ungodliness of Victor’s technological advancements once he inches closer to finding out the truth.

My Thoughts:

Every now and again, we see movies that try to remake the magic of the classic movie monster characters of yesteryear and the stories inspiring them. In the last ten to fifteen years, we’ve had dozens of them, and I can’t say that many have succeeded. Victor Frankenstein is another one of these adaptations that falls under the same category as movies like I, Frankenstein, Dracula Untold, 2010’s The Wolfman and many others. Though this movie may not be the one to save this era of retelling these stories, it’s certainly among the best of them.

To make this a good modern take on an old time period, Victor Frankenstein does seem to borrow a lot from Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies in terms of style, presentation, and even acting. If you’ve seen these movies compared to this one, I’d be surprised if you disagreed with me. Obviously, it’s nowhere near as good as those Sherlock Holmes films, but it’s definitely Holmes-lite. One major problem with Victor Frankenstein is that I’m still not sure how I would fix it to help the movie reach that Holmes level of awesomeness. Did it need to have more action sequences and fighting to be comparable to those movies, or did it need to have more horror elements to be as respectful as possible to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? I’m a huge action movie fan, so I would like to argue the former for just a moment. Considering how this specific adaptation is focused mostly on the scientist himself, along with his partner Igor, I think the action would’ve helped this duo become one comparable to Jude Law’s Watson and Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes. We see glimpses of it here and there, and it does add a lot to a story whose endgame we are very aware of before the film commences. It also may be the only reason for a sequel, which the movie teases at the end. If these two were to go on adventures together and find themselves in situations involving more than just scientific creation stuff, with more law enforcement scuffles and factions of people wanting them dead for the abominations they bring to life, maybe a sequel could’ve been a decent idea.

There’s a lot to be explored if this path was leaned into more.

However, how could you even make this a franchise if the “creating a monster” thing is already played out in the first film? They can’t just recreate different hybrid monsters all the time and get chased until they are forced to kill them. In this movie, that’s essentially all that happens, along with some run-ins by Inspector Turpin and one of Victor’s colleagues being sprinkled in. Where do you go in a potential sequel to something like this? If this movie was a huge success and they went on with a franchise (because the intention was clear in that ending), I can’t see any avenue as to how they would keep things interesting, as well as faithful to the book.

In terms of horror, it was fairly decent. The hybrid undead monkey was fairly intense, as was Frankenstein’s monster, though I wasn’t impressed with the design of him. Visually it was very uninspiring, but it was still disturbing-looking (mostly because of those black eyes), so I guess it did its job. Just so you know, the monster isn’t in the movie all that long. It gave us a solid third act with fill-in action to enliven the story, but the main plot was all about Victor and Igor. The film’s most entertaining parts stem from the two and their friendship. James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe are very good in their roles, but madman McAvoy shined especially. He plays the drunken, loud, confident, crazy, genius scientist with intensity and an unmatched energy, seemingly channeling a mixture of Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes, Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow, and a small splash of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Victor has this chaotic nature to him with a motherload of eccentricities that makes him so entertaining to watch. He’s always focused like he’s constantly drinking coffee or whiskey, more so the latter. Despite being incredibly arrogant and being an aggressive atheist to prove his points about reviving things from the dead, you do feel for Victor when you learn more about the man behind the science too. He’s so deep into his work that you forget he has a family.

In a telling scene, we see firsthand how his father (Charles Dance) couldn’t care less of his amazing technological achievements. When he enters the room for the first time, we watch Victor’s confidence leave in an instant. It’s shocking at this point in the film really, especially after seeing Victor go through his day-to-day operations and being constantly on the ball. He shutters at his almost militant father and tries to explain himself but is shot down immediately, something that doesn’t happen before or after this incident. Basically, he’s the only man in London that can stop Victor in his tracks, giving him even more of a reason to push through and prove everyone wrong. It’s the first time where we realize there is much more to Victor that meets the eye. He was already incredibly entertaining to begin with, but this gave him depth, purpose, and an interesting vulnerability. Once we find out the real reason behind the creation of his monster, it all makes sense. It is saddening, but despite what Victor puts everyone through because of his personality, his straightforwardness, and his refusal to give up on his dreams, even though he knows he’s walking into a trap right before the climax, he has to see his creation through because of what it means to him. He wants to know if he can fill that void because of what he thought was his fault so many years back.

Is it possible? He’ll never know if he doesn’t bring this monster to life. He has to do it, and it intrigues the hell out of you once you get that far into the film.

This is one thing I really enjoyed. They really give a great backstory as to why Victor is doing what he’s doing. Sure, they could’ve gotten away with, “I have an amazing idea. Let’s make history!”, but they added a very deep and emotional reason as to why he is so focused on his goal, and it made the story mean a lot more. Plus, it changed our perspective on this supposed “mad” scientist for the better. This is where I realized that the story was really always about Victor. In the film, he is told that “No one will remember Frankenstein the man, only the monster”. It’s true. How many people do you know refer to the monster as Frankenstein over the years? The reason Mary Shelley’s book has stood the test of time was because of the memorable monster, not the scientist. This movie rectifies that, and I have to say that I really appreciated it. It’s an interesting and enjoyable take on this story we’ve seen time and time again. Not counting Gene Wilder’s role as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, James McAvoy’s portrayal of Victor might be my favorite of the scientist role in any adaptation of Mary Shelley’s book.

Though the rest of the movie isn’t the greatest adaptation of the story, he is.

An underrated part of this movie was the role of Inspector Turpin, played in an almost creepy manner by Andrew Scott. The dynamic between Turpin and Victor is very compelling when you see it play out too. Technically, Turpin is the villain because he’s stopping our two protagonists at work, but he’s a highly touted detective that is very serious about his job, is incredibly intelligent, and is a devout Christian that sees his inclusion in this mission as divine intervention to stop something unholy. Regardless of what you feel about religion, I feel that on paper, he’s not really a bad guy per say. He does talk like one, but he is doing good here. He just doesn’t understand Victor’s reasoning behind it. On the other hand, Victor, as I’ve already stated, is an arrogant man that has stolen body parts of dead animals to create monsters to right a wrong he unintentionally caused. He even gets into Turpin’s face and laughs at him bringing up God and religion, but in the same vein makes himself sound like an almighty person for doing the unthinkable. Victor is passionate, but he goes about it the wrong way on a consistent basis, getting everyone around him to hate him and costing countless lives in pursuit of his creations, especially in the end. I’m not saying I ended up rooting for Turpin over Victor, but the idea that they are cut-and-dry bad guys and good guys is not true. In fact, the reason they are both in this gray area is why I was so engaged in their overarching battle for what they deem is right.

In addition, thought-provoking questions regarding ethical practices and religious beliefs throughout the action added a lot to what could’ve been a basic monster movie screenplay. This type of stuff I really appreciate.

For the record, Turpin was right in the end. When Lorelei said there was nothing behind the eyes of the undead monkey, they should’ve realized this was a cause not worth fighting for. This is an argument worth having as well: Was the monkey in this movie scarier than the monster? Sure, the monster at the end meant more to the movie when he finally graces our screen, but did he scare you more than the screeching monkey? I think it’s a closer argument than you would think.

The only thing that I could think of to make this movie more than what it was stylistically would be a creative director with an otherworldly vision. As I stated in the opening of this review, someone like Tim Burton could’ve made this movie a sight to see. Hell, Sam Raimi could’ve done something with this! The performances were good, the characters were set, and the basic story was entertaining enough to keep our attention. Unfortunately, the set design and events that unfold around it were just lacking imagination. The whole film was dark, cold, and again, very reminiscent of the style presented in the recent Sherlock Holmes movies. What Victor Frankenstein needed was a blast of ingenuity and a bit more fun combined with the action, the emotion, and McAvoy’s role as Victor. Yes, you would have to overhaul the entire production to fix it, but sometimes, this is what it takes to make a movie people will remember. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed this film. However, I’m confident in saying that it won’t be remembered, and that’s a damn shame.

Victor Frankenstein is worthy of a viewing if you’re a fan of the classic story it’s based on, but it could’ve been much more. This is what bothers me the most about it.