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| The mad genius Victor (McAvoy) and his assistant Igor (Radcliffe) |
CAN Frankenstein be played straight these days?
Victor Frankenstein (12A, 110mins)
Director: Paul McGuigan
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay, Andrew Scott
Despite its timeless and pertinent themes (the arrogance of man, the abuse of science and technology) the story itself is ripe with potential melodrama and comedy, as exploited brilliantly by Mel Brooks in his 1974 parody Young Frankenstein.
Not even Kenneth Branagh, directing and starring alongside Robert De Niro as the monster, could navigate the pitfalls with his histrionic 1994 version, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a big flop at the time.
Now comes another misfire, Victor Frankenstein, which bombed at the US box office last weekend despite starring Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy.
It is a strange mix of intentional and unintentional laughs.
Directed by Paul McGuigan, whose credits include TV’s Sherlock (several of whose cast appear, including Andrew Scott as a very subdued detective) the inspiration here seems to be another Sherlock, the movie Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie starring Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law.
As in those films, Victor Frankenstein is set in Victorian London during a time of rapid industrialisation and has a double act at its heart, that between mad genius Victor (McAvoy) and his struggling-to-keep-up assistant Igor (Radcliffe), through whose eyes the story is told.
Previous versions made little of the aspiring doctor who signs up to Victor’s demented vision that “death can be a temporary condition”.
Now Igor is the central character, who we first meet as a hunchbacked clown. He is rescued from the circus by Frankenstein after the latter is wowed by his medical abilities when trapeze artist Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay) falls and Igor saves her life.
Igor is indebted to Frankenstein, a student at the Royal College Of Medicine, and so becomes his loyal if nervous sidekick, helping to assemble grisly animal and body parts while pursuing his infatuation for Lorelei.
In the latter task he is aided by a makeover courtesy of Frankenstein who cures Igor of his “hunchback” which is actually a colossal abscess from which Victor drains several buckets of pus. Nice.
Igor also showers and cuts his caveman-style mop of hair although the resulting look of long curtains of hair gives Radcliffe a strange transgender appearance. Well, I suppose that is on trend.
However it doesn’t help us to take the film seriously which, despite the occasional intentional laugh, is what the film would really like you to do. Radcliffe gives a very earnest performance and there is much on-the-nose discussion about the dangers of playing God.
Scott’s dour detective, on the trail of Frankenstein for murder, is a religious man who can’t disguise his very Victorian disapproval of the doctor’s activities: “You impugn the Lord at your peril,” he cautions.
The problem is the filmmakers don’t have the courage of their convictions.
In trying to tell the story for a modern, young, audience the picture tries far too hard to hold the attention and consequently loses it.
After the compelling opening, when Victor and Igor meet at the circus, the picture settles into a rather hysterical rhythm as Victor breathlessly goes about his work with a crazed energy that suggests he has ingested a large quantity of stimulants.
McAvoy’s performance is so excitable it is hard to take seriously and precludes the drama from having much impact, in particular with regards to Victor and Igor’s relationship which never achieves the desired depth.
We are also supposed to care about Igor’s feelings for the fetching former trapeze artist who, after her injury, is spared from returning to the circus after rather conveniently acquiring a homosexual patron.
Now a decorative society girl, she pops up to excite Igor and proffer words of caution. “Are you not afraid to challenge the natural order?” she asks.
Unfortunately for former Downton Abbey star Brown Findlay, the character is superfluous, serving only to distract from the relationship between Victor and Igor.
The hammy end product has the feel of a school play performed by a bunch of over enthusiastic fourth formers; Freddie Fox turns up as a dastardly aristocrat from the “third richest family in England” looking all of 16.
Victorian London is superbly realised and the production values overall are first class but the film fails to live up to the sum of its body parts.
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| The Night Before, a Christmas party movie starring Seth Rogen |
The Night Before (15, 101mins)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie
The Night Before, a Christmas party movie starring Seth Rogen, is neither as obnoxious as you might fear or as funny as you would hope. Instead it is amiable and rather sweet-natured, taking its cue from the three protagonists: lifelong friends played by Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie.
Gordon-Levitt’s Ethan was orphaned one Christmas and ever since he and his pals have spent Christmas Eve together partying and trying to locate a legendary, top secret bash, the Nutcracka Ball.
With Rogen’s Isaac about to become a father, they reunite for a final time in New York. Cue misadventure, multiple encounters with their high-school dope dealer (a scene-stealing Michael Shannon) and romantic complication.
The three leads have an infectious rapport and the film doesn’t fall into the trap of being clearly more fun for the cast than the audience. However, there isn’t enough story to sustain the running time and it lacks howlingly funny set-pieces.
VERDICT: 3/5
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| Christmas With The Coopers: One of those season-of-goodwill ensemble comedies |
Christmas With The Coopers (12A, 105mins)
Director: Steven Rogers
Stars: Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Amanda Seyfried, Anthony Mackie
The likeable Mackie pops up in another festive film, Christmas With The Coopers, one of those season-of-goodwill ensemble comedies you need to approach with a hefty dollop of goodwill to enjoy.
The dysfunctional Coopers are presided over by grouchy father Sam (John Goodman) and anxious wife Charlotte (Diane Keaton), whose Christmas Eve gathering might, just might, help put right all simmering tensions and frustrations.
Mackie plays a police officer who arrests Charlotte’s sister (Marisa Tomei) for shoplifting but the most entertaining storyline concerns tricky playwright daughter Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) who persuades a solider (Jake Lacy) to pose as her boyfriend to stall awkward questions about her love life.
Narrated by Steve Martin as the family dog, it is unoriginal but well performed.
VERDICT: 2/5
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