Review of I, Frankenstein (2014) by Filipeneto — 27 Apr 2018

When I was a kid, there was an kids television show called "Gargoyles". Readers who have been children (or have been parents) during the nineties should probably remember it. Well, this movie looks like a mix of this show with "Frankenstein". The whole plot is pretty stupid, with cathedral gargoyles that stay alive and wage epic battles against demons in the sight of humans (who curiously never realize anything). This is not the first time Frankenstein's story has been used to give life to anything dead in a movie. "Van Helsing" is another film where the same feature is used in the same way, and with equally bad results. It seems that the Frankenstein machine works for everything, which is absolutely ridiculous. So, from a bad idea, this movie was doomed at birth.

Aaron Eckhart and Miranda Otto are the big stars of the film. He plays the role of Adam, the creature created by Frankenstein, who joins the gargoyles led by Otto's character, Queen Leonore. Both actors made fairly regular performances, without major failures but also without positive surprises. Otto seems particularly cold and impersonal in her role. The strongest part of the film are the action and fighting scenes, sprinkled abundantly with CGI, explosions and great sound effects. In fact, these scenes have been done carefully and are spectacular, but they are not enough to justify the film or make it good. The dark and Gothic environment will please the fans of this subculture, the action scenes will attract teenagers thirsty for fights and explosions, but no more. The audience that looks for some depth, logic or cinematic sense will probably come out disappointed.