REVIEW: I, Frankenstein 3D

MOVIE
I, Frankenstein

CAST
Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
January 24, 2014

DIRECTOR
Stuart Beattie

STUDIO
Lionsgate

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 32 minutes





STARS
***








REVIEW:

In the month of January, one should not expect many quality movies to come out, considering that this is the time of year where studios throw out anything in order to try to make some quick money.  From first glance, the new fantasy-adventure flick "I, Frankenstein" would seem to be exactly that.  Hell, even critics would seem to despise this film, according to Rotten Tomatoes at least.  Having actually seen this movie, I can honestly say that I don't fully understand why people are giving this particular film so much hate.  It may be stupid, and it may be incredibly pointless, but aren't most January movies like this?  This is nothing up to the standards of "Her" or "The Wolf of Wall Street," but I'd argue that it's a fun, mindless, and entertaining popcorn flick that's perfect for this time of year.

Victor Frankenstein is frightened by his creation, so as a way to save himself and his wife, he attempts to kill the beast.  The monster survives, however, and manages to kill off the Frankenstein clan.  Unfortunately, it is when he buries Victor Frankenstein that demons show up and try to kill the monster, to which they are unsuccessful.  After being saved by Gargoyles, the monster, now known to the Gargoyles as "Adam," discovers that there has been a long war between demons and gargoyles in progress for many centuries.  Wanting to stay out of it and do his own thing, Adam leaves the gargoyles and goes to hunt demons down himself.  Over 200 years past, and the war is still at large, with the demons looking for a way to reanimate corpses so the fallen demons can repossess their bodies and take over the world.  It's up to Adam to find a way to stop them and prevent them from getting their hands on the one thing that could teach them how to bring bodies back to life: Frankenstein's journal.

Aaron Eckhart is one of those actors where he's incredibly talented, and has proven it in the past, but hasn't recently been choosing the best projects to be a part of.  Him being in this film might not have been the best choice his agent made, but then again, it seems that he's indeed passionate about the project.  Not only does he get physically into shape in order to play this badass creature, but he also channels a performance that's almost method in the case that he's really in to his character.  I can see why he's getting so much hate in the film, but I honestly found him, along with all of the other performances, to be fine.  Bill Nighy plays a fun villain, Yvonne Strahovski is decent as the female lead, and even Jai Courtney is solid in the film as wellIt really did seem like the actors were trying to give it their all in their performances, and for the most part, I feel they succeeded.

The thing about this movie is that it is indeed a stupid, dull, and pointless movie.  If this had been released in say April or May, I probably would have been more critical on it.  But since it's January, aka "the bad movie month," I could forgive its stupidity and just embrace it overall.  The 3D is a waste, so there's a criticism for you.  The film does drag on a little bit and sometimes get a bit too ridiculous for my liking.  Other than that, I had a lot of fun with this film.  The story wasn't atrocious, the acting was decent, and even the special effects were pretty good if I say so myself.  This is, to me, what films like "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" and "Battle of the Year" were last year, meaning that they might be ridiculous and flawed in many places, but I was able to have a fun time with them.  In fact, I could honestly see this film gaining a cult following in the coming years.  I saw this with a good friend of mine, and we were having a ball making fun of it the whole way through.  There are plenty of stupid and bad movies that come out this time of year, but I feel that if you can embrace the stupidity and pure popcorn fun that "I, Frankenstein" delivers in the presence of several good friends ready to rip this movie a good one, then you may be in for a fun night.



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