Victor Frankenstein – Genie und Wahnsinn (2015)

Victor Frankenstein – Genie und Wahnsinn: Directed by Paul McGuigan. With Daniel Radcliffe, Jessica Brown Findlay, Bronson Webb, James McAvoy. Told from Igor’s perspective, we see the troubled young assistant’s dark origins, his redemptive friendship with the young medical student Viktor Von Frankenstein, and become eyewitnesses to the emergence of how Frankenstein became the man – and the legend – we know today.

“Perhaps the Frankenstein name is indeed cursed, there hasnu0026#39;t been a great Frankenstein based movie in years, even decades. From last yearu0026#39;s I, Frankenstein to Van Helsing who only has it as subplot, all have met mediocre fate. Now armed with robust acting power and visual that oozes Victorian era, also a bit or horror and action attached somewhere, another rendition shares the same exact fate; cinematic tediousness.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA slight modification to the narrative is made, just like Sherlock the movie is narrated from the sidekicku0026#39;s perspective, in this case Igoru0026#39;s (Daniel Radcliffe). Aside from that, thereu0026#39;s barely anything new that hasnu0026#39;t been done in similar or better fashion. To its credit, itu0026#39;s not utterly terrible in term of presentation, in fact the visual is rather nice. Itu0026#39;s quaintly dark and electric version of last decade metropolis, Tesla would approve.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJames McAvoy as the titular Viktor really tries hard on establishing the character. Given the stale material, he still manages to squeeze some emotional scenes as well as a good chemistry with Radcliffe in a bromantic kind of way. Andrew Scott from Moriarty fame, now plays the role of Inspector Turpin. Heu0026#39;s the polar opposite of Viktor, conservative yet equally clever and ambitious.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately, the far too familiar plot fails to produce any thrill, the strong acting prowess ends up rehearsing the same routine of mad scientistu0026#39;s banter. Thereu0026#39;s screaming, philosophical argument, faux science and slight mental abuse by the two leads. Itu0026#39;s a lot of noise of little dramatic effect. Not that the script is bad in any way, it has occasional witty lines although any hint of humor or charm is muffled by the overly melancholy tone.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt some points, the movie tries to dabble in horror, action and even romance subplot. The atmosphere is already primed for thriller, but the shocking abomination is ironically timid and unmemorable. Action consists of a few scenes of slow motions repetition. Despite the production offering distractions, the main story line is very straightforward and streamlined, and sadly also predictable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor all the star and flair, though they might be mildly amusing, the end product is a medium so lacking of life.”