By Grace Polaneczky – Guest Writer
It’s always risky to take a classic story such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and create a contemporary portrayal of it that is, at the very least, worth watching. In some cases these recreations are well-received with a clever outcome and a captivating plot, but director Stuart Beattie’s I, Frankenstein did not achieve this.
After the release date was pushed back three times, I, Frankenstein came to theaters on Jan. 24. The movie follows 200-year-old superhuman Adam (Aaron Eckhart), the creation of Dr. Frankenstein, as he helps a race of humanoid “gargoyles” to destroy a race of demons. Besides the fact that Adam is the stitched-together creation of a mad scientist, nothing else about the movie follows the original plot of Shelley’s Frankenstein and the storyline is anything but compelling.
Despite the film’s release date being repeatedly set back, the production is sloppy and, although intense, the special effects are not impressive. There is a lot of fire and a lot of fighting, but there is almost no suspense and the grueling length of the 3D action scenes completely ruins any of the excitement or ferocity that there may have been for the first couple of minutes.
If the plot is to be buried in fire and fatalities, Beattie may as well have made the gargoyles look a little bit more intimidating to add some excitement and fear — I, Frankenstein is advertised as horror after all.
But no matter how bad everything else about I, Frankenstein is, the worst part is that its badness is not even amusing. It’s not a movie to go see with friends to have a lighthearted laugh over the poor production. The movie is simply awful and above anything, not worth the time or ticket price.
