VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN WAS A QUALITY MOVIE.
Okay so I did not really have high expectations because the trailer didn’t buy me into it. It just looked like a comedy but what I wasn’t into was the fact that it looked JUST LIKE the Sherlock Holmes Guy Ritchie movies. Like the lighting and the CGI London and the shots.
I WAS WRONG.
Moving onto an earlier point. The film style.
Oh jeez, it wasn’t even what I would call gorgeous because it wasn’t just pretty it was interesting and felt exciting.
Paul McGuigan’s use of superimposition of text and drawings was so well done. It reminded me that this is the Sherlock guy but it wasn’t distracting (maybe a little at the first introduction of Frankenstein it felt more like a tv show than a movie but even that wasn’t bad) and it worked so well at showing what the character’s focus was, how much science and inner workings was just part of how Igor and Victor saw the world (I have just finished a cinema class, do forgive my over-analysis).
Not only did it reflected the characters but it LOOKED SO GOOD. The anatomical drawings themselves were beautiful and the fit right in with the images on screen.
Oh, gosh, and the colouring and lighting. The end scene, when McAvoy is looking up at the creature being brought to life. The lighting makes his eyes look green gray. It was breathtaking, in a way.
The trailer showed way more CGI than there was. Like, okay, London panoramas were not real but a lot of it looked like intricately built sets. Nice.
There was so much use of superimposition and reflections. My god, the use distortion of the lens and reflections was wonderful. Like, reflections and mirrors were used for actual tricks within the movie but also reflection and bending of the image and light just used throughout outside the digesis. Oh, my god I thought I was witnessing something exciting. I don’t see that much (or at all?) in movies. The characters on screen constantly reflected, just bits of them duplicated and the distortion on the lens whether it was leaking light in a weird way or creating another image in the frame. It was eerie but, again, not distracting. It was pleasant and it captured my attention, heightened my interest in the movie.
NONSENSE BREAK: JAMES MCAVOY IS SO HOT. OHMYGOD. ANDREW SCOTT AS A RELIGIOUS MAN ON A MISSION, YESYYEYSYYSYSYS. DANIEL RADCLIFFE REALLY PUT HIS EFFORT INTO THIS AND I’LL EVEN FORGIVE THE RANDOM ROMANCE.
Now for the characters.
I also thought this was just gonna be doctor-assistant, tired dynamic. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.
James McAvoy is on another, higher, acting level and we can only hope to be on par with him.
Anyway.
I actually cared a lot about these two guys and their relationship was complicated and they argued and didn’t see eye-to-eye and they fell out and they really cared about each other and they were getting to know each other as we were getting to know them which is nice in a movie.
My only thing is that I feel like if they had been a guy and a girl it would have been romantic but it was two guys so it wasn’t and just I- why not romance??????? Yes???? Yes.
But that is another issue.
And goddamn Andrew Scott playing a character different from what I’ve seen him do and being so hell-bent on a mission but I don’t think his character was over-the-top. In fact, I don’t think any of them were. A little rooted in their beliefs, sure, but not unbelievable. So, being religious (or there really another motive behind him?) he did not agree with Frankenstein’s experiments.
What I think was cool was that when The Inspector (Scott) and Victor talked I could see the flaw in both of their arguments. Like, I wasn’t fully WITH either of them but I still cared about both of their goals and motivations which is hard to do, I imagine.
Basically, it was quality all-around. The costumes and sets were pretty but not indulgent. Some locations like the labs had wonderful details. The characters had cool backstories and tidbits about them that made them interesting and even tough it’s an old story re-made it didn’t have the same tired tropes that I have seen present in a lot of popular media lately (LOOKING @ YOU JURASSIC WORLD AND JESSICA JONES).
WATCH VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN??
I assure you you’ll, at worst, have a good time.
Fun Talks 