Victor Frankenstein
A young hunchbacked man with no name (Daniel Radcliffe) works for a circus in Victorian England. Although he is abused, and treated like he's stupid, he secretly studies the subject that interests him - life - in the form of medical books. And he crushes on one of the ladies in the circus, Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay). An accident brings him face to face with a medical student in the audience, Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy), who recognizes the young man's brilliance and steals him away from the circus. He takes him to his new home, names him Igor, and proceeds to involve him in his experiments, which involve the creation of life itself. Unfortunately for them, a determined policeman, Inspector Turpin (Andrew Scott) is on the case of the missing hunchback and will stop at nothing to find him.
This is the familiar tale of Frankenstein as seen through the eyes of Igor (who, of course, is a completely
original character not from the book). I think it can be considered an origin story as such. The obsessed Frankenstein manages to find a like-minded patron at the college he somewhat attends, one who is fortunately very wealthy and willing to fund Victor's research. Having been transformed from being a hunchback, Igor is very grateful for Victor and his friendship. But he begins to wonder about the ethics of what they are doing. Also, who is this Igor he is named after, and where is he?
The film is very creative in sets and design, the writing and directing are good, but, at least for me, it didn't quite make it. Something fell just a little flat, although I'm not sure I can put my finger on what. Perhaps it didn't quite make me believe, didn't ground me in its reality. While Daniel Radcliffe is good as Igor, his transition from supposed circus idiot to brilliant biologist was a little too quick to be really believable. McAvoy's Frankenstein is a little two-dimensional, and reveals nothing of the person beneath until we get to the story of his brother at the end, and that's just too little too late. Andrew Scott's Inspector Turpin (sorry, I keep wanting to say Moriarity lol) is sufficiently obsessed and off his rocker as well as being a religious fanatic who thinks they are doing the work of Satan, but he doesn't ring quite true to me.
At what I believe to be the heart of this story is the question of science vs morality - just because we know how to do it, should we? Or are there things that are better left alone, such as the creation of life? Of course, there is no definitive answer as this is the lead-in to the Frankenstein story itself, which explores that theme as well. Was it worth watching. Yes, but it wasn't quite the film I had hoped for, despite a great cast. I'll give this film 3.5 Stars.
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