Tags:
Film: Frankenstein
Year: 2015
Director: Bernard Rose
Writer: Bernard Rose
Starring: Carrie-Anne Moss, Tony Todd and Xavier Samuel
Review:
This film begins with a man waking up. There are two scientists that have witnessed this and they are married. They are Carrie-Anne Moss and her husband, Danny Huston who is Viktor Frankenstein. The man they created is Xavier Samuel. He is a grown man, but he acts like a baby. We get a few scenes as they try to train him like you would a child.
Huston realizes that something is wrong with his creation and Moss tries to convince him to not kill Samuel. He finally convinces her that it is for the best. Samuel continues to wake up though when he is supposed to out and then when he is supposed to be dead. Samuel finally wakes up, kills the two doctors performing the autopsy on him and flees, killing security guards as he goes.
Samuel out in the world starts to learn basic survival skills. He eats bugs, dead animals, whatever he can find with most of it being disgusting. He even finds a dog that he becomes friends with. Things take a turn when he runs into a young girl played by Mckenna Grace. She teaches him a game and he decides to throw her into the water thinking it is fun. She almost drowns though. Two cops show up, killing his dog. He goes into a rage and kills them both. He is soon arrested though.
He is then interrogated at a police station, but they cannot get much out of him. They contact Moss from the ID badge that Samuel still carries. She shows up, but pretends she does not know who he is. Samuel is then transferred in an ambulance while in a straitjacket. The cops that are escorting him are not too happy at what he has done. He is taken out under a bridge, beaten and then shot in the head.
This still does not kill him though. He wakes up under some rocks and frees himself from the jacket. He ends up sleeping under a bridge where other homeless people do. This is when he meets his first friend, a blind man played by Tony Todd. They stick together with Todd teaching him different things.
This relationship turns for the worst when they meet his friend who is a hooker, played by Maya Erskine. She agrees to sleep with Samuel on Todd’s dime. She is concerned with the deterioration of his skin and wonders if it is all over his body. She forces him to take a shower, but when he gets out; she sees how bad it is. She finds Moss on her phone and queues up directions to get to her. Erskine refuses to sleep with him though after seeing how bad his sickness is. Samuel accidently kills her as well as Todd when he busts into the room and attacks him as well.
Will Samuel find his place in the world? Will he get back to Moss? Can she and Huston help him? Or will Huston finally destroy his creation?
I have to say that I have seen pretty much every version of Frankenstein. Since there are so many, I like to see films where they do something different and this one is one that does it. I also like that they updated the story to modern times, using a 3D printer to create Samuel. I also like that when he is created, he acts like a baby as that is more realistic than the original story. I like that even at the end, he is still a low functioning adult since he does not have the years of stimuli like normal people. This film does have some blood, gore and violence as well. Plus seeing Erskine in her underwear wasn’t bad either.
I did have some issues with this film though. First off, I was disappointed with Moss and Huston. I normally really like both of them in what I’ve seen them in, but they don’t have a lot of screen time and when they do, it was nothing too spectacular. I hated when the police shot the dog. I also didn’t find it believable that the police would take Samuel out in the middle of nowhere and execute him. I understand that they would want to, but that is just not realistic and would be nearly impossible to explain without repercussion. I would have liked to learn a little more about what was happening to Samuel and why he was rotting.
With that said, this is not a bad version of Frankenstein, but it is also not the best. The acting ranges from pretty good to not so much. The story is an updated version which I liked. The realism of the monster was good as well. There is some blood, gore and violence, so keep that in mind. The film also has an interesting concept as to how the monster is created. This film does have some things that are also unrealistic, so keep that in mind as well. Not the best version of this story, but it is updated and something different. If you like the Frankenstein story, I would recommend giving it a chance.
My Rating: 5 out of 10