Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Horrorphile - November 2009

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

November 26th 2009 23:40

The interesting thing about art – movies, to be precise - is that the viewer gets older, wiser, and ultimately either less tolerant or more tolerant of the things that grated on them aesthetically in their younger days. Movies don’t change, people do. So it can be interesting to revisit a movie you saw many moons ago to see if your attitude toward it has changed at all. Our favourite movies we revisit time and time again (especially if you’re a shameless cinephile like myself), and for the most part those movies remain in our clutch of darling cinema examples, occasionally a movie long loved slips down a few rungs on the ladder of appreciation, another moves up a few spots. It is rarer to revisit a movie one disliked to see if perhaps it was the grumpy mood you were in when you saw it or you were simply being too harsh a critic.

I saw Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) when it first came out. I hated it. I loathed almost everything about it. I wasn’t a fan of Branagh, although I had enjoyed Dead Again. I had read Frankenstein, and although I love the premise and some key moments, I find the novel is a difficult, tedious read (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, on the other hand, despite its own literary trappings, is a brilliant novel). James Whale’s famous Hollywood version of Frankenstein (1931) doesn’t follow the novel faithfully at all, and nearly every movie version since has resisted trying to adapt the novel closely (basically it doesn’t lend itself to a conventional movie narrative).

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter

Kenneth Branagh as Frankenstein and Helena Bonhan Carter as Elizabeth

Kenneth Branagh, coming off the back the success of his second Shakespeare movie Much Ado About Nothing, decided it was high time to prove his literary dynamism by tackling one of the most revered horror novels of all time, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818. As Francis Ford Coppola had done with his reasonably faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, by including the author’s name as part of the title, Branagh decided he’d do the same, to highlight that his version would be the definitive version. Oh woe betide him!

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro as The Creature

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past century (and if you’re a vampire you may very well have), the basic plot to Frankenstein goes like this: Victor Frankenstein, a promising chemist, decides after the tragic death of his mother, to bring life to the inanimate. He studies galvanism and constructs a golem of a man from dead body parts which he brings to life. The creature escapes its confines and flees to the countryside where it seeks friendship, but ends up committing murder. Later Frankenstein and his creation are reunited and the creature demands a mate out of desperate loneliness. Frankenstein eventually marries his cousin Elizabeth, but the creature, out of jealousy and revenge, kills her, and so Frankenstein sets off in pursuit of his damned sharp-featured man, ending up in the Arctic Circle. The novel is book-ended with the narrative of Captain Walton, an explorer who happens upon a weary Frankenstein in hot-cold pursuit, offers him sustenance and listens to his story. The creature makes an appearance as Frankenstein dies of exhaustion, and decides to destroy itself upon a funeral pyre.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Kenneth Branagh and John Cleese

Waldman (John Cleese) shows Frankenstein a few choice cuts

Branagh does follow much of the novel closely, but he drops the ball from the beginning and proceeds for the next two hours to indulge in some of the most bloated, self-indulgent and pretentious drivel ever put on the big screen. Having had to endure a second viewing of this monstrously dreadful movie I can now confidently say it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and is a pet hate (up with Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element). Everything about Branagh’s production reeks of triteness and smacks of self-importance. The performances are dodgy, the casting is just wrong, most notably Branagh in the eponymous lead, John Cleese as Professor Waldman and Robert De Niro as The Creature (despite being under a lot of prosthetics, including a scarred body suit, and saying very little), the screenplay is littered with unnecessary moments, especially the love scene between Frankenstein and Elizabeth during the movie’s climax (it might be a pacing climax, but a sexual interlude was entirely ill-conceived).

mary Shelley's Frankenstein Kenneth Branagh

Branagh subjects the viewers to a buffed-up Victor

The sweeping camerawork and lush production design is over-the-top and incongruous, there is no sense of the novel’s Gothic origins, and the forced melodrama is jarring (and made me want to retch). I could go on and on about what I find wretched about Branagh’s Frankenstein, but I’m not going to waste your time. I wish David Cronenberg had made his version like he was rumoured to be planning to do during the early-to-mid 90s. Of note; Coppola had originally intended to make Frankenstein as a companion piece to Dracula, but instead handed over the reigns to Branagh. After viewing a rough cut he insisted Branagh cut the first half hour, but Branagh refused and Coppola publicly denounced the movie. Branagh originally wanted Emma Thompson, his then wife, to play Elizabeth (dear Christ, now that would have been insufferable!), but instead cast Helena Bonham Carter, and subsequently fell in love with her.

In the movie's one good shot The Creature mourns his creator

Mary Shelley surely would’ve turned in her grave had she been privy to what Branagh did to her story. He dressed it up as a pantomime doll and proceeded to dance around with it like a pompous adolescent. Apparently there exists a workprint with graphic gore cut out to ensure the movie got an “R” rating. Even if I got my hands on that copy I doubt I could put myself through the torture of re-watching Kenneth’s diatribe. On a final note, I sure as hell hope Guillermo Del Toro’s production (in development, due 2012) does the story Gothic, visceral, tragic, atmospheric justice!

Trust me this is fair warning indeed!

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

18 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Kleonaptra

November 27th 2009 04:12

Kalikapsychosis

Say what you will Bryn, I still love it. You have positively WOUNDED me by throwing The Fifth Element in there!

Its not that I dont get what you're saying, I have to be in a specific frame of mind to watch it, but I think I really just get into melodrama....I watch neighbours after all!

For me, its the magic of the act that gets me - how frantic Viktor is to pull it off, how selfish and single minded. The art is there like fringes, I see through it to the deeper issues of what man wants leading him into total sin.

Comment by Kleonaptra

November 27th 2009 04:15

Kalikapsychosis

By the way Bryn, what did you think about '28 days later'? I loved it to bits. I know you dont like zombies that can run, but I find them way more terrifying than ones I could outrun with a brisk walk!

Comment by Bryn

November 27th 2009 04:34

Horrorphile

Kleo, don't worry I always ruffle feathers when I mention my pet hatred of The Fifth Element. I'm sure you have one too that others disagree on ...
Don't get me wrong, I love the deeper issues of what Frankenstein is about, I just have huge problems with the cinema Branagh attempted to create. It simply doesn't cut the mustard as far as I'm concerned, and hell, I'm an opinionated film critic, so sue me.

And, for the record, I don't mind a bit of melodrama, I just didn't like Branagh's syrup.
I like the first half of 28 Days Later. I much prefer 28 Weeks Later actually. I'm more of a zombie shuffler, I kinda find it creepier ... But I liked the running zombies in Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead.
Have you read my post on Dead Set yet? There's a DVD giveaway to be grabbed!

Comment by Matt Shea

November 27th 2009 05:18

20/20 Filmsight

Great review, Bryn. I never trusted this and I'm glad I didn't. Branagh was on the march when he made this but I'm not sure his career has ever quite righted itself since.

28 Days? Can't stand that film. I'm all for the zombie shuffle, but it's really 28's cop-out last act that does my head in.

Comment by David O'Connell

November 27th 2009 05:42

Screen Fanatic

You speak sense as always Bryn. Fifth Element? Should be consigned to the greatest dungheap in the universe! God I hated that film.

And I'll trust you on this too, just never had an urge to see it. This might have been the beginning of De Niro's very, very long slide into mediocrity.

Young Frankenstein's the ticket! Now there's a film you can watch over and over again!

Comment by Bryn

November 27th 2009 09:52

Horrorphile

Matt,. totally with you there.

David, indeed, indeed.
Funny you should mention Young Frankenstein, because I was going to mention it at the end of my review. I've been meaning to review it ... Probably Mel Brooks best movie, although Blazing Saddles is very funny too.

Comment by JohnDoe

November 27th 2009 19:25

Film & TV on DVD

Love the angle you took on this review Bryn,

Movies don’t change, people do.

I actually didn't despise this version of Frankenstein but it is undoubtedly a wasted opportunity.

I do hate Fifth Element too, and like you think 28 weeks later is far better than 28 days Later...I agree with Matt's assertion that the final act of days just ruins the whole thing.

Comment by Catherine Stebbins

November 29th 2009 01:17

Horrorphile

Windlass, I appreciate someone championing this movie, but it confounds me also. I first saw it on the big screen, and then again on DVD on a large flat screen. If indeed Branagh was intending the movie to be a tribute to the romanticism of the period then he should not have put Mary Shelley's name on it, and instead called it Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein, because despite the time frame, the novel was anything but romantic, and although it followed the novel closer than previous filmed versions, it still was not entirely faithful (just as Coppola's Dracula is not Bram Stoker's, but comes closer than most).

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