Last night I managed to inveigle my way into the UK premiere for Guillermo Del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN at the Royal Festival Hall. It’s an interesting venue for film screenings – I’ve only seen concerts there before. I might venture that the seats there are really not made for 2-3 hour film screenings as my butt and legs really started to feel it by the end. Still, it was an impressive event venue and all the principal players were in attendance – with a dazzling cast. I like most of GDT’s filmography, especially his two set during the Spanish Civil War- THE DEVILS BACKBONE and PAN’S LABYRINTH. I think he’s an extraordinary, distinctive director when it comes to visuals, though sometimes he seems to working with some sub-par scripts.
And so to FRANKENSTEIN, which – as he said in his intro – is apparently his longest-held passion project. A film he’s been trying to make for more than 40 years. And arguably he’s already made some films heavily influenced by the classic tragi-horror story. Unfortunately, those films are mostly much better than this one. I’m a bit disappointed by how indifferent I felt to this new adaptation. It’s all a bit flat and lifeless, with a cast of completely one-note characters that no amount of acting talent can lift. It looks fantastic, of course. Some beautiful costumes and production design. And the score by Alexander Desplat was quite lovely. But it was ultimately a chore to watch. I didn’t really care for any of the characters, since they all felt like charmless stereotypes, and the dialog was leaden, clunky and way too heavy on exposition. Ha – and the script has more than a few bafflingly ridiculous moments, that even my suspension of disbelief was stretched by. It all ends up feeling like the less-fun cousin to Francis Ford Coppola’s outrageously stylish/bonkers/horny DRACULA movie from 1992. And around the middle point of the movie I just kept thinking how much more I’d rather be watching Mel Brook’s YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN instead.
So… it wasn’t really for me. Not bad, just a bit middling. I left with a profound sense of “Meh”.
