Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1998, DVD)

That stench in the air is not necessarily the reek of rotting flesh used to make up The Creature in this movie. Perhaps it is the movie that hovers in the air like a litter box that you forgot to empty.

I went into this movie all excited. Man, Robert De Niro playing Frankenstein. I know, I know, Frankenstein is technically the doctor in these movies but for some reason the name has always been associated with the creature. And that is how I will refer to this, a creature. And Branagh took the old adage to heart if you build it they will come [1] as he nicely produced a movie so he could star in it. Wasn t that ingenious?

The Story
Like Frankensteins before him, this one was an intelligent man as well. Studying to be a doctor, he wanted to know more, needed to know more. For that I applaud him, the desire and need for knowledge.

At University he meets a brilliant professor that shares his need for knowledge, a professor that has stepped over that line and Frankenstein follows in his footsteps.

From this point on I either blended Frankenstein and Dracula together or the writer did or someone did because I m suddenly getting flashes of both surreal worlds. Irregardless, Frankenstein builds his creature which is tainted. The creature isn t what he expected and he turns his back on it, thinking he kills it.

Silly man.

The creature must exact his revenge on the one that made him then tried to destroy him and so starts the mindless plodding across continents to find Frankenstein and have his revenge satiated.

Huh?
I will admit I never read Mary Shelley s Frankenstein but from what I ve read about this movie most seem to think they kept pretty true to the book except for the Elizabeth incident . For instance, I wasn t aware that either Frankenstein or the creature trekked across the upper continents, on foot, heading for the North Pole. Interesting.

In other Frankenstein movies, the creature did adapt a speaking mannerism, of sorts, so I had no problem with this creature doing the same. However, how this one came about and then developed into intelligent thinking and reading, well, uh, had a problem with that.

The entire Elizabeth incident was disturbing. Plus, hey, I thought that was a sequel.

After watching this I thought back to other Frankensteins I had watched over the years. The same thought occurs to me in all viewings - they had taken a body from the gallows to use as their creature. Right? OK, it was a whole body except for that dead thing it had going on. Why was it necessary to attach all new parts to it? I found this especially prominent in this movie, especially the facial scars. And I m not just talking about The Creature either but you have to watch it to find out what exactly I m referring to here.

Anyway, Frankenstein has the professors body. A whole body with no problems other than he is dead. Why not just reanimate this form? Why add new hands, feet, a head - a head for God s sake - a new brain? What was wrong with the one he had? It was simply dead, it wasn t deformed. And if you can build a body, why can t you replace a simple thing like a heart? Why reconstruct an entire body?

If you can transplant a head, you can transplant a heart.

That I didn t understand. Nor did I understand the stitches across the eyes, the nose, and the lips. That was just wrong.

Stars
Kenneth Branagh played Victor Frankenstein. He also directed the film. He did a credible performance if slightly mad. In keeping with the style of writing by Shelley, everything was overly dramatic and eloquent. Even thought I didn t care for the overall production, Branagh did a fine enough job in both acting and directing.

Tom Hulce was Henry, which I suppose was the equivalent of Frankensteins helper in movies of old. He also served as his conscience. I didn t give much credence to his performance, he was one of those guys in a lot of scenes that you really didn t notice except when he yelled.

Aidan Quinn played Captain Robert Walton, on the iceburg moored ship nearing the North Pole. From Walton s role we heard the story of Frankenstein unfold. Huh? Did I miss this character in previous movies? Oh, no, we weren t at the North Pole in other movies.

John Cleese played the super intelligent Professor Waldman. For a brief moment I thought it was Sean Connery in his long hair stages. In fact, I guess they tried to get Sean for the role but he had the good sense to back out.

Then finally, Elizabeth. Helena Bonham Carter was Elizabeth. It was her fault that I flashed to Dracula because I didn t remember this whining character in previous movies. Sure, I remember past Frankensteins had either a wife or girlfriend, but not with the intensity of this part. Didn t particularly care for her in this movie, heartless creature that she was [pun intended]

It all boils down to Robert De Niro and his interpretation of The Creature. Frankly, it sucked. I think he could have done so much more. He was a much better monster in Cape Fear as Max Cady.

This movie received no awards although it was nominated for several. It is runs 123 minutes and is rated R for horrific images. I assume they mean the implied violence in the movie and the plastic surgery . I ll keep my own thoughts about the horrific images to myself. There were no extras on the DVD except selected scenes and captioning. Pity.

Not everything that you try to fix is broken. There was nothing wrong with Frankenstein of old and there will never be one like Boris Karloff.

Thanks,
Susi



[1] field of dreams