The 2014 action film, I, Frankenstein, is based on the graphic novel, which holds the same name. The film follows the exploits of Adam (Aaron Eckhart), who is a soulless creature that was created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Aden Young, Rectify). After Victor rejected his creation, the creature took revenge and killed Victor’s wife, Elizabeth (Virginie Le Brun). The creature then leads Victor into the Arctic, where Victor dies from exposure.

After the creature has buried his creator, he is attacked by a group of monsters, which turn out to demons. The creature is saved from the brink of death by a group of gargoyles. The movie quickly takes on a good versus evil stance, with the demons battling the gargoyles. Of course, these monsters do not maintain their hideous or angelic images. Instead, they’re able to appear human, when need be. After he is saved, the creature is introduced to commander, Gideon (Jai Courtney) and the Gargoyle Queen, Leonore (Miranda Otto), who gives the creature his name, Adam.

Although Adam refuses to take a side, he is given a unique weapon, which is is etched with the emblem of the Gargoyle Order and is capable of dispatching demons to Hell. After departing, Adam goes on a rampage, as he dispatches many demons, before a human is killed during one of his attacks. When the demon prince, Naberius (Bill Nighly) gets word of Adam’s presence, he enlists his mister powerful warrior, Zuriel (Socratis Otto, Wentworth), to capture Adam. In the meantime, he orders a highly intelligent scientist, Terra Wade (Yvonne Strahovski) to begin conducting extensive experiments to attempt to reanimate the dead.

With Zuriel hot on his trail, Adam finds himself back at the cathedral, with the gargoyles. Of course, Leonore is prepared to severely punish Adam for the death of the officer, but the demons attack, before harm can come to Adam. After a brutal fight, which claims the lives of two gargoyles, Adam follows Zuriel back to the Wessex Institute. It is here that he discovers Naberius’s intentions. In order to prevent this from happening, he takes possession of Victor Frankenstein’s journal, but things are about to go from bad to worse.

Will Adam eventually fall prey to the evil demons? Or will he be forced to side with the gargoyles and fight for a mankind, which he despises so much?

Review


While this film seemed to get a lot of flak from critics, I didn’t find it all that terrible. It is by no means perfect, but what film is? Some have complained about the acting of Aaron Eckhart, by using phrases such as flat and dull. Isn’t Frankenstein supposed to be a dull brute, with little personality?

When broken down into simple terms, the movie could be explained, as a tale of good against evil. IF you look at things with a magnifying glass, you will see that the story is actually fairly in-depth and clever. I didn’t hate the CGI, although I generally don’t favor these types of films.

Could the film have been better? Most definitely. There were a few times, when the viewer would be able to connect and feel emotion for Adam. However, this was few and far in between. The film could’ve played more of an emotional tune to draw in the viewer and give them a reason to cheer for Adam. Instead, Adam resulted in a bland creature, with very little soul. Even after the climax, cheering for Adam would have to be forced. Overall, the film deserves a 6.5 out of 10 and is nowhere as bad as the critics claimed.