annemackie Review of Frankenstein

Frankenstein (2007 TV Movie)

Could have been so good but was a big let down

[4/10 · 25 October 2007]

When creating a version of a classic like Frankenstein it is quite acceptable to alter some aspects, however there are certain things which cannot be tampered with and I am not referring to the laws of nature but the laws of drama. I can only assume that writer director Jed Mercurio was unexpectedly restrained either by budget or time slot and was therefore forced to make some serious editorial decisions. Unfortunately he made all the wrong ones. Frankenstein, like King Kong or The Elephant Man only works if there is an emotional connection between the characters and with the audience. Such a connection can only be made through eye contact (the eyes are the key to the soul). Consider how much emphasis Peter Jackson gave to the facial expressions of Kong and its startlingly human nature or John Hurt's eyes of John Merrick. In this version of Frankenstein the eyes of the 'monster' are hardly seen at all and this accounts directly to the failure of the drama. The key scenes are the meeting with the child, mother and son, and on the beach. All these scenes are rushed and thus create no emotion because we only see the eyes of one of the characters. When the 'monster' kills the little girl, (actually shown in full detail, there's a dubious first for British TV and indeed Film drama) the scene is shocking but not as effective as it would have been if the two characters involved had interacted like two children for a little longer. When mother was teaching son, there was no bonding at all, no emotion, no close ups of the 'monster's eyes showing any feeling. Just a cold grey lump of special effect. The final scene on the beach works at all because finally we see a more human side to the 'monster' and the most powerful scene was when we see the 'monster's' face albeit at a distance. Updating the Frankenstein story is all well and good, but abandoning the core theme of the original was a terrible mistake resulting in a disjointed and ultimately very disappointing drama.