Victor Frankenstein (2015)

In this movie, James McAvoy plays Steve Jobs and Daniel Radcliffe plays Steve Wozniak. They struggle to figure out how Daniel can work out all the technical details of putting together the Macintosh to meet James' stunning vision that no one else thinks will work, but Daniel is so knee-deep in working through the specifics that he doesn't even bother to think about the greater picture of what they are trying to do.

Now, take the Jobs/Woz names out and slap in Frankenstein and Igor. Replace the Mac with the monster, and you have the essence of these characters. First thing they do in the story (to make Igor relatable) is to remove the hunchback and straighten the spine so Daniel doesn't have to pretend to be anything other than the civilized and handsome young man that he is. As a bonus, they give him a backstory of being a circus freak who happened to also be the circus' doctor (without training, but he's really, really smart).

One day, James is at the circus to steal dead animal parts, because that's a thing, when he witnesses a woman (Jessica Brown Findlay) doing the high-wire gymnastics fall to the ground. Daniel rushes to help her, and James is impressed with his on-the-fly thinking and general understanding of human anatomy. He decides he's going to break Daniel out of the circus (although it's unclear how he understands that Daniel is essentially a prisoner) and he does it that night in a pretty terrible series of fights. This brings in Andrew Scott as the moral and intelligent police inspector who makes it his mission to find James and figure out what he's doing. No real idea why. I mean, later they have him come out as a VERY religious man, but he doesn't really have enough evidence to suspect James of the things he is doing.

For some reason, during the whole creation of the monster, James refers to him as Prometheus as if that is a fitting name. Now, my Greek myth is a little rusty, but Prometheus was not the created entity - he was the one who created man. So, James would be Prometheus in this story, and every time he mentioned it I got just a little more confused about his ultimate plan.

I act therefore I am.

Charles Dance showed up in what was essentially a cameo as Jame's father to yell at him and tell him what a disappointment he is. The problem with bringing in a heavy-hitting actor of his caliber is that others in the movie really struggle to act as well as he does in any scene. That said, he is always a joy to see on screen, and the other actors likely improved their game based on his presence.

Acting was very good
Story was a bit of a stretch
Dialogue was good
Direction was okay
Effects were a bit too overzealous

Bottom Line: Certainly not the worst Frankenstein movie I've seen. I suppose it was fairly decent.

2.5/5