VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Based on Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, this tells the story of medical student, Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy), from Igor Strausman's (Daniel Radcliffe) perspective. The film opens with Igor narrating, telling us that we already know the story about Frankenstein and his monstrous creations. We see Igor, who is a nameless hunchback treated terribly by the circus due to his deformity. He spends most of his nights, in secret, studying the human anatomy from stolen books and learning how the body works. One night, things go wrong when Lorelei, an aerialist, falls during her performance. Frankenstein, who happened to be watching, rushes to help her as does Igor which is where the two meet. Frankenstein is impressed by Igor's skills as he saves Lorelei and decides to take him home which is where the friendship begins. Frankenstein names Igor after his late roommate and tells him of his desire to bring life to the deceased. Igor is unsure about this, at first, but decides to help him out of gratitude. However, Frankenstein soon becomes obsessed with bringing life to a human-like monster and Igor tries to stop him but he is determined to make his creation work. Will Igor be able to prevent Frankenstein from creating one of his most dangerous creations?

I, surprisingly, really enjoyed this film. I had never read the book or seen any other adaptation before watching this but I knew the story very well about Frankenstein and his creations. I think James McAvoy was great as showing Frankenstein's obsession with his creations, I really believed his desire to want to bring life to the dead. I also loved Daniel Radcliffe's performance as Igor who becomes more than an assistant to  Frankenstein but also a friend who generally cares for his wellbeing. Radcliffe is, of course, best known for playing one of Hollywood's most famous wizards in one of the biggest franchises and I think that's one of the hardest things about being a part of a big franchise. Radcliffe will always be known as Harry Potter but I think people need to let that character go just like he has done by playing a wide range of characters. I think he's a great actor and has done really well since the franchise ended over four years ago. I no longer see him as Potter, I see him as the characters he portrays. 

Despite the film being a 12A, it still includes a fair amount of violence and gore as Frankenstein used stolen animal body parts for his creations and we do see various body organs throughout the film so if you're not a fan of gore, I'd suggest avoiding this film.

I'd been looking forward to watching this film for a while as it sounded like a good story and featured two of my favourite actors. Fortunately, it didn't disappoint. I think fans of the novel will enjoy this adaptation thanks to McAvoy's great performance as the title character.

Overall, a thrilling adaptation of Mary Shelley's famous novel.

7/10