Lionsgate kicked off their Hall H presentation with I, FRANKENSTEIN, a new take on the classic Frankenstein’s Monster character from the producers of UNDERWORLD. Any boy, does it look like UNDERWORLD. Same color palette, same CG style, same, well, everything. It’s just gargoyles and demons now instead of vampires and werewolves. And Frankenstein’s Monster is caught in the middle.
The story is basically this: Frankenstein’s Monster (actually called “Adam” in the film and played by an incredibly buff Aaron Eckhart), wanders the world aimlessly, and has been for 200 years. He is, of course, immortal, so there’s no chance of him dying; he’s essentially cursed. Somehow he gets involved with a war that is going on between demons (who are attempting to take over the earth and want to harness Adam’s secrets to do it) and gargoyles (who are sworn to protect humanity). Guess he does some fighting on the side of good, and eventually gets involved with the hottest scientist ever (played by Yvonne Strahovski).
This is, naturally, not the Frankenstein’s Monster we’re all familiar with; aside from a few scars on his face and a general gloomy disposition, Eckhart looks more or less like a badass. The movie itself, as I mentioned previously, might as well be called UNDERWORLD 5. Whether that is a good or bad thing is subjective, but for me it is simply too reminiscent of that series to get excited about. The rather unconvincing CG gargoyles and demons aren’t exactly helping matters either. (We can probably expect Lionsgate to release the trailer for this in August when YOU’RE NEXT comes out.)
Here are some highlights from the panel:
– Eckhart made mention of the fact that I, FRANKENSTEIN employs some kind of elaborate stick fighting; we caught a glimpse of it in the trailer. He said it’s crucial to get the choreography for it just right, because one wrong move and you’re getting smashed in the face.
– The film is currently being converted into 3D.
– Yvonne plays an electrophysiologist in the film; when we first meet her, she’s reanimating a dead rat. She doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but she’s thrown into the world. Her character wants to know how Adam is what he is, while Adam wants her to create him a companion, because all he really wants is someone to spend the rest of his life with (however long that may be).
– Director Stuart Beattie said that I, FRANKENSTEIN is like the “next chapter” in terms of its relationship to Mary Shelley’s classic book. The film evidently begins with Adam carrying the dead body of his maker and burying it, then we cut ahead and discover that Adam is still alive in the here and now.
– In regards to why Adam doesn’t look like the Frankenstein’s Monsters of the past, Beattie said it’s because his scars have healed (somewhat) over the past 200 years. He also said it’s pretty hard to make Aaron Eckhart ugly.
– Various members made it clear to Yvonne that they loved her, but that’s to be expected…
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