Jason from MNPP here with a look at the first trailer for Victor Frankenstein, the tale of... Igor, the hunchbacked assistant. This follows the grand tradition of movies being named after a supporting character that comes to transform the lead (look no further than Carol, which book-wise is really Rooney Mara's story, although I won't be surprised if Todd Haynes gives Cate Blanchett a little more to do and hey look how I turned this into a post about Carol, isn't that funny...)
But back to Igor & Friends (which would've been a far greater title if you ask me) -- the previously ghastly assistant ain't so ghastly this go-round - the hunchback's been swapped out for the big blue eyes and bounteous neck-beard of Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, who is taken under the well-muscled wing of Professor X I mean Dr. Frankenstein, played by Mr. James McAvoy. Let's Yes No Maybe So this sucker.
Yes
-- They're smart to showcase McAvoy & Radcliffe's playful chemistry by having them introduce this first trailer... but this kinda ends up becoming a commercial for X-Men Apocalypse and how scorchingly hot James McAvoy is with a shaved head.
-- The creature effects that they show off here look wonderfully appropriately gross and refreshingly practical; those disembodied blinking eyes are everything a Frankenstein movie in 2015 should be.
Even if some of the computer-generated scenery is giving me bad Van Helsing flashbacks (jeeez that lightning) the monsters thankfully are not.
-- The way Jessica Brown Findlay pronounces it "Franken-schteen" made me chuckle, even if they drag the joke out two beats too far. But can we talk about JBF for a sec...
... girl, you should definitely fire your agent.
-- That shot of the doctor's spectacular library is tickling all my library fetishes - I already posted about this over at my blog, where I openly fetishize movie libraries with no shame!
No
-- Oh my god, Daniel Radcliffe's hair. Unless we find out that hair-don't is a parasite that's been brought back from the dead and has been living off of Igor's brain there is no excuse for that thing otherwise. (Just ask Corey Stoll!)
-- The slow-mo action scenes and the jokey tone feels very Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie Edition) and if there's anything that makes me want to flee in the other direction it's thoughts of Robert Downey Jr. wearing powder and a wig while running along the top of a train.
-- I realize I have more under the "Yes" column here than I do the "No" so this bulletpoint is here just to underline the previous one, in that the tone in this trailer is terrible, and makes me want to run away. The force of no is strong with this one, despite the little flashes of possibility buried around it.
Maybe So
-- The presence of the terrific Andrew Scott swerves us towards the correct Sherlock to emulate (Benedict Cumberbatch Edition) but the trailer makes me worry he might be under-used... which is to say I be more excited to watch "An Andrew Scott Movie" starring Andrew Scott than I am watching a movie starring either McAvoy or Radcliffe. (That's not to say I don't like either McAvoy or Radcliffe, it's just that Andrew Scott is better.)
Victor Frankenstein rises from the grave at Thanksgiving.
