Kenneth Branagh made quite an artistic hit with his first film HENRY V. Next, he had great critical and financial success with his popcorn flick,** DEAD AGAIN**! The success of both of those films meant he could take on any project he wanted. He chose MARY SHELLY'S FRANKENSTEIN. He would return to direct and star as Victor Frankenstein. He would bring along many of his friends including Patrick Doyle to add another aggressive and bombastic score. Because of his newfound clout, he was able to bring in Oscar winning screenwriter Frank Darabont (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, CRASH). Maybe his greatest display of the young directors status was bringing in Robert DeNiro to portray the creature! The resulting film with all of this incredible talent is...
silly.
I didn't have any good memories of the film in theaters in 1994. Especially awkward was DeNiro's creature spinning toward the camera and yelling "Frankenstein!!!" which brought nothing but laughter from the crowd. I hoped my re-watch in 2022 would bring me a new perspective. While there were there things I noticed that I now appreciated, the flick is still silly.
It must be said that Branagh's vision for the film is strong and clear. Darabont's script is very clever and multi-faceted. The music is excellent wall to wall support and some of the performances are noteworthy. Unfortunately, much of the subtlety in Darabont's script is lost in the big, loud film. Branagh's decision to showcase the birth of the creature as quasi-erotic is interesting, shirtless and sweating under firelight. His decision to have the brilliant doctor, when exposing his feelings of guilt, loses his ability to speech clearly and seems to mimic the creatures meter. We get it... who is actually the monster? Again, clear but over-the-top. Mostly missing are moments of circumspection and quiet.
With its big budget and generally beautiful lighting and cinematography, it would seem this would be the type of bad movie that is fun to watch. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on that level either, as the film bounces between high art pretentiousness and lowest of gross out humor.
I believe Branagh succeeded in getting his vision onto the screen and he has no reason to look down on his achievement. But as a big fan of his, I won't be with him with this monster.