1) The Main Character is Not Well Defined
Frankenstein's monster, named Adam for the movie because characterization, is a mythological creature and thus, his abilities aren't defined by common sense. When dealing with action movies based around real people, this is just a given. We don't need to be told that if John McClane gets shot in the heart, he's gonna die, because we know our own limitations. We know that if Judge Dredd falls several hundred stories, he's gonna be having a bad day, because we would be too.
When you start leaving reality for characters like monsters, super heroes or any kind of fictional being, these limitations have to be defined for us since we don't know what they are inherently capable of. This is one of the major problems with the Superman character since he basically has no limitations other than the most overused plot device in all of history but list the ways you know to kill a vampire. Vampires are inherently scary and powerful but they don't seem invincible since there are established ways to kill them. Even the Twilight series manages this effectively.
Yet even what Twilight knows to do, I, Frankenstein fails at miserably. In the very beginning of the movie, we hear that Adam is immune to the cold. We also know that he doesn't age but anything beyond this is up in the air. If he gets shot, does he die? If not, why do none of his enemies try to shoot him at any point in the movie? He's apparently able to die if he falls four stories but he never seems the least bit nervous when the gargoyles are carrying him up above the entire city, even when said gargoyles are known to be trying to kill him. Why is he brave now but looks like a scared puppy when he's hanging on to the edge of the four story building? Hell, a regular Joe could survive a fall from four stories, landing on their feet. They'd be having a bad day, sure, but they could survive it especially if they have super strength like he is said to have.
This problem isn't just with Adam. It stretches to the ang- I mean- gargoyles too. It's established early on that any weapon with a special symbol on it can be used to kill demons and nothing else will work. Adam even asks the question, how do you kill a Gargoyle and nobody answers him. Understandable, they don't want to give away the trick to killing their own kind to someone who they don't trust. But later, we see one of these angel- dammit- gargoyles killed by his own weapon. Apparently the holy symbol will kill them too? Why? Aren't they sent from God? Why would holy things kill them too? Or maybe they just get killed any way that normal people get killed. An axe through the gut will do that. So, then why are the angels- fuck it, they're angels- so much weaker than the demons and why are the demons having such a hard time killing them? And why don't they use guns?
2) There's No Sense of Scale
There's this war going on, right? Right under the noses of humans, angels and demons are fighting a war on a global scale. All over the world, they are fighting for the lives of humans (I guess, they never really say for sure) and this eternal battle has been waged forever. Or at least, that's what they tell us. But based on what we see, you'd be stupid to believe them.
For one, despite them telling us the war is fought the whole world over, both sides appear to have their headquarters in the same city. Not only that but judging from the fight scene at the end, they're only a few minutes away from each other. I'd love to speak to the tactician who decided placing the demon's research facility so damn close to the enemy's main base.
It's not even as though this could have been an accident since the demon's mount an attack on the angel's main base minutes into the movie. They don't say anything about having just learned this information so they must have known about it all along. And why don't the angels just move out when they know their base has been compromised? It's not exactly a good idea to stay right next to your enemies, especially when you're on the defensive.
The state of their forces don't really make any sense either. The angels keep saying how they aren't getting any new forces and the demons never seem to run out of numbers. Whenever we see battles though, the demons get shredded. The attack on the angel's church results in 16 dead angels, according to Jai Courtney, but we see probably hundreds of demons get killed. It's stated, too, that when they die, each side can't bring those forces back. So... what's going on here?
"Don't save me, Adam. I want to be with [insert name of lover here]. The order forbids it though."
Hmm... Queen? I think I figured out your problem.
3) Everyone is so STUPID
Who knows why these folks are all so dumb but they seem to forget everything they ever learn and are unable to deduce anything for themselves unless the answer is expressly told to them. The demon's goal is established relatively early in the movie and this is what most of the stupidity revolves around.
Basically, they can't keep getting more troops, right? (even though the demon's seem to have no problem throwing away all their people over and over again.) The demon lord's solution for this is to reanimate dead corpses that the demon's can possess. If the demon's possess corpses, it doesn't help much but if they are alive: self-regenerating army. That could be useful. (except numbers never seem to be your problem...)
In order to do this, the demon prince has gotten two human scientists to figure out how to reanimate dead corpses with electricity. Meanwhile, he has another guy down below them drawing Satan stars on dead bodies, because plot.
So, the angels capture Adam at the beginning of the movie because the demons are after him for this purpose and take him back along with a journal found on Dr. Frankenstein's body. Brief aside here, how the hell did Adam not know this journal was here when he carried the guy's body back from the arctic circle? What, he never felt that giant book and it never fell out? After two seconds of reading, they recognize this guy is Frankenstein's monster and take him back because he's important and he could be used to make a regenerating army.
This all makes sense, right? Except later, when Adam explains to the angels what the demons are planning, they are surprised by this. Why are they surprised? Shouldn't they have known this all along? If they didn't know, then why the hell did they capture Adam in the first place? By not understanding the relevance of reanimating dead corpses, you just threw your implied motives for the ENTIRE MOVIE out the window. Hell, they've held onto this journal for 200 years because, why? You didn't think it was important?
Meanwhile, the demon's scientists are working on electrocuting dead rats because science when they are given Dr. Frankenstein's journal. It's worth noting that apparently, the demons are really powerful but could only afford two scientists for this war altering plan that's been in the making for centuries. Alright moving on, they see that Dr. Frankenstein used electric eels as part of his plan. Oh, electric eels, of course! I never would have thought to use the one living creature that generates it's own electricity to create a living creature with electricity! They spend several minutes explaining to us- I mean- each other that it takes six electric eels generating 500 volts each to create a living human being. I, being the careful, thoughtful viewer that I am, noted this information as I was certain it would be useful in the future, right? Well, when it came time for scientist A to bring a human back to life using her newfound information, she stuck the body back into the machine they'd been using before and typed into the computer: 15000.
15000? What? Why is that there? What does that mean? Apparently, they spent several minutes creating this whole fictional way to bring people back to life for their story and then ignored it completely for the movie's climax. This then allows the demons to reanimate their thousands of dead corpses they'd been hiding underneath the building in a big floating body farm (how do those bodies get there?) because she entered this number into her computer. So, her computer is the one in charge of the body farm down there? But she didn't know about it? How does she not know what she herself has been doing for who knows how long? I mean, this computer has apparently been setup to automatically activate the system when you type in 15000 (since nobody does anything between when she enters this number and when the bodies start being reanimated) so I guess the computer was programmed with that number already in it. Then the inevitable action movie progress bar starts up with a percentage of how long it will take for bodies to be reanimated (because they didn't know how to bring dead people back to life but they definitely knew how long it would take to bring them back when they found out) which goes nowhere because it just reaches 100% before anything else happens.
Adam isn't immune from the stupidity plague either. When he finds his missing journal that he's been searching for but didn't know anything about... it's in the hands of hot scientist lady. He takes the journal from her before being chased from the building by demons. He slaughtered a whole bunch in that last battle but now he's scared because there are six or seven in front of him and that's worse than the several hundred he faced before. He then follows the hot scientist lady into a back alley where he asks her to come with him to help him with the book because he's too dumb... wait... Back up about half an hour.
We have a scene with him leaving the angel's base because he says "You only make the mistake of trusting people once." Apparently not because now you are trusting some random woman you haven't said a word to who we know is working for the demons because... why? She's hot? I guess that's the reason because they share a moment when he first busts into the room and that's the only interaction they've had. She follows him because, okay, she's a scientist and she's curious. It's a dumb move but I guess it makes sense. He then starts telling her about how angels and demons have been fighting forever and that her boss is a demon. She says he's crazy but continues to follow him anyway. Apparently being the leading scientist in the field of electrophysiology doesn't make you all that smart after all. Must not be a very competitive field.
4) The Ending
In movies like this, deus ex machinas are basically to be expected. When everything is at its worst, something will fly out of nowhere to save the day. For this movie that may have been literal. Instead, we are treated with what is likely the worst deux ex machina ever invented by man.
Adam has been defeated by the demon lord and he is chanting his demon summoning chant to put demon souls in all the newly animated corpses, with Adam as his chief. And it works. Demon souls come up, possess everyone and we even see one of the new corpses turn into a demon. A demon soul comes up and possesses Adam, too. He then kneels before his new lord before making a dramatic statement and killing him. So... wait, he's not possessed? Why? We saw him get possessed why did he beat it? Who knows. Who cares? This terrible movie is over, can't we just rejoice in that? No, wait... it's not over. We have to have a scene letting us know that Adam cares about scientist chick who now loves him. That makes sense. Who wouldn't love a guy made up of eight dead corpses who now may or may not be demon possessed? Then, we get to see Adam standing on a building before dramatically telling the camera, I, Frankenstein. Because, you know, that's the movie's title. Get it? Did you get it? I think you got it.
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