Double Movie Review: Secret in Their Eyes (2015) and Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Hello all,

So to my surprise (rather embarrassingly) two new movies actually came out today, thank you american thanksgiving, so in addition to seeing Secret in Their Eyes I managed to also get in a viewing of Victor Frankenstein, and now we’re here with a double review. So how did a remake and a reimagining hold up? Let’s find out together shall we?

Secret in Their Eyes Review

Plot Summary - Ray Kasten (Chiwetel Ejiofor) returns to LA from New York, with a new lead on the case involving his former partner Jess Cobb (Julia Roberts) and the murder of her daughter 13 years earlier. With the help of the district attorney Claire Sloan (Nicole Kidman), Ray attempts to right a wrong, and bring a killer to justice.

Pros - The cast is pretty solid here, seeing Julia Roberts especially in rare form as the grief stricken mother still trying to focus on her career despite her loss, she also quite a few scenes where she comes off as rather menacing. The suggested romance between Ray and Claire is also pretty good, showing a rather realistic evolution in their relationship and how they see each other. The setting and tone is also intriguing, rewriting the story to work in a 2002 LA, at the height of post 9/11 paranoia which also plays to key moment in a story which I thought was a slight improvement over that same point in the original.

Cons - Despite the one good moment though, the rewrite for the most part robs what made the original so great. Instead of watching the characters gradually get more involved with the case as the story progresses, since it’s personal from the beginning, the stakes never really rise much higher than that. Also there’s a couple of big disconnects between the beginning and the ending of the film once the ending is revealed, it kind of unravels key parts of the story.

Final Score - 3/10

It was originally gonna be a 4, but the mostly poor rewrite is what massively brings down the film. If you can, watch the original instead.

Victor Frankenstein Review

Plot Summary - Told from Igor’s (Daniel Radcliffe) perspective, the story is of him meeting Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy) and their friendship and their ultimate plan to bring a man from the dead back to life.

Pros - Daniel Radcliffe is great as Igor, bringing a real humanity and depth to the character we usually don’t see in most adaptations. James McAvoy as Victor is fantastic though, bringing a tremendous energy and even quite a bit of Humour to the role. The supporting cast is interesting and varied, and they capture the time period well, and even the creature designs are rather good as well.

Cons - This might sound odd, but despite everything I said, the telling of the story itself is rather….basic. What I mean is is that it really doesn't do that much to stray from other adaptations of the story. There’s also four passing of time montages which was rather off setting, and I also noticed two slight editing and continuity issues.

Final Score - 8/10

Honestly, there are better adaptations out there, but truth be told, this one was actually surprisingly good, and if your looking a silly fantasy horror film then this one wouldn’t hurt.

So the other film that came out was The Good Dinosaur, don’t know when I’ll see it, but I know I will.

So until then, I’ll see you folks at the movies.