PRAISE: Director and writer Maggie Gyllenhaal's take on The Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Creation/monster goes down some interesting paths with dark humor and salty dialogue woven in. I thought the actors in the film who go all in did a very good job including Jessie Buckley as The Bride / Ida / Mary Shelley, resembling a Rick Geary drawing especially around the eyes , Christian Bale as Frank who looks a bit like Hanna-Barberas Frankenstein Jr, Jake Gyllenhaal as Ronnie Reed, Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronious, Penelope Cruz as Myrna and Peter Sarsgaard as Jake Wiles. The movie is very stylish and then some and I enjoyed the on the nose nods to other Frankenstein movies. The Brides I'm a feminist and I'm not going to take it anymore stance was believable when more was revealed about her background. I enjoyed the banter between the various characters. Gyllenhaal adds some nice touches to the Frankenstein monster/creation that i never really thought of over years of watching movies about the character.
PROBLEMS: Some parts of the movie felt incoherent. How did the world view the two main characters? At times accepted or just plain old feared? Because the movie plays with both but its unclear if some of their interactions are just dreams or real. The movie attempts to be so many things Bonnie and Clyde, Joker and Sweeney Todd but it wasn't enough to really involve me all the way to the end.
Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
