Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

begob A gardener sits for his portrait by a retired film director, who reveals more than expected about his ailing life.Well balanced biopic of an interesting character. The story is elevated a few degrees by the lead performance, but weighed down a touch by the character of the gardener. Wikipedia hints at a more interesting end-of-life relationship with a foreign lover, but I guess that would have complicated the dynamic and so we end up with Fraser struggling in an awkward role. And a monstrous hair-cut.The pace is surprisingly good for a dialogue driven story, with the first hour flying by, and the climax is well nailed. The theme is of companionship among outcasts, which is nicely illustrated with the war scene and the movie clip with the blind man. I could have done with more integration of the horror sensibility (replace the recumbent soldiers with rotting cadavers), and I'm not sure the monster metaphor worked.If there were in-jokes and tricks involving Whale's innovative camera work or Universal Studios' horror music, I didn't notice them.Overall: worth it for McKellen's close ups.

Johan Dondokambey The story is just a common in biographies, yet it's a boring one. It feels right in explaining the focus character's mood in the film. Yet the drama feels very boring because the scenes consists mainly of dialog of two roles, most of them in sitting position. Though there's a lot of effort in showing emotion play, there's only little else done on it besides the dialog and the facial expressions. All the little flashbacks feel a little non-congruent due to their short duration. Ian McKellen is surely at home with this character. Yet he did quite a nice job in portraying the gloom and despair of James Whale. Frasier as a young talent is a good balance in this movie considering McKellen's age. McKellen's age was not really covered well on the flashbacks, considering the lower advances in technology at the time of this movie.

TheLittleSongbird There were three reasons why I wanted to see Gods and Monsters. One is because it was about James Whale, the director who gave us those innovative classics Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The second is that I love Ian McKellen, and when I saw he was going to play James Whale I thought expect a great performance from a great actor. The final reason is the late Lynn Redgrave.After seeing the film, I was really impressed. The period detail is sublime, costumes, sets and scenery are gorgeous and the cinematography is excellent. Another delight was the footage of Bride of Frankenstein for example, that were great to watch. The story is very simple but it is very effective and touching, the score is haunting and beautiful and the screenplay is very well written and insightful.The film is also very elegant and poignant set during Whale's twilight years where Whale was ostracised for being a box office failure and homosexual. While there is the occasional drug-addled sexual hallucination and the story is very simple, Gods and Monsters does explore the horror genre with effortless assurance and wit, while making interesting and powerful pointers of friendship for example.And of course the acting is excellent. Ian McKellen as I have said already was one of the reasons why I wanted to see this film, and he gives another brilliant performance in the title role. Brendan Fraser also gives one of his better performances as the heterosexual gardener, while Lynn Redgrave gives a marvellous turn as Whale's housekeeper.Overall, touching and wonderfully acted. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Martin Onassis Gods and Monsters is an independent movie in the best sense of the word, in that it really engenders thought and emotion, and on many tracks simultaneously.The movie is a parable on the end of life, and the desperate need for love when all one has is memories. By extension, its about the importance of friendship as a support when romantic love is not available. In addition, the film is one of the frankest looks at homosexuality I've ever seen, dealing with the dynamics of a young straight man dealing with a gay man whom he wants to befriend, and an old gay man who has nostalgia both for a life of hedonism and a young true love lost, in the most terrible of circumstances.The movie also covers the notion of war, gallows humor, and the way they instructed Whale and his Frankenstein movies. All in all, its amazing the multiple intents of this film, but they're all woven together into a tight script derived from a fictionalized account of Whale's last days (the author gives his full blessing in the DVD special features).I'm surprised I missed this film in 1998, especially with the incredible cast. I expected a low-budget docudrama, possibly campy, moderately engaging, but its far more than that. The topic of homosexuality is dealt with extremely frankly, but lovingly and honestly, while not playing it safe either. It's a tribute to the director that the plot line of Whale's sex life opens briskly, but then illustrates the greater point that this is a man with a spirited past who is breaking down. Gay or not gay, his sexuality was part of him being alive, and its role as both recreational fun, and deep love, are both acknowledged.McKellan proves why he gets the raves, not just covering the gamut of wit, sadness, irritation and anger, but nailing the idiosyncrasies of a man hallucinating with nostalgia, and steadily losing his mental faculties.Redgrave creates a character close to a cartoon, but she does not waver from that character's reality, and is somehow instantly inviting.Fraser is convincing as both the attractive draw to McKellen, but also the lost young man, and the empathetic innocent who just wants to find something tangible in life.In the midst of all this, they give tribute to the amazing story of Frankenstein, and the film flashbacks are where the film loses some balance. The turn of McKellen/Whale being haunted by his own creation, his life, is very thought-provoking. The story McKellen gives about his young male lover dying in the trenches and it becoming a dark joke for everyone is particularly heart-breaking. In a sense, the dark humor that was supposed to help with the monster of war became the monster in and of itself. As convoluted as this may seem, it actually really provoked me to think deeper about the entire Frankenstein parable, which is, of course, a masterpiece of story and character.Finally, the film makes a very compelling point about the critical importance of friendship and human contact. You get a lot in 106 mins, and the climax is purely emotional. Fantastic.