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Penny Dreadful - Resurrection
episode 1.3
Ireland / UK / USA 2014
produced by James Flynn, Morgan O'Sullivan, Pippa Harris (executive), John Logan (executive), Sam Mendes (executive), Chris W. King (supervising) for Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions/Showtime
directed by Dearbhla Walsh
starring Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Harry Treadaway, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper, Josh Hartnett, Danny Sapani, Alun Armstrong, Olly Alexander, Olivia Llewellyn, Hannah Tointon, Mary Stockley, Gus Barry, Anthony Brophy, Lucas Farren, Nathan O'Toole, Gavin Fowler, Martin Phillips
written and created by John Logan, Frankenstein created by Mary W. Shelley, music by Abel Korzeniowski, special effects by Team FX, visual effects by Take 5 Productions, Mr. X
TV-series Penny Dreadful (TV-series), Frankenstein
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Frankenstein's (Harry Treadaway) original creature (Rory Kinnear) tells
Frankenstein how he, "a monster", has survived after
Frankenstein abandoned him, how an aging actor (Alun Armstrong) took him
under his wing and got him a job at a theatre, and how he gradually
learned not only the language but the ways of humankind. And how he has
trailed his master, and now he wants Frankenstein to create him a (female)
mate ... In the meantime, sharpshooter Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett)
has found out that his girlfriend, prostitute Brona (Billie Piper) suffers
from consumption, and as he needs money to pay for her medical bills, he
reconnects with Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) - and wouldn't you
know it, Murray has indeed an assignment, as his companion, medium Vanessa
Ives (Eva Green) seems to have tracked down his daughter Mina (Olivia
Llewellyn) to the London zoo, and the two, accompanied by their manservant
Sembene (Danny Sapani), could use some extra-protection when going there
this night - and having Chandler on board really pays off when they face a
pack of wolves, but Chandler can somehow connect with them and make them
leave without a single shot, as if he had a telepathic link to them. On
the grounds of the zoo, our foursome finds a feral boy, Fenton (Olly
Alexander), feasting on a raw rabbit, and they capture him and take him to
Murray's abode, as he seems to be afflicted with the same condition as
Mina. And they ask over Frankenstein to help them. Now this is
where Penny Dreadful finally picks up steam, driving its
narrative threads forward, telling not one but two compelling stories with
actual arcs to them. And while, sure, the whole thing is filed to the brim
with clichés, they don't come across as too heavy-handed and are in a way
charming, actually - after all, this is an homage to Victorian age pulp
literature, so clichés are almost mandatory by definition. What's a bit
incomprehensible though is that the two plots are in no way or form linked
in the slightest, even if Frankenstein features in both ...
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