Pinoy martial-art form in I, Frankenstein

MANILA, Philippines - Playing the title character in I, Frankenstein is Aaron Eckhart. The movie also features Kali, a Filipino martial-art form, in action-packed scenes. Kali dates back to the early Filipinos who developed the art to defend their tribes. It is said that when the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s, it was kept secret by the natives who refined the art through the years.

Eckhart was rained in Kali for six months by Fil-Am coach Diana Lee Inosanto who herself was trained by her father, Dan Inosanto, who was Bruce Lee’s student and a renowned authority in Filipino martial arts.

Back in the day, Frankenstein met everybody from Dracula to the Wolfman to Abbott and Costello. In I, Frankenstein, the craftwork creature gets caught up in an immortal war between ferocious demons and vigilant gargoyles as both sides race to discover the secret to his immortality. But he might also get the girl, so at least he’s got that going for him.

As played by Eckhart, who previously played monsters of the more human sort in films like In the Company of Men, Frank is closer to the author’s original vision of a well-spoken, emotionally-vulnerable being that is experiencing a major existential crisis. Eckhart has been experimenting with a range of genres since receiving widespread attention for his role as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight and mixing straightforward action movies like Olympus Has Fallen and even some romantic drama in Love Happens. However, I, Frankenstein marks his return to the comic-book movie genre as well as his first turn playing the lead in such a film. I, Frankenstein isn’t directly based on Mary Shelley’s novel, but rather on the comic books by Kevin Grevioux (which are loosely based on Shelley’s novel).

In an interview with IGN, Eckhart divulged a few details about the film, in particular about his own character.

“It’s a movie about good and evil, about gargoyles and demons, and it’s about a monster trying to find his soul; his place in this world. And he happens to be an expert at the Filipino art of Kali stick-fighting at the same time. Kali is done with two-and-a-half foot ratan sticks, or any stick you pick up off the street, and it’s being able to dispatch soulless people with these sticks.”

Besides Eckhart, the cast bringing this Frankenstein-inspired tale to life also includes such fan-favorites as Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Jai Courtney (Spartacus), and Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Between the likable cast and intriguing approach to the Frankenstein mythos, this project seems to have a great amount of potential. Of course, the quality of the actual movie will depend largely on the execution by co-writer/director Stuart Beattie, a filmmaker with an overall pretty solid screenwriting resumé (the first Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral, 30 Days of Night).

— Press release from Pioneer Films