Gods and Monsters Reviews

Summary Hollywood history comes to life in this tale of the last days of Frankenstein director James Whale (McKellen). Long forgotten by the studios, Whale has retired to pursue painting and a life of leisure. Gods and Monsters explores his final fascination with a handsome gardener, Clayton Boone (Fraser). (Lions Gate Films)

• Biography

• Drama

Achieves its exquisite tension--deepening beautifully from a "Death in Venice" setup to an imaginative meditation, on art and life, of uncommon sensitivity.

A profoundly moving human drama, a quasi love story about two lost men who form an unlikely friendship.

This is an interesting film about the life of someone I wasn't familiar with beforehand. Ian McKellen undoubtedly gives a stellar performance as Mr. Whale, a retired director who is/was known for being openly gay, although younger men seem unaware of this. Also undoubtedly this film may make for slightly uncomfortable viewing at times, when it's made plainly clear that James (Mr. Whale) is making subtle moves at people - primarily the new gardener, Clayton Boone, played by Brendan Fraser. Its a fairly understated film and its relatively thought provoking, in as much as it may make you wonder about the true meaning behind Mr. Whales fiction work - the symbology/metaphors present and the like. It's a bit sad but mostly a film to ponder over, I suppose, which is something Mr. Whale himself may have said. I suppose, at its essence, its a film about identity. It has somewhat of a poignancy to it. I don't know how accurate, or not, this film is but its certainly worth seeing for Ian McKellen's performance alone, I reckon, although Brendan Fraser does also play his character quite well too.

Occasionally touching drama centered around an old golden age Hollywood director coming to terms with dementia. The friendship between him and his gardener grows as his health diminishes. Some impressive casting, screenplay and production quality.

There are so many colors to McKellen's performance, so many diverse emotions fleetingly play on his face, that resisting his art is out of the question. Better work by an actor will not be seen this year.

Doesn’t always convince, particularly in the last lap. But it’s an engrossing, unusual, imaginatively executed bit of psychological gamesmanship nonetheless.

Gods and Monsters is not a deep or powerful film, but it is a good-hearted one.

Beyond the fantastic contrivances of Gods and Monsters, these performances are startlingly human.

Psychologically thin, artistically flabby, and symbolically opaque.

Cine gay. asu favor aprendes algo del director, y de la producción de frankenstein, pero muy floja las actuaciones de todos los q no son ian.

A few delightful scenes sprinkled in a very monotonous, highly uneventful movie that tries to scratch toward something deep, but never really reaches anywhere.

Academy Awards, USA

• 1 Win & 3 Nominations

Golden Globes, USA

• 1 Win & 3 Nominations

Online Film & Television Association

• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations