Aaron Eckhart plays Adam, the creation of Dr. Frankenstein, who finds himself caught in a war between gargoyles and demons (Lionsgate Films).

Here we have our first action/horror crossover movie of 2014, and unfortunately, it’s quite a letdown.

“I, Frankenstein”, directed by Stuart Beattie (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), stars Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight”) as the fabled creation of Dr. Frankenstein. After killing his creator in revenge, he is taken into safety by the gargoyles and their Queen Leonore (Miranda Otto). He is given the name Adam, for he is “the first of his kind” (totally not a biblical reference). 200 years later, Adam discovers that the demon king Naberius (Bill Nighy) desires to seize Adam and the methods of his creation in order to build an army of corpses, seeking to win his war against the gargoyles.

Certainly an interesting setup, but what about the execution? For movie buffs, think of dark action movies like the “Blade” series and “Underworld”, but with a little more flair in visual effects. For video gamers (this one’s easy), imagine if “Devil May Cry” were very, very loosely adapted to film.

Now take both of those ideas and drag them through the dirt. There’s your throwaway action flick for the weekend.

While the acting experience of both Eckhart and Nighy form the movie’s stable core, way too much bad outweighs the little good. While the action sequences are entertaining and stylish (and let’s face it, they’re the sole reason anybody would see to this movie), there’s hardly enough drama injected into them to make them edge-of-your-seat thrillers. And for being the film’s titular character, Adam doesn’t do much fighting; he typically goes for one-on-one matchups instead of slaughtering hordes upon hordes of demons, as the trailers seemed to promise. It’s quite a letdown.

You normally should be able to rely on story to rescue the film when action begins to falter. Instead, “I, Frankenstein” spoon-feeds us every single plot point through lame and poorly-written dialogue, failing to let the scenes and actions speak for themselves. To no one’s surprise, then, the film quickly loses steam right out of the gate. You’ll have the conclusion figured out well before you’re halfway through the movie; there’s no fun in “suspense” when you see it coming miles away.

I know that “I, Frankenstein” is an action movie, so the bars are lower. Yet the film fails to pass even those, which is hard when you have Eckhart and Nighy at the helm. As with many films, the trailers promise more than the movie achieves, and nobody likes wasting money on a letdown. It may be action movie, but it’s not even a good one at that.

And while it’s one thing for the movie to spoon-feed you, it’s another to be told “here comes the airplane!” at the same time. “I, Frankenstein” is the airplane.

Watch the trailer below:

Reach Staff Reporter Rex Lindeman here.