Like every junior in AP English Literature and Composition knows, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley takes place in the past—the 17th century, to be exact. The movie “I, Frankenstein,” which comes out Jan. 24, takes a twist on the old story. Frankenstein’s monster, named Adam, has outlived his creator by centuries and now lives in a futuristic dystopian world, where he finds himself caught in a war that will decide the fate of humanity.

The movie is based on a graphic novel by the same name. It’s pretty obvious that the screenwriter, Kevin Grevioux (“Underworld”), who also wrote the comic book, has never read Shelley’s novel. After all, he refers to the monster as “Frankenstein” even though Victor Frankenstein was the name of the creator, not the creature. He’s taken several creative liberties, too: The war includes supernatural elements like demons and gargoyles that definitely weren’t there in the original. While it’s an interesting spin, the movie seems to have deviated so far from the book that it needs to be considered a new movie in its own right rather than an adaptation.

This movie’s saving grace might be its solid cast, with Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight”) as the lead role and Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney and Aden Young as supporting actors. Eckhart, a talented actor, was excellent as Harvey Dent in “The Dark Knight,” and Miranda Otto won critical acclaim for her roles in “The Lord of the Rings” movies. The way the cast interacts should be fascinating to watch.

Overall, “I, Frankenstein” looks like another slightly cheesy book-to-movie adaptation with a lot of inaccuracies (Does anyone else remember how awful “Eragon” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” were?), and it reminds me of a not-so-wonderful version of “Pacific Rim” with gargoyles (honestly, why gargoyles?) instead of robots. It’s probably nothing special, but it could turn out to be an uplifting story about a monster who tries to redeem his humanity by saving the world—as long as viewers turn off their brains and enjoy the special effects.