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Review: Frankenstein

Jeffrey Bracey

As a long time fan of Guillermo del Toro I have eagerly awaited the coming of this film. After a watch and giving myself a day to digest it I am ready to share my thoughts. This film is both written and directed by del Toro and he was given carte blanche and a significant budget by Netflix to realize his vision. So everything about this film, whether good or bad, rests solely on his shoulders.  

In typical del Toro style this film is a visual delight. The costuming, the set pieces, locations and cinematography are all feasts for the eye. It recalls the attention Copalla put into his Dracula. The acting as well is superb and del Toro has an excellent and able cast of performers at his disposal. Any failing here are the blame of the script and not the actors (more on that later). Oscar Isaac can seemingly do no wrong as the obsessed scientist while Mia Goth brings heart and strength to her role. Christopher Walt’s is always solid but the stand out for me is Jacob Elordi as the Creature. 

This is my first time seeing this young man and his efforts are superb in a complex and difficult performance with incredible body language used here as well as a nuanced verbal rendition. Its akin to the work of Doug Jones, a frequent del Toro collaborator.

The FX and VFX where for the most part extremely well done. I must say I really liked this take on the Monster. Its the closest thing I’ve seen to what I picture when reading the books to grace the silver screen. Looking at his form makes sense, it looks like complex surgery was done rather than a hatchet job of body horror wounds and stitches. The power of the creature is also demonstrated perfectly…until it goes off the rails at the end. More on that later. The cgi is mostly very good but there are a few moments where I was taken out of the film by a falling sequence and poorly rendered wolves. 

The story itself is gripping and emotional and keeps the veiwer hooked in from beginning to end. The two and a half hour run time just melts away unnoticed because of how drawn in you are. Though I had hoped for a faithful adaptation of Shelly’s famous novel that is not what I got. I’m not oppossed to adaptations but I really had my hopes up for this project and this is where things start to fall apart. 

Like other films this story hangs on the bones of Frankenstein but with significant changes. I actually enjoyed the thems of cyclical abuse passed from generation to generation and the possibility of redemption. I was fine with Elizabeth being a woman outside of the norm, a move I think was inspired by Mary Shelly herself, as someone who did not fit into proper society in her time. Obesse scion is always a thing with any good Frankenstein and Victor is something of a villain here but I think it misfires calling him a monster. That belongs to Peter Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein in his Hammer portrayal of a true mad scientist. Del Toro’s major failing is his love of fairytale. He has Elizabeth not merely fascinated with the creature but professing love to it. Its all Princess and the Toad for him and its a recurring them of men as monsters and monsters as victime. 

He’s tread this ground so much in fact with The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Troll Hunter just to name a few that its starting to feel like a fetish. Elizabeth is complicated by everyone being in love with her and her loving everyone until she settles on the Creature. And honestly if feels forced in the end. With the Shape of Water at least he had the room to properly develop this idea but not here. It didn’t fit. Also this takes away from a key point of the story, the Creature in the books does become monstrous in nature because of the failing of men and while this one professes similar vengeance he is only ever reactionary when he displays violence.

And the last low point, it gets ridiculous. The Monster was always depicted as being far more than mortal men but as the film goes on this Creature goes from somewhat plausible to MCU levels of superhuman feats. This really broke the suspension of disbelief. There was just no way to explain it, not even in MY nerdy head. 

3.75 out of 5

Directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, and stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Creature. Other main cast members include Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer, and Charles Dance.

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Jeffrey Bracey
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