There’s a separate thread for this movie already, but since my name was invoked, I figured I’d go ahead and put together my own review. There are literally hundreds of depictions Shelley’s story in film and TV, so I guess we can indulge two separate threads in this forum.
I probably don’t really need to tell you the story. Victor Frankenstein is the prototypical mad scientist, playing with forces he can’t truly harness or comprehend. Cast out by polite scientific society, he vows to do what only God has heretofore been capable of, gain dominion over death itself. With the help of a wealthy benefactor, Victor succeeds in accomplishing his blasphemous aims. He reanimates a composite corpse, stitched together from the parts and pieces found on the battlefields of Europe. But Victor is soon confronted with the truth of his achievement, and he and his monster embark on a journey of violence, obsession, and in the end, perhaps forgiveness.
This movie was a labor of love for director Guillermo del Toro, who has shown a long and obvious affinity for outcast creature characters in his previous catalogue. As usual, del Toro brings his own aesthetic to the gothic classic and the film looks very good, although he does reign the visual design in somewhat from his more fantastical works such as Pan’s Labyrinth or Hellboy. Del Toro sticks more closely to the classic story beats than some other versions of this tale have done. However, he did focus on some aspects of the plot that were maybe unnecessary, and made some changes that don’t seem to add much. Given that the movie comes in at about two and a half hours, I’m not sure we needed quite so much of Victor’s childhood. Nor was there any particular reason to complicate Victor’s relationship with Elizabeth, who was simply his fiancee/wife in the book. There are some other changes I won’t mention to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say, many of the changes del Toro made seem pretty clearly designed to create as wide a gulf as possible between Victor and his monster. Del Toro depicts Victor as completely a villain as possible, while casting the monster as a pure victim. It works fine, but it’s a bit black and white compared to Shelley’s original.
As I mentioned, the visuals are very good, as one would expect from del Toro. The pacing is ok, although such a familiar plot did drag just a bit. The acting is generally good, although for my money, Oscar Isaac is just a bit over the top. And man, I’m tired of the jaunty hat or special leather gloves used as principal indications of the anti-establishment character. The cast is excellent, with parts for Isaac, Charles Dance, Christoph Walz, Mia Goth, and Lars Mikkelsen among others. Jacob Elordi is the standout in the role of the monster. The writing is fine, but a bit stilted at points, and very on-the-nose. One character, with his dying breath, actually tells Victor, “You are the monster.” Of course that’s the message del Toro was going for, and it’s one that has been discussed in every high school and college class discussion about the original novel, but you don’t necessarily have to spoon feed it to the audience.
Overall, Frankenstein is a worthy addition to the extensive list of film depictions of this famous sciences fiction horror tale. I don’t know that it will take a place as the “definitive” version, and I’m not sure del Toro has added much of anything new to the mythology, but it’s a good movie that looks great and puts this director’s particular stamp on the familiar story.
Frankenstein is rated R for gore and violence, although there’s also some brief nudity. There’s a lot of stylized grisly gore, and I would definitely not lump this in with the other versions that might be ok for little kids.
