Released: 7th November
Seen: 28th November
The story of Frankenstein has been told so many times that, at this point, it’s actually a surprise when a full year goes by without someone attempting to tell their version of the legendary Mary Shelley tale, arguably the first science fiction story. Obviously, cinema’s love of this story began with the 1931 Universal classic by James Whale, but ever since then, it’s a well that people keep plunging their buckets into, hoping to extract something special. Of course, a lot of the time the well feels like it’s run dry because everyone has done every possible thing you could imagine with this character, there shouldn’t be anything new or interesting that could be done with him… but then along comes the legendary Guillermo Del Toro to use his special magic on the story and make it feel fresh once more.
I don’t even feel the need to spend a paragraph explaining the plot of Frankenstein because by this point, you know it through cultural osmosis. All you really need to know here is that Victor Frankenstein is played by Oscar Isaac, The Creature is played by Jacob Elordi and Elizabeth is played by Mia Goth. Beyond that, it’s pretty much the story you know well enough already where Victor decides he wants to create life, ends up creating a creature he cannot control, tries to kill him but the creature learns kindness from a blind man, lots of stuff about hubris and the nature of being human with the big question of “Who is a monster and who is a man” underscoring the whole thing. Sure, there are little details that change to fit in with Del Toro’s personal style, but the main elements of the story that have survived over 200 years are not dramatically different here.
What makes this version dramatically different is all down to the fact that it’s a Del Toro picture, which means that the main focus is never on the human characters; every ounce of what Del Toro loves about this kind of thing is the creature and how the creature is actually kind of sexy and cool and lovely despite what we see. Now, obviously, a lot of versions do this to some degree. Still, Del Toro does this to the absolute extreme (no shock, a man who made the sweetest movie about how the Creature of the Black Lagoon is also fucking hot wants to do something similar to Frankenstein’s Monster). It really makes everything feel much more vibrant, especially in the second half of the film when everything is so explicitly being told from the creature’s POV that there’s a literal title card saying “The Creature’s Tale” and he gets to monologue in voice over. It’s almost like Victor is really just in this film because Del Toro couldn’t figure out a way for the creature to make himself, because it’s clear where the interest is and it really elevates the film.
Not that Frankenstein needed much help to be great because it’s undeniably stunning from start to finish. That trademark Del Toro look has yet to fail and here it’s just as gorgeous as ever, the insistence on real practical sets for several major locations really helps make this movie look spectacular. Any scene that takes place in the underground lab where The Creature is kept is a visual delight but, in general, every single frame of Frankenstein is utterly gorgeous in ways that can only be described as “Del Toro doing what he does best”, it’s just an undeniably fantastic looking film that never stops finding new ways to be visually sublime. Even in scenes you think you might’ve seen every iteration of, there’s something new to be found here. The big climactic scene where they try to use lightning to give life has been done more times than I dare count, everyone has tried a version of it but still, this version is just so unique and stunning that it stands out.
It must also be pointed out that the performances are universally excellent. Oscar Issac carries Frankenstein on his shoulders with effortless ease, managing to push the story through and keep this wild character interesting and finding new places to take him. Mia Goth pulls double duty (playing both Elizabeth and Victor’s mother in a flashback) so well that you wouldn’t even know she was playing two roles unless you looked it up, and she just has such a special look to her that works wonderfully in this genre. Even the secondary actors who only have a few scenes are splendid, Christoph Waltz as the man funding the research is a wicked delight and almost unrecognisable, Charles Dance as Victor’s father is exactly as stern and imposing as you might expect Charles Dance to be and David Bradley as the blind man really gives him such a warmth and stubbornness that really helps explain why that specific character was able to get through to the creature.
The standout here, by a wide margin, is Jacob Elordi as the creature. Again, there have been so many takes on this character that it shouldn’t be possible to make something new, but Jacob really sells the emotion of this character learning about the world. When he’s scared of something, you feel it in your soul that he’s absolutely terrified. When he’s trying to help there’s an earnestness in every motion. When he’s angry, you can see the red-hot rage oozing from his mangled body as he lashes out. It’s the kind of performance that showcases just what skills this man truly has. He might already have been pretty big in his own circle of cinema, but this shows he can be more than just the impossibly attractive guy who made everyone lose their minds in Saltburn. It’s one of those performances that just sticks with you, no matter what you might try and do.
Frankenstein is basically perfect; it’s exactly as good as you might have thought a film about Frankenstein made by Guillermo Del Toro would be. Indeed, there’s the entire review summed up in a single idea: Are you in any way excited by the idea of Guillermo Del Toro making a film about Frankenstein? Perfect, he made the exact film you expect him to make exactly as you expected him to make it, and its honestly kind of stunning that he was allowed to make this kind of film with Netflix’s money. From start to finish, Frankenstein is a modern masterpiece.
Movie Meister Reviews 