‘Frankenstein’ Review

Despite a modern proclivity toward the grotesque, Guillermo del Toro’s storytelling and filmmaking interests have always leaned more classical. At his best, del Toro’s films feel like adult fairy tales that champion underdogs and outsiders and display a clear moral vision.

While adapting Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ initially feels like a perfect match for del Toro given his mastery of Gothic horror, it is this insistence upon simplistic morality that undermines his latest film.

Impeccably crafted, del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ unfortunately smooths out much of Shelley’s moral complexity, opting instead for VFX laden action sequences that feel more befitting a third ‘Hellboy’ movie than the meditative and psychologically rich source novel.

After his beloved mother’s death while giving birth to his younger brother, William, Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) determines he will conquer death through science. With the support of a mysterious benefactor (Christoph Waltz), Victor resists the warnings of William and his fiancee Elizabeth (Mia Goth) and builds a laboratory that will conduct electricity into a corpse assembled by taking all of the best pieces from numerous fallen soldiers from the ongoing Crimean War. When his experiment works and the Creature is awakened, Victor no longer knows what to do with it, finding that his obsession with death has not prepared him for the demands of life.

Surprisingly, del Toro opts for action over horror throughout much of the film, putting the Creature in a series of fight scenes that would feel more at home in a comic book. Del Toro does away with much of the novel’s moral ambiguity in favor of a simplistic good guy vs bad guy narrative that makes mind numbingly obvious that Victor, with his ego and unbridled ambition, is the real monster, a thematic statement taught in English classes from time immemorial, and the Creature is just a pure hearted being that only wants to make friends.

In Guillermo del Toro’s take on the story, there is no moral ambiguity whatsoever, making the story much less interesting overall. From the first moment Oscar Isaac enters the film as Victor Frankenstein, he is a detestable, egocentric jerk with not a single admirable quality. He is standoffish and cruel to his loved ones and, eventually, his creation. Even when flirting with Elizabeth, he lacks any and all charm, which is an astounding achievement for the effortlessly charismatic Isaac to pull off.

On the other side of it, the Creature is played as a virtuous angel, whose only mistake is seeking friendship from those who find his appearance monstrous. He doesn’t commit any misdeeds, intentional or otherwise, but is instead portrayed only as a victim, again and again. When he hides out in a farmhouse, invisibly helping the family who lives there, field mice flock to him as if he’s a Disney princess, drawn in by his childlike innocence.

And in case you still didn’t understand who is the good guy and who the bad, del Toro further spoon feeds it to the audience as one character literally tells Victor, to his face, that he is the real monster.

‘Frankenstein’ has all of the trappings of a great movie. The costumes, makeup, sets and overall production design are fantastic, bringing to vivid life the story’s gothic setting. The acting is solid even as the performers struggle against the screenplay’s shallow characterizations, with Jacob Elordi especially bringing an indescribable humanity to the Creature.

But unfortunately the substance of the film is a little too black and white to match the power and beauty of Mary Shelley’s provocative novel; a little too neat with its characters and its storytelling, complete with a wholly unearned happy ending. While Guillermo del Toro delivers with masterful Gothic production design, imbuing each frame with a laudable attention to detail, his narrative ultimately loses the visceral horror and philosophical contemplations that made the original novel such a timeless classic.

Frankenstein
Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images.
Running Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Director Guillermo del Toro
Writers Guillermo del Toro
Stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz
Rating R
Running Time 150 Minutes
Genres Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi