It’s finally here: Guava del Toro’s Frankenstein is now on streaming. I sat down last night and watched it, and was highly looking forward to it.
You know the cast, Oscar Isaac, Christophe Waltz, Mia Goth, Charles Dance, and Jacob Elordi, who plays the Creature. GDT writes and directs, based on the book by Mary Shelly. Please excuse any typos, I wrote this review on my phone, as my arm is still buggered.
The Story
You must know the story of Frankenstein, as it’s been on screen literally hundreds of times. People say that Kenneth Branagh’s version was the closest to the original book.
Del Toro had put his own spin on the story, basically breaking it into two halves. I say that, I’ve never read the book, so it might be what happens, but it was a new take to me.
A Norwegian expedition ship is stuck in the ice in the Arctic. One of the crew sees a fire a little way off and then goes to investigate. They find Victor, half dead, and take him to the ship. The Creature isn’t far behind, but the crew manage to drown it, well, so they think.
Victor’s Story
Victor goes on to tell his side of the story. He was the son of a Frankenstein, a very well-known and respected doctor. His father was very hard on him, teaching the young boy to become a doctor. When Victor’s mother dies in childbirth, his father cannot save him, but Victor is determined to beat death.
After their father’s death, Victor and his brother make their way in their chosen fields; Victor as a doctor, his brother in finance.
Victor then tells how he ended up in a disciplinary action at his college, as he proves life can be re-animated. In steps Harlander (Waltz), a wealthy man, who sees what Frankenstein is trying to do. He knows of Victor through his brother, who’s engaged to Harlander’s niece, Elizabeth (Goth).
The rest of Victor’s story tells about him building a human and managing to reanimate it. However, it doesn’t go as planned, and the creature is stupid. Victor missed something in the brain connections, and the creature is strong but dumb. Victor gets frustrated and tries to kill it, but it escapes.
The Creature’s Story
Back on the ship, the creature then tells its story, from the moment Victor tried to kill it. It learns about its world, meets a blind man, learns to talk, and then learns to read. It wants to understand what Frankenstein wanted from it.
The Creature cannot die, kind of like Wolverine, but when the blind man is killed, it learns it’s going to be on its own forever. The only thing it wants is a companion to endure life eternal with, and the only person that can do that is Victor.
This leads the Creature to Victor, who’s at Elizabeth’s wedding, and things go wrong. Victor is determined to kill the Creature, and it’s determined to get him to make a companion.
The Cast
The cast for Frankenstein is excellent. Isaac carries to the movie as Victor, he’s a genius who’s determined to get his way. The problem is that he focuses on the final point without thinking about after that.
He has the capacity to build and reanimate a human, but not the understanding of how to deal with it after that. Victor thought the creature would have intelligence, but because of his own mistake, it’s a ‘baby’. Victor doesn’t want a baby; he wants a contemporary, a like mind. You understand his frustration when all the creature can say is ‘Victor’.
Goth is always good; she is a strange one; she’s attractive, but weird. Elizabeth is a strong character in Frankenstein, but not in a ‘girl boss’ way. She’s been well educated by her uncle and understands what Victor is trying to do. When she meets the creature, there’s a connection, which becomes her undoing.
This moves us on to Elordi as the creature; he is brilliant here. Ultimately, Frankenstein is the story of the creature. Instead of being an intelligent human who could discuss the meaning of life with Victor, it was born a baby, with no understanding of anything.
Elordi plays the Creature so well that he’s scared, confused, and just wants to understand what it is.
Del Toro
You can’t fault Del Toro’s work; he’s a fine movie maker, and he loves practical effects and attention to detail.
Frankenstein has been done to death on the screen, so when we heard of another version, we all rolled our eyes a little. But then, it’s Del Toro; there was a little hope. There is nothing outstanding new about the story here, but it’s the journey that Del Toro takes us on that’s the focus. In his Frankenstein, the story is strong, the characters are interesting, and his mild twist keeps you invested.
Another thing that he does is make a real world. The sets and effects are stunning! The set piece, for Frankenstein’s laboratory, is just beautiful, and you know it’s real, made by real people, with real blood, sweat and tears.
Speaking of blood, Del Toro does not shy away from blood in this version of Frankenstein. There are some truly wince moments, beautifully done, but make you wince.
Overall
Frankenstein is excellent, but has some faults, firstly, it’s too long. The movie runs at 2.5 hours, and a good chunk of that could have been missed out. Victor’s story was too long and should have been cut down. The third act was the most interesting part, but it felt like the shortest part of the movie.
Secondly, the fake snow annoyed me. There’s one scene where the creature returns to the destroyed lab. The fake snow looks really bad, like blobs, no snowflakes. The scene is emotional, but I couldn’t help notice the fake snow. I do hate myself at times.
I also want a fan of the creature design. Just having had a bunch of stitches in my arm, I couldn’t get over how the creature’s skin seemed ‘glued’ together. The patches of skin had no visible stitching on it, which just annoyed me; I wish my doctor had done the same.
As per usual, I’m being overly picky about what is an excellent movie; the story, the style, the music, it’s all stunning.
It’s worth your time, a pure form of escapism under the influence of Del Toro. I’m giving Frankenstein a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. I will watch it again at some point.
Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
