Guillermo del Toro He has added another riveting, exciting and heartbreaking creation to his canon of work. He has been dreaming of making this monster of a story come to life ever since he first read Mary Shelly’s novel as a child. All the success he’s achieved making other classics like The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth have been informed by the story of a genius who creates life.
Del Toro’s storytelling is deliberate and, at two and a half hours, felt on the long side. However that didn’t ’t diminish our appreciation for the artistry captured in the camera and the performances of Oscar Isaac (Dune) and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), as The Creator and his creation.
In this case, the Frankenstein tale takes on an allegorical feel of family. It, once again, digs up the complicated, powerful love/hate tensions between fathers and sons. The movie’s final scenes become all the more resonant for parallels to families struggling with their own relationships.
Victor Frankenstein (Isaac) endured the wrath and indifference of his famous doctor father (Charles Dance) and still followed in his footsteps. The brash young, brilliant doctor/scientist is obstinate and full of hubris, proclaiming strongly he will create life from organs and limbs he pieces together from harvested dead bodies on a battlefield. He is determined to play God, no matter the consequences.
Del Toro’s scenes of Frankenstein disecting parts of bodies necessary to reconstruct life are understandably, per the filmmaker’s style, graphic and gory, and off-putting. But he’s showing off in front of fellow doctors at the University his knowledge of the body to harvest parts needed to resurrect a living human being, if he can.
The story is constructed from different points of view. It opens on a ship encased in ice in the Arctic Circle. The crew rescues a man alone on the ice floe. It is Victor, near death, telling his story to the ship’s captain (Lars Mikkelsen). He’s being pursued by a menacing, unstoppable monster. Later in the film, we see the same events from the creature’s point of view.
Del Toro adapted some plot points from Shelly’s novel by including notably, a blind man (David Bradley) and a young woman, Elizabeth, (British actress, Mia Goth) who forge a bond with the Doctor’s Creature who is taken with the beautiful young, sympathetic woman. Mikkelsen, Bradley and Goth, all carefully cast, provide the right amount of empathy and humanity to offset Isaac’s brash bluster. Another standout is Harlander (Christoph Waltz), Elizabeth’s father, becomes Victor’s financial backer, who adds some much needed humor to Dr. Frankenstein’s dark proceedings.
After watching this film the inevitable question becomes, who is the real monster? Oscar Isaac’s Victor is so full of himself and so lacking in compassion and empathy that our impulse is to make him the villain. And Jacob Elordi, who underwent countless hours of makeup and prosthetics applications, still makes for a stunningly beautiful movie creature. Prosthetic makeup artist Alexandra Anger and her huge team deserve immense credit. Elordi shapes his character as an unfortunate soul who shouldn’t exist, but can’t exit the stage. He’s an staggering figure that frightens us while making us feel his pain and earn our sympathy.
Guillermo del Toro does not like using much CGI in his films. So Production Designer Tamara Deverell’s work is even more impressive when Cinematographer Dan Laustsen’s camera takes us inside the laboratories and castle where Frankenstein comes to life. There’s even a full sized sailing ship that adds to the grandiose visualization.
Composer Alexandre Desplat’s score is stirring and impactful, adding to the scary aspects of the fable while helping humanize The Creature. This team of creatives have worked with Guillermo del Toro before and their respect for him shows in all parts of the production and how it fits completely together.
After the 1931 classic Frankenstein by James Whale some questioned the need for an update. But we suggest you see Guillermo del Toro’s monstrous childhood dream in this massive and captivating re-imagining brought, part by part, back to life.
Netflix 2 Hours 29 Minutes R
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