Frankenstein Review
As film adaptations go, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has seen a lot of variety. From Thomas Edison’s (yes, that Thomas Edison) production in 1910 that ran 16 minutes long, to the Netflix-produced, Guillermo del Toro-directed two-hour-and-change version of 2025, Frankenstein may be the most adapted novel ever. Shelley’s novel is as timeless as stories get; it could be said that Shelley invented both science fiction and horror genres in one fell swoop.
The story still holds an incredible amount of power. As times change and years pass, it has proven versatile and malleable enough to retain its relevance through eras of war, social upheaval, and advances in technology. As so many versions of the story proclaim, Frankenstein is truly alive.
Del Toro has always wanted to adapt this material from the very beginning of his film career, and every frame of this new version is made with care, love, and passion. It’s hard to say whether this adaptation is the best one, because there are so many, but the spirit of Shelley’s novel feels undiminished. I wouldn’t even say it’s the closest one to the novel; while the blueprint is pure, del Toro has made enough changes from the source that stand out in fascinating (and perhaps controversial) ways.
Del Toro has always been in love with his monsters, finding grace in them while the humans of his stories are shown with all their flaws intact. This adaptation is no exception. But it’s obvious from the opening shot that this is not a film made with reservation or restraint. Del Toro, in both his script and his direction, swings for the fences here and far more often than not hits with fervor every ball that comes his way.
From the production design, costumes, cinematography, score, and performances, del Toro’s Frankenstein is made with exquisite passion and fervor. The scope is huge, as the novel deserves. Every penny spent is on the screen – and any first view of this should be on the big screen if at all possible.
Netflix notoriously avoids theaters (to their detriment), but this is not a film that should be watched at home for the first time; it needs the biggest canvas possible to be experienced as it is meant to be. Epic filmmaking at this level is all too rare, and while I applaud Netflix for keeping del Toro’s voice intact, I dearly wish they would change their ideals when it comes to theatrical distribution. If you can find this playing in your area, do so.
The film begins as the novel does; Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen), his ship, and crew are trapped in the ice on an exploratory journey to the North Pole. When they find an injured man, they bring him on board, only to be attacked by a strange creature who brutally kills several of the crew. The injured man begins to tell the Captain his story – Victor Frankenstein (Christian Convery as a child, Oscar Isaac as an adult) is torn between the fierce practicality of his father, Leopold (Charles Dance), and the passionate imagination of his mother, Claire (Mia Goth).
When Claire dies giving birth to William (Rafe Harwood as a child, Felix Kammerer as an adult), Victor finds himself coldly treated by his father, who dotes on young William. Victor grows to believe that his father, a practiced surgeon, could have saved his mother, and his will to defy death in all its forms becomes Victor’s driving passion.
Victor’s ideas of death and reanimation ostracize him from the scientific community. Still, he finds a financial benefactor in Harlander (Christoph Waltz), a war profiteer who sees in Victor’s experiments an opportunity to further his own ambitions. Soon, William and his betrothed Elizabeth (also Mia Goth) become concerned with Victor’s work, but Victor will stop at nothing to prove his theories correct – to create life from death, and bring life to the Creature (Jacob Elordi).
Everyone does grand work here – the dialogue is rich and heightened, and all the actors make a meal out of it. Isaac’s Frankenstein feels very relevant to today; we see so many wealthy, privileged men with ambition who are either unaware or deliberately ignorant of their responsibilities to the world, full of fervor but without scruples. Isaac gives Frankenstein a complicated worldview, both noble and loathsome.
The most significant change from the novel is in Victor’s relationship with Elizabeth, and I cannot decide if that’s to the benefit or detriment of the film, but it’s not a pointless change, considering the places that del Toro and Isaac want to take the character.
But the film’s greatest performance is clearly Jacob Elordi’s, and it’s not simply a matter of Guillermo del Toro preferring his monsters to his humans as he has previously done. Elordi gives the Creature a bestial physicality that is very cinematic and astonishing to watch – once Elordi appears in the film, you cannot take your eyes off him, and the film suffers when he is gone, which was probably intended. He matches that physicality with intelligence and an emotional eloquence that is full of grace and aching passion.
The makeup work is remarkable, but it wouldn’t work nearly as well if Elordi hadn’t put that light behind his eyes. Elordi does award-worthy work, and I’m worried that it could be drowned out in what is shaping up to be a phenomenal cinema year. But if nothing else, Jacob Elordi has given us a Frankenstein’s Monster for the ages, one that rivals Boris Karloff himself.
Although I have issues with Netflix, I must give credit that they gave Guillermo del Toro free rein with this material, and Del Toro gets to work out all his deeply felt emotions and indulge in his cinematic joys.
But Frankenstein never feels syrupy or indulgent. It gets broad, but that’s expected – while this may use modern film techniques, it still feels old-fashioned in the best ways. It’s not a particularly scary movie (although it can get gory – del Toro again playing with his favorite cinematic toys), but that’s not the story del Toro is telling here.
One of these days, I’d love it if del Toro tried to frighten us again – perhaps that long-gestating H.P. Lovecraft project may come to happen, and if Netflix wants to help del Toro achieve that cinematic dream, I’ll love them forever – but I am perfectly content to enjoy del Toro playing with this set of electric trains. It has been an amazing horror genre year, one for the ages, and Frankenstein adds itself to an already esteemed list. See this in a theater, if you can.
FRANKENSTEIN REVIEW RATING: 9 OUT OF 10
Frankenstein is set to open in select theaters on Friday, October 17, and will then begin streaming on Netflix on Friday, November 7. The film has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for bloody violence and grisly images.
