IR Film Review: FRANKENSTEIN [Netflix]

The aspect of "Frankenstein" is that it is always integrated with the point that these two characters: Victor and the Monster will always be linked. Writer/Director Guillermo Del Toro brings a slightly different energy to the proceedings but one cannot help but see certain extrapolations and tendencies with comparison to Kenneth Branagh's "Frankenstein" back in the mid-1990s 30 years ago. The motivations here are more realistic but almost less gothic in certain ways. Oscar Isaac takes on the mantle of Victor Frankenstein. He is consumed by innovation and his own ego. That crux builds in the context of not whether or not Victor could build the monster but if he should. That is always his blindness. This was of course murmured by Ian Malcom in "Jurassic Park". We do see the early childhood of Victor and Charles Dance inhabits his father beautifully but also the dark and crass nature in which Dance's character treated Victor's mother. The movie definitely is more visually gory than its predecessors. In that way and the design, especially in the castle Victor comes to build his creation, it is vividly realized. Someone said to me the other day, that Del Toro is not fantastic but he is consistent. There is always a moment when you think the cinematic will simply rise. And it is always interesting but not transcendent.

Here Del Toro gets close achieving that flux point in the final moments but because it is a quiet moment of reflection after so much rage that reflects a kind of mythos. Isaac did it in the same way in the first "Dune" as Duke Leto Atreides but that took on a more powerful context even though the motif is the same. Jacob Elordi plays the Monster and he does it almost in a more subdued way (than say DeNiro did in the 90s adaptation) but he does exude an essence of power. Robert DeNiro as the Monster in Branagh's "Frankenstein" at times found a lack of balance maintaining the simplicity without slipping into the cheesiness that populates "Friend". The film here is mostly split into two acts: Victor's story and the Monster's story. There is in the latter half (and more) a divergence with the novel. In a way it makes more sense but it lacks the lush romance of what we are seeing and the crux of Victor's break.

Mia Goth as Elizabeth is a different character than we see in the novel of course. She is the fiancé of William Frankenstein (Felix Kammerer -- who was in Edward Berger's "All Quiet On The Western Front"). Kammerer unfortunately is not given much room to do anything with his character. Goth of course has a way about her and her interaction with Elordi is interesting but it seems pale compared to her work on "Pearl" and "X". Hopefully her work in "Star Wars: Starfighter" is more substantial. It is totally understood why she would want to make this film though with Del Toro and there is nothing wrong with that. However when the Monster's story takes over, it does get a little long in the tooth. His interaction with a blind man (always one of the great parts of the book) is beautifully built with care and ends the way it always needs to. Victor Frankenstein's progression is, as in many versions, unlikable but his integration with Elizabeth in different forms and iteration redeems him, especially in the sacrifice the creature asks him to make which makes him see the line between an it and a sentient being. He just sees it too late.

Elordi tries not overplay it in the beginning but the Monster is simply a puppy in certain ways looking for understanding. When Victor abandons him in a certain way, it is to a certain point heartbreaking. Christoph Waltz has a smaller but impactful role as Henrich Harlander. His reasoning and play is totally understandable, human and yet beautiful crass without being profane. It is why Waltz is so good as these kind of roles. Lars Mikklelsen, last seen really in "Ahsoka" as Admiral Thrawn disappears as the Captain of the ship trapped in the ice where the final reckoning comes to bear. However, his is more a plot progression than anything else.

Again the ending, despite certain aspects of its path getting there, works. However a final action takes away the believability of it and could have been simply excised. The sets of course are beautiful and the location work especially with the castles (given some digital extension) in Scotland are very cool. The interior scenes were mostly done in Toronto, a favorite place of Del Toro to shoot (I believe they might have used The Volume there). Elordi helps by being, at least to this viewer, unrecognizable though the Monster almost seems too pretty in some ways (though that might have been Del Toro's intent). Elordi's performance is the most complete but not life altering and yet you do feel the pain. "Frankenstein" by Guillermo Del Toro is a very adequate movie, interesting to watch, wonderfully realized but not as impactful in its story or direction of the characters as one might hope despite some good performances. B-

By Tim Wassberg