The latest gorgeously gory adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein released Friday on Netflix, bringing the tale of ego, violence and love back to audiences everywhere.
Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited movie stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as the Creature and Mia Goth as Elizabeth. Set in early to mid-19th century Europe, Frankenstein follows the tale of obsessed scientist Victor Frankenstein’s journey to create life from the dead.
The main story is told primarily through flashbacks and while his unkillable Creature hunts for him, Victor finds refuge with Captain Anderson, an explorer in the Arctic searching for the North Pole, and begins to share his life story. As a child, the tragic death of Victor’s mother led him to study death, life and reanimation. Much later, the scientist meets Herr Harlander, a wealthy and mysterious man who offers to fund his experiments.
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But in Victor’s obsessive attempts to create life, he causes more death. His story of ego, violence and love forces the audience to grapple with an integral question — in this iconic tale of monster versus man, who is really the monster?
Frankenstein is quintessential del Toro. His signature gothic visuals translate the story’s themes beautifully onto film. Dark and cool-toned cityscapes are contrasted against blood red accents in Victor’s clothing and the actual blood in his workshop.
The color red is a recurring motif throughout the film . Frankenstein’s gloves are red, foreshadowing the future blood on his hands. His forbidden love, Elizabeth, wears a bright red cross necklace in reference to her tragic fate.
Be warned: this movie is unapologetically gory. Before the Creature is formed, Frankenstein’s anatomical experiments are on full display. Ligaments are exposed, legs sawed off and skinless amalgamations are granted horrifying animation. Where other films may cut away or fade to black, Frankenstein lingers on its horror.
When the monster is brought to life with the iconic lightning bolt, we zoom into the experiment’s lifeless body. In disturbing detail, its grossly realistic heart begins to beat and revitalize the inner organs.
Del Toro’s Frankenstein succeeds where so many others have failed as an adaptation. Fans of the novel will be pleased by the film’s rendition of the Creature, a deeply compelling and tragic figure. Whereas popular culture frames the Monster as an unthinking, zombie-like beast, Frankenstein stays true to the novel by granting him intelligence and true empathy.
Elordi’s performance as the Monster is hauntingly beautiful. We witness his evolution from childlike and curious to mature and vengeful. Although he’s unable to speak when he is first created, Elordi conveys the Creature’s sadness, happiness, fury and curiosity through body language alone in a truly poetic rendition of the character.
But, Frankenstein is not perfect. There are many differences between the film and the novel with some more successful than others.
The film dwells for a considerable amount of time in Victor’s castle laboratory, where the recently animated Creature is chained up for experimentation. In the novel, Victor runs from the beast as soon as it comes to life, cementing his role as an absent and negligent creator. This alteration from the source material changes Frankenstein’s role in the Creature’s life, but it also allows for the two to form a deeper connection over a long period of time.
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The film’s long opening puts it at a disadvantage later on. The pacing in the last 30 minutes feels rushed compared to the intricately laid-out scenes in Frankenstein’s laboratory and later, the Creature’s hideout — as if the film ran out of time for its own climax.
Frankenstein is, above all else, a tragedy. The film’s decision to speed up two major finale scenes feels slightly unearned and disconnected from the last half hour of violence.
But perhaps the suddenness of the change is a testament to the father-son symbolism peppered throughout the film and source material. Despite every cruel action and mistake, the Maker and his Adam are forever intertwined. Two halves of a monstrous, innately human whole.
