Dir/Wri: Guillermo del Toro US. 2025. Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, Christoph Waltz | 149’
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a dark demoniacal tale that works well with the director’s signature ebullience and passion but feels disjointed in the gauche re-telling.
Based on Mary Shelley’s legendary 1818 novel, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi make for a superb casting in the central roles with their subtle acting skills and saturnine demeanour.
Thos latest adaptation follows Kenneth Branagh’s critically panned 2016 effort. Set in the the second half of the 19th century the opulent Gothic epic opens in the frosty North Pole where a group of icebound explorers are forced to abandon ship on the frozen sea where they come across the injured Dr Frankenstein (Isaac) in the throes of dying in the snowy wastelands.
Rescuing him they are attacked by a ghastly creature (Elordi) demanding they relinquish his master. After the beast is despatched into the icy waters the Doctor is able to recount his experiences at leisure in a series of florid flashbacks that take us through the classic story of his ego-driven bid to recreate a living being from corpses. We are introduced to the rest of the starry cast: Charles Dance as his draconian father, Christoph Waltz as Harlender and Mia Goth as the Doctor’s younger brother’s fiancee Elizabeth.
This Frankenstein will certainly appeal to the director’s fanbase and lovers of macabre Victorian melodramas. Strangely enough, Jacob Elordi lends a soulful touch to his raging monster while emerging as a less menacing character than his dour creator Dr Frankenstein.
So a visually rich and flamboyant production that certainly lives up to del Toro’s usual production standards with lavish set pieces, a restrained use of CGI, and a sweeping score by Alexandre Desplat, but somehow lacking a beating heart and emotional wattage needed to pulse it all into life. @Meredith Taylor
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