Frankenstein Review: All the Best Monsters Have Daddy Issues
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
It is hard to think of a better pairing of source material and director that were destined for one another than Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Guillermo Del Toro. The Oscar-winning director is an obvious fan of Gothic horror, and Shelley’s novel is one of the pinnacles of the genre. Del Toro tells the story of the creature and its creator with his own distinct flourishes and style, taking his own liberties in reshaping the tale.
The story begins and ends on the Arctic ice, with an ice-bound ship crossing paths between Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and his monstrous creature (Jacob Elordi), who are hunting one another. This retelling of the classic horror tale is soon bifurcated into two parts, the first being Victor’s story and the second being the story of The Creature.
Their recounting fills us in on Victor’s childhood, his desire to push the limits of science as a doctor, the process of creating life, and his eventual regrets. From The Creature, we follow him through being abandoned by his creator, experiencing the good and bad of the world, and eventual self-realization of what he is and is not, which curdles into hate for his creator.
Victor’s childhood is not a pleasant one, losing his doting mother (Mia Goth) when his younger brother William is born, and being stuck with a strict, cruel, and unloving father (Charles Dance), himself a renowned doctor. Victor’s hatred for his father pushes him to want to surpass him in the medical field. He intends to do this by challenging the medical establishment and pushing the limits of science.
His pursuits, called heretical by the establishment, find a benefactor in the form of his brother’s steward, Henrich Harlander, an arms merchant and war profiteer. Harlander’s arrival brings Victor’s brother William (Felix Kammerer) back into his life. Harlander’s generous funding also brings his niece into the picture, William’s fiancée Elizabeth (Mia Goth, in a dual role), with whom Victor quickly becomes smitten.
James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein diverged wildly from the source material. Victor Frankenstein is even renamed Henry, uttering the famous, “It’s alive… It’s alive!!!” like a mad scientist. In this version of the story, Victor does at times come across as borderline mad, though in a different way. His vision is grand in scope and at times his genius and the pursuit of his goals almost become unwieldy for him. He works himself to the point of exhaustion and seemingly his only distraction is Elizabeth.
He really comes across as a creator or sculptor as much as a scientist or doctor. The creation process is quite literally involving the assembly of a man from spare body parts taken from corpses, as the skin and muscle are stitched together. At one point, I believe he is shown inserting a femur into a leg muscle.
His pursuit of creating The Creature made me think of the classic Ian Malcolm line from Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.” Victor has no concrete plans for what comes after his moment of creation and what to do with the creature. Because creating a creature makes you responsible for it. And Victor is not equipped to nurture it properly.
This highlights one of the film's central themes: generational trauma and the adage that hurt people hurt people. At one point, a very on-the-nose line of dialogue is uttered, where Victor is told that he is the real monster, not The Creature. In less skilled hands than Del Toro’s, that would be a groan-inducing line, but the monster that he has become is not The Creature but actually his father, and it has happened without him realizing it. In this way and in several others, Victor’s story and The Creature’s story mirror one another.
The Creature suffers abuse at the hands of Victor and from the world when the story separates them. He finds kindness in the form of a blind man (David Bradley) who cannot see his visage and befriends him, calling him “The Spirit of the Forest.” He learns to talk, read, think, and understand during his time with the blind old man. To people with eyes, though, he is a monster because he is different.
Del Toro leans into making The Creature something that almost looks human, but just enough is off to make it look unnatural. His skin is mostly varying shades of blue, looking more like an Engineer from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus crossed with Nebula from the MCU; it’s a stark difference from Boris Karloff’s lurching creature from the 1931 classic. His eyes, when they catch the light just right, seem to glow. He also possesses superhuman strength, which strikes fear into those who encounter him. Aside from his initial few moments of being alive, he does not stumble about stiffly; in fact, Elordi gives The Creature a physical elegance and grace that is quite unexpected for the character, something that again undercuts the superficial, skin-level appearances.
I was surprised by the emotional notes The Creature stirs, finding myself moved by the search for belonging and understanding of why he was made and the desire and need to feel a connection with anyone. It is something he should receive unconditionally from Victor, his creator. Still, that source is found lacking, so he finds fleeting moments of it with Elizabeth and the blind man, until those moments are taken away.
Similar to Del Toro seeming destined to make a Frankenstein movie, Mia Goth is an actress who is perfectly suited for a role in this film. She has played dual roles before (see: X), and portraying both Victor’s mother and his love interest, is definitely deliberate, though I think how Oedipal it is intended to be is open for debate. Elizabeth is a mystery to Victor and a source of sweetness in a harsh world to The Creature.
Del Toro has consistently been a director who brings his films to life with stunning visuals, and this is no exception. He is more in his Crimson Peak mode here, with lush reds contrasting with the bluish hues of The Creature. The countryside is green and vibrant. The tower that Victor works in stands prominently on an oceanside or lakeside cliff, cutting darkly against the cool sky above. It’s visually sumptuous, if at times a tad excessive. I also thought that most of the changes Del Toro made to the story were for the better, making it a more tragic story in the process.
The tale of Frankenstein’s monster is a well-known story that has been adapted many times into movies. Guillermo Del Toro’s interpretation of the story breathes new life into Mary Shelley’s creation. Frankenstein features lush visuals and solid performances, with a particularly poignant one from Jacob Elordi as The Creature. It has a great deal to say about fathers, sons, identity, and the monstrous nature of humanity.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars