Released on Oct. 17, Frankenstein is a rated-R film produced by Guillermo del Toro starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Felix Kammerer, and Lars Mikkelsen. It takes place in an alternate 1850s era in which the creation of life as a scientific pursuit is achieved, though it goes horribly wrong. It has been heavily appraised by critics, being one of the most accurate renditions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. The film follows the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, played by Isaac, a brilliant doctor with the prideful goal of creating life as God has. He has been rejected by science communities several times because they do not think his goal is practical, calling it unholy. All hope seems lost when he is approached by Herr Henrich Harlander, an associate of William Frankenstein, along with Victor’s brother and the uncle of Elizabeth Lavenza, who is William’s fiancée. He tells Victor that his goal is intriguing, and that he knows the secret to creating life: a chain of nerves that can store electricity and keep the heart beating forever. Eternal life. Agreeing to work with Harlander, Victor Frankenstein pieces together his creature from the disassembled bodies of the dead and brings it to life. The creature is, simply put, stupid at first, having a horribly low intellect and very little understanding of the world. When Victor realizes this, he considers it a failure and tries to kill the creature. But it survives, and is taught how to speak, think, and act by an old man who takes him in.
Eventually the creature gains its intellect and realizes what it is– a human creation with eternal life. It seeks out Victor Frankenstein again and asks him to create a companion, so that in its eternal life, the creature will not be alone. Still considering his greatest work an abomination and a monster, Frankenstein denies this offer, and the creature grows angry. It chases him to the ends of the earth, not to kill him but to hurt him and haunt him. The ending will remain untold so as not to spoil it, but the creature and Victor do not remain hateful towards each other forever.
Being based on the first science fiction novel ever written, this film adaptation of Frankenstein has the moral that science is not something that can be controlled, and that no man is higher than the power of nature. It puts forth the idea that if one messes with nature and tries to break its laws, nature will fight back and there will be consequences. It is an extremely simple theme with limited room for exploration, but it is very fitting. Victor Frankenstein attempted to create life, to place himself in an equal standard of creation as God, and it ultimately backfired. His attempt at creating life sowed only death.
The pacing of the film is perfect, with half of the movie being Victor Frankenstein’s story, and the second half being the creature’s story. The best qualities of the film rely on del Toro’s skill as a director. The acting, dialogue, and cinematography are some of the best in the entirety of modern cinema, which is a bold statement but is absolutely the case. Each shot feels extremely planned out, and every bit of dialogue feels extremely well crafted and there feels to be a lot of thought put behind every line. The words hit hard, and all of the actors play their roles phenomenally. Isaac seems truly terrified of his character’s creature, and Elordi seems so interested by the life that is so new to his character. Beyond that, the film is the most accurate to the book of any of the Frankenstein movies, shows, or other projects in the past, as the story, characters, fates of characters, and events of the book are the closest to the book as they’ve ever been in an adaptation, according to The Tab, and just as someone who’s read it.
Expectedly, this film has very few negative qualities. The only things that feel necessary to point out are that the science behind the creature’s life is a bit confusing, and the creature has a somewhat boring introduction. Naturally, there is still the thunderstorm striking the tower as there is in nearly every version, but the creature doesn’t actually come to life in that scene. Victor Frankenstein thinks he failed, so he goes to bed, and when he wakes, the creature is just standing there in his room. It feels a little rushed, and it would have been a lot cooler to see the classic “It’s alive!” line that appears in most of the other versions. But that line isn’t even in the book, and del Toro was trying for an extremely accurate film.
All-in-all, it is an extremely good film. The acting, story, cinematography, dialogue, and everything else that a movie needs are some of the best. Frankenstein is easily one of the best films of the year. It is on Netflix, and highly, highly recommended.
