Mary Shelley’s gothic horror story of Frankenstein has entertained the masses for more than 200 years and has been made into a slew of films. You might think it had been done to death, but Oscar winning writer/director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Hellboy) has been obsessed with it for decades and finally brings his version to the screen with a lavish production that gives the monster his due.
The film begins in the Arctic, where a ship is frozen in the ice and the captain (Lars Mikkelsen) is urging his beleaguered crew to get them unstuck so they can continue his quest to reach the North Pole. But off in the distance they see an explosion. And upon arriving at the scene to help, they find Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) badly injured in the frigid aftermath and bring him back to their ship. But out of the smoke an enormous monster (Jacob Elordi) appears, demanding they give him the man they rescued. The crew fights him, shoots him, and eventually he falls through the ice, and that is that. But of course, it isn’t.
Back in the captain’s quarters, Victor tells him the story of the creature they just dispatched to the deep. It begins in his childhood with his distant father (Charles Dance) and his dear mother dying in the childbirth of his younger brother (the apple of Dad’s eye), leading to his dream of conquering death. Later, after being kicked out of the Royal College of Surgeons for demonstrating his discovery of a way to reanimate living tissue, he is approached by a wealthy arms dealer (Christoph Waltz) who offers to fund his research and just happens to have a creepy abandoned building where he can build his laboratory. And he builds his monster and brings him to life.
But once he is alive, Victor doesn’t know what to do with him. The monster can’t seem to learn anything other than Victor’s name. And so he becomes the distant father he so despised, keeping the monster chained in the basement of the crumbling building, and growing more frustrated with the whole debacle, until he finally decides to burn the place down, monster and all.
But while Victor is relating his story, the monster who it turns out is unable to die, sneaks back onto the ship. But instead of wreaking havoc as he could easily do, he decides to tell his version of their story, beginning with his escape from the fire at the laboratory. As he wanders through the countryside, he comes upon a small farm and hides out in the barn, eventually befriending a blind old man who helps him learn to read and speak, which allows him to return to the burned lab and find his origin story, as well as Victor’s whereabouts.
When he finds Victor at the wedding of his younger brother, he only asks that he create a companion for him so that he will not live out his life alone. But Victor wants nothing to do with him and refuses. And as the monster lashes out, the bride, a woman both he and Victor love is wounded, and he takes her away with him to die. But he vows to make Victor pay for all he’s done and hunts him down, finally catching up to him in the cold north, where the story began.
There is also the through story of Elizabeth (Mia Goth), the woman Victor’s brother marries and the niece of the rich industrialist who funds Victor’s research. She is of course beautiful, but also fascinated by the natural world and not at all repulsed by the monster, extending him kindness and earning his love. Victor also has a thing for her. And del Torro uses the same actress as the mother who dies. (I guess she represents the ideal woman.)
It is a gorgeously filmed movie. And the monster is a lot more attractive than usual. That he is given speech and sentience gives him a lot more depth, too. Jacob Elordi is really the standout in the film for his sensitive portrayal. (Could he get some awards season love?)
It clocks in at around two and a half hours, but the story and the action keep it from flagging. It’s an adaptation I think Mary Shelley would appreciate. It is already on Netflix, but if you can see it in a theater, it would be even better since it really is a visual feast.