Frankenstein (2025)

New Adaptation - Less Horror, More Drama - Frankenstein review by GI

This has all the visual style you come to expect from director Guillermo del Toro and the gothic is turned up the maximum in his passion piece and new take on the Mary Shelley novel. There's no high foreheads or neck bolts here and taking other versions of the creature here we have possibly the closest idea to the novel, a creature that represents the main theme of what it means to be human. Sadly though the film drifts too much into melodrama and anyone expecting some horror maybe in for a disappointment because it's lacking here. I also didn't quite buy into the invulnerability skills of the creature, (he has Wolverine type healing powers!) an invention by del Toro, and which leaned the story into the comic book superhero mode a little. Here though Oscar Isaac plays Victor, the scientist bereft at the death of his mother and determined to outdo his tyrannical father (a cameo by Charles Dance) who manages to put together a creature from body parts saved from a battlefield (cue some gory bits). When the creature falls short of his expectations he tries to kill it but 'it' has other ideas. Jacob Elordi is excellent as the creature who gets to tell his own story, which works well here. Overall though the film felt lacking, it's entertaining for the most part and has a great look. Mia Goth as the love interest is sadly underused but you do get Christoph Waltz as Victor's benefactor. Worth a look but I still think the 1973 TV film with James Mason takes a lot of beating.