From some of the computer-generated chaos at the start, I was afraid I wasn’t going to like Guillermo’s del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” I guess I’m still smarting from Robert Egger’s remake of “Nosferatu.” But here my concerns were misplaced. As writer and director, Del Toro definitely puts his own spin on the source material, yet he manages to honor Mary Shelley’s 1818 classic. More importantly, the movie is full of heart. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but I wound up actually really liking it.
I hasten to add, Del Toro’s approach is more Shelley than Karloff, even though he turns a lot of the original novel on its head. Don’t go into it expecting any “scares.” This is a movie that explores the nature of humanity and man’s overweening desire to push into the unknown without considering the morality of doing so or assuming responsibility for the consequences. It is, after all, “Frankenstein.”
But these underpinnings are not simply brushed aside so that the filmmakers can get on with the killings, as is the case with so many of the movies. It has one of two gruesome moments, for sure, but the lens doesn’t linger. Rather, it is a thoughtful, literary, even philosophical movie, with layers of allusions and symbols that fit hand-in-surgical glove with the narrative.
Oscar Isaac plays the haughty, frustrating scientist, Shelley’s “modern Prometheus,” as maddening as he is mad. His rearing of his creation proves here to be the product of cyclical abuse. The theme is skillfully assimilated and has a nice payoff. Tragedy is woven right into the story, of course, but this is one Frankenstein movie that actually leaves one with a glimmer of hope. Del Toro has loved this story – and “the creature” – since childhood, and clearly he’s internalized everything. Like Victor Frankenstein himself, he’s discovered the source of its life; but unlike Victor he also recognizes its soul.
I have no idea who Jacob Elordi, who plays the creation, is, but he is a wonder. His performance makes the movie. I note he’s also going to be playing Heathcliff in an impending, overheated adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” with Margot Robie trading on her “Barbie” good will. From the trailer, it looks as if it totally misses the point of Emily Bronte’s novel. But here, Elordi is excellent. As with “The Shape of Water,” Del Toro proves that he can be much more than simply a technical director, eliciting fine performances from his leads.
That said, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention how sumptuous a production this is. Every detail is fully realized, from the vibrant costumes to the outrageous and eyepopping sets, digital or otherwise. The lavish estates, the streets of Edinburgh, the frozen battlefields, the Thomas Eakins medical theater, the steampunk lab, and the arctic wastelands all look fabulous, often operatically stylized, but all of a piece. The production design more than compensates for a few moments of shaky CGI, with cartoonish flying bodies and pouncing wolves.
Why, oh why, aren’t they making it easier for people to see this in a theater? This practice of showing a film for a very limited run in just a few venues so that it qualifies for Academy Awards consideration before consigning it to streaming on Netflix as “content” is more monstrous than anything in the movie.
Beyond the all-too-rare experience these days of enjoying the film on a big screen with an engaged audience, it was such a pleasure to be able to sit there during the end credits and to be able to ruminate on what I had just witnessed to Alexandre Desplat’s evocative score. That is a part of the moviegoing experience that is so tragically undervalued in the streaming age. So much of a movie’s impact is cemented in those few minutes at the end, when you just allow it all to sink in.
I hope you will follow my advice and don’t google anything about it, if you haven’t done so already. It’s best to experience it fresh. It’s a beautiful movie, visually and emotionally alive, with good performances, and I highly recommend it.
“Frankenstein” comes to Netflix tomorrow, but if you can see it in a theater, go.
