Frankenstein (2025): A Review

FRANKENSTEIN (2025)

The tale of mad scientists and their creations who hate them gets a rich gothic treatment in Frankenstein. Visually sumptuous though rather long, Frankenstein drowns a bit in said sumptuousness.

With a ten-minute Prelude, Frankenstein is evenly split between two tales. There is Part I: Victor's Tale and Part II: The Creature's Tale. The Danish ship Horisont is trapped in the North Atlantic ice. Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen) is determined to get to the North Pole. However, there is something wicked out in the snow. The crew is shocked to find a man with a metal leg dying out in the snow. They are more shocked when a monstrous creature is attacking the Horisont, determined to get at the injured man. A blunderbuss seems to send the creature to the depths of the ocean. 

Weak and in delirium, we hear Victor's tale. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) had a tyrannical father, Leopold (Charles Dance). Leopold, a renowned doctor, favored his younger son, William (Felix Kammerer). Despite his favoritism, Baron Leopold has groomed Victor to follow his footsteps into medicine. Victor is still resentful and grieving over his mother's early death in childbirth. After Baron Leopold's own death, the Frankenstein brothers are separated. William is sent to Vienna, while Victor eventually ends up in Edinburgh.

As an adult, Victor is determined to conquer death itself. The Royal College of Medicine Disciplinary Tribunal denounces his work as sacrilege. There is, however, one man who does not consider Dr. Frankenstein a mad scientist. He is arms manufacturer Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz). In exchange for a favor to be named later, Harlander gives Victor unlimited resources for his research. 

One thing that Victor would have loved to be part of that deal is Harlander's niece, Elizabeth (Mia Goth). Victor falls madly in love with her. Elizabeth, however, has a fiancée, none other than William Frankenstein himself. William finds a remote unused water tower for his brother to conduct his experiments. Harlander grows impatient and soon we know why. On the dark and stormy night that Victor will bring his created cadaver to life, Harlander asks for that favor. Harlander is dying of syphilis and insists on transplanting his brain into the new man's body. It cannot be done, Victor insists. In the struggle, Harlander dies but a new being lives.

A strange, tall being appears to Victor. This is his Creature (Jacob Elordi). Victor is at first thrilled with his new metaphorical son. However, the Creature cannot say anything other than "Victor". Baron Frankenstein considers his experiment a failure. He also does his best to hide Harlander's fate from Elizabeth and William. They eventually discover the Creature. William is shocked but Elizabeth is sympathetic towards the Creature. Things culminate when Victor attempts to destroy everything, including the Creature. 

Now we get to The Creature's Tale. The Creature has forced his way onto the Captain's stateroom where Victor is. He now will tell his story. The Creature survived the explosion (Victor's leg was severed in it, thus his metal leg). He wandered in the forest, coming upon the corpses of dead soldiers. He also has come upon a secluded rustic home where a family ekes out a living. He starts picking up their language and in exchange does secret work for them. They do not know who he is but thank him as "the Spirit of the Forest". When the family leaves to hunt wolves for the winter, the Creature makes his way inside where the Blind Grandfather (David Bradley) welcomes him. He mistakes the Creature for a wounded, shellshocked soldier. Soon, a bond is built, but a wolf attack leaves the Blind Man mortally wounded. To his shock, the Creature finds that he cannot die even after the family, which blames him for the grandfather's death, shoots him.

The Monster Demands a Mate. Who else to get one from than from the bad Doctor himself? The Creature becomes the ultimate wedding crasher when he goes to Victor on William and Elizabeth's big day to make his Tinder request. Nothing doing, says Victor. From this comes a slew of deaths and tragedies. Who will achieve their goal of revenge? Will there be forgiveness? Who will live and who will die?

I will say this about director Guillermo del Toro's take on the Mary Shelley novel. Bill of the Bull certainly throws a big visual feast at the viewer. Frankenstein is luxurious looking, full of grand sets and costumes. They blend a sense of the Victorian era with a more Gothic look. Alexandre Desplat's score is equally grand, doing good work in setting the atmosphere. I would say that his music for when Victor is putting his creature together does sound a bit carnival-like. However, I figure that this was in keeping with the lunacy of reviving the dead.

I grant that it has been ages since I read the original novel. That being said, I do not think that del Toro's screenplay cared much for fidelity to the source material. Even with my hazy recollection, I do not recall Victor having a German sponsor to go all Re-Animator on him. I also think the Creature crashes Victor's wedding to take his revenge on the mad Baron. I do not recall any accidental killings.

Perhaps this is why Frankenstein was not nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film does seem more like a jumping-off point than a straightforward adaptation. I do not know why Frankenstein took such detours. I do think that they made the film much longer than it needed to be. Frankenstein runs a lengthy two-and-a-half hours. I wonder if it needed that much time. It takes ten minutes to go into Victor's story. His story takes up about an hour and a half. The Creature's story takes about as much time. 

I wonder if we needed that Prelude to begin with. I figure that we could have gotten to Victor's story faster. I figure we could have cut down on Victor's backstory with his Daddy and Mommy issues. Exactly why William and Victor were separated to Vienna and Edinburgh is a detail that I might have missed. The less charitable part of me suspects it was so that William's German accent could make sense. I also figure the one-sided flirtation between Victor and Elizabeth could have been cut down a bit. The Creature's story of being the Spirit of the Forest too could have seen some trimming.

In terms of acting, Jacob Elordi is the Frankenstein cast member who was singled out with a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Oddly, I do not begrudge this nomination. The role is perfectly suited for Elordi's acting skills. He is tall and he is emotionless. Those are the only attributes that Jacob Elordi is capable of bringing to any role that he does. As with Amy Madigan in Weapons, I suspect that it is hype that got Elordi recognized for his flat Creature. 

As a side note, I am curious on a technical point that I trust others can guide me on. During his time with Victor, the Creature was bald. Once he escaped the inferno, the Creature was able to grow hair. I was wondering how that happened. 

In fairness to Elordi, he was a model of restraint compared to two of his costars. Oscar Isaac delved into his Victor with almost crazed abandon. Veering between hammy and crazed, Isaac was pretty much on mad scientist mode. It is as if his enunciations had to carry such a grand manner as to look downright hilarious. Falling not far behind is Waltz. He went all-in on the Prometheus tie-in. "Can you contain your fire, Prometheus, or are you going to burn your hand before delivering it?", Harlander tells the bad doctor early on. That, perhaps, I can let slide. However, the second mention of Prometheus was a bit too overdone. "I WILL BE THE EAGLE THAT FEEDS ON YOUR LIVER!" a crazed Harlander tells Victor as they struggle in their final confrontation. Del Toro's line is already a bit too on-the-nose. Waltz's delivery makes it a bit hilarious.

Mia Goth was the standout in Frankenstein. She was gentle but shrewd throughout the film. Goth could be catty against Victor's incessant attempts at wooing. She could be gentle and kind with the Creature. Mai Goth elevates all her costars whenever she works with them. 

In terms of production, Frankenstein does exceptionally well. Fidelity to the Mary Shelley novel is a bit hit-or-miss. The film is worth viewing for the lavish sets and costumes. It is, however, longer than it should be. it also has acceptable though not great performances save for Mia Goth. It is fair to say that Frankenstein is a bit of a monster production. 

DECISION: B-