Frankenstein Review: Jacob Elordi Steals the Show in Guillermo del Toro’s Visually Stunning But Bloated Epic Re-Imagining of Mary Shelley’s Classic Novel

Guillermo del Toro‘s passion project, Frankenstein, is something that he has been trying to bring to life for decades. And thanks to Netflix and a hefty US$120 million budget, he finally got his wish. The result? It’s a technically impressive movie where every budget is well-spent as del Toro insists on championing the extensive use of practical effects. A remarkable visual feast which captures every detail, regardless of Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory or even the ship stranded in the Arctic ice. Believe it or not, the latter is a full-size construction built to scale, which reportedly took six months to put everything together, including the exterior and interior.

The trapped ship becomes one of the major set pieces in Frankenstein, and it can be seen during the opening stretch where the captain (Lars Mikkelsen) first discovers an injured Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). Del Toro does a good job establishing the ominous tone earlier on, with the formidable appearance of the Creature (Jacob Elordi), who looks like a cross of Doctor Manhattan in Alan Moore’s seminal Watchmen comic-book series and Zack Snyder’s 2009 big-screen adaptation, and even the Engineer from Prometheus.

The movie then jumps back to the very beginning, detailing Victor’s (Christian Convery) childhood living an aristocratic life under the strict supervision of his stern physician father, played by Charles Dance. The abusive father-and-son relationship serves as a precursor that will reflect the way Victor treats his creation later in the movie.

But the flashback revolving around his family history mostly comes across as tedious, and it would take a while before the pace picks up again once Victor grows up working as a surgeon, obsessing over playing God in overcoming death using his controversial experiment. His unorthodox method doesn’t sit well with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, but a wealthy arms dealer, Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz), offers him a chance to fulfil his experiment.

From here on, it looks as if del Toro is on the right track, focusing on Victor’s rigorous work ethic in putting together the Creature using various body parts from dead soldiers and criminals. I enjoy Isaac’s performance as Victor Frankenstein, whose mad-scientist arrogance is subtly portrayed without going overboard. And even though there are times he’s on the verge of chewing the scenery, he manages to keep his acting under control. The movie also introduces Elizabeth (Mia Goth), who is Victor’s younger brother’s (Felix Kammerer’s William) fiancée, but her presence is sadly reduced to an underwritten love interest — a waste of opportunity that I barely care about what happens to her character.

Then comes Jacob Elordi, who steals the show as the reanimated Creature. Elordi’s 6’5″ height makes him an ideal choice to play the towering monster, and here is where del Toro works his magic in making us — at least it does well for me — care about the man-made Creature by humanising his character. The Creature is first depicted as a monster possessing a simplistic mind of his character struggling to adapt to his surroundings for the first time.

With the exception of Goth’s character falling for the Creature, which feels like it’s shoehorned for some misguided reasons, the subsequent stretch of Victor and the Creature’s father-and-son-like relationship, highlighting the former’s gradual lack of patience, resulted in the movie’s turning point. This is especially true after, at one point, the movie shifts its narrative perspective from the Creature’s point of view. We see his journey of self-discovery and gaining knowledge, even though the Creature’s presence means he has to endure hardship and trauma from someone who sees him as an outcast.

His melancholic existence gives Frankenstein the heart and soul, despite the movie’s several glaring flaws that I find them hard to ignore. One of which is the bloated 150-minute runtime, occasionally burdened by an inconsistent pace. Del Toro’s decision to delve into the melodramatic excess in some parts could have used a serious case of restraint here. It’s not as great as I thought it would be, particularly given the calibre of del Toro in charge of such a movie that’s right in his wheelhouse. His latest movie is best described as visually sumptuous, with Isaac and Elordi impressing the most in the acting performances, while displaying some flashes of brilliance that characterise the director’s work.

Frankenstein is currently streaming on Netflix.