Plot
Victor Frankenstein is found half frozen to death by a group of Russian sailors, their boat stuck in the ice.
Victor is being hunted by a seemingly un-killable creature. Having escaped its clutches, Victor tells his story of how the creature came to be – and when it catches up to them… it tells its own story.
Direction
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, it is wonderfully dark and gothic – with brilliant set designs, and such attention to detail in the technical aspects, I could go on and on and on…
This was reportedly his ‘dream’ project, and you can see why he was the only director who had the vision to bring this story to life.
Cast/Characters
Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, who following a traumatic childhood – is hell-bound on creating ‘life from death’
Jacob Elordi plays ‘The Creature’ who becomes almost like his child, and then his foe.
Mia Goth plays Elizabeth Harlander, the fiance to William, and niece to Heinrich Harlander. She also plays Claire Frankenstein both Victor and William’s mother in childhood.
Christoph Waltz plays Heinrich Harlander, a wealthy arms dealer, who helps fund Victor’s experiment.
Other cast members of importance are Felix Kammerer as William, Victor’s younger brother/Elizabeth’s fiance, David Bradley as the blind man who helps nurture ‘The Creature’ following its escape from Victor, Lars Mikkelsen as Capt Anderson – who helps Victor escape The Creature (and listens to their stories), and Charles Dance as Leopold Frankenstein Victor’s cruel father – who doted only on William.
Breakdown
In what Oscar winning Director Guillermo Del Toro has called his passion project, he brings his own take on Mary Shelly’s novel, with some changes to the source material.
Here, Elizabeth is not Victor’s step sister/long time love – but the niece of a wealthy industrialist Heinrich Harlander (written for the screen, and essentially the Professor Waldman of the story. She is also the fiance of Victor’s younger brother William.
What the film does well is the breakdown of the father/son relationship. We get Victor’s story first (changing his childhood from a happy one, to a miserable one – which is the architect to his passion to outshine his loveless father). His obsession over bringing those back from the dead is fueled by his mothers death, and his fathers apathy towards him.
The relationship between ‘the creature’ and Victor is well portrayed, with Victor being an almost ‘abusive father’ – much like his own. Because of the ‘sins of his father’, this leads into the second chapter where we are shown ‘the creature’s’ tale – where he learns about the world from the villagers he assists.
While he is not a gentle soul, he still has a soul.
I loved how the movie seemingly distanced itself from the melodrama of other Frankenstein movies, rather focusing on the human element, such as loneliness (both victor and the creature are alone in their worlds), and some slight love angle Elizabeth’s empathy towards the creature.
Overall
I absolutely loved this.
A solid change up of Mary Shelly’s novel, that work for Del Toro’s vision.
The cast, the set designs, the narrative, the score, the hair and make up… gosh the list is endless.
If I could ask for anything more, it would have been more Christof Waltz as I felt he was a little underused, and more Mia Goth too.
This is a contender for many Oscars at the 2026 ceremony, deservedly so.
4.5/5
Ryan's Movie Reviews 