Frankenstein (2025) Review
a lush take on a legendary tale
Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) continues the director’s pattern of making sweeping epic films with striking cinematography. You know a Del Toro movie is going to look great and bustle with energy.
Del Toro also has penchant for excess, which sometimes slows his pacing to a halt. So how does his version of Frankenstein compare to previous incarnations? Is it worth revisiting this well known tale yet again? Thanks to a fantastic cast and some gripping drama, my answer is an unqualified yes!
Frankenstein has a great cast. Oscar Isaac stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein. After his mother dies in child birth when he’s a kid, Victor becomes obsessed with resurrection. Everyone says he’s a madman, but Victor sees himself as a visionary on the verge of an incredible discovery.
His younger brother William (Felix Kammerer) has a beautiful fiancee, Elizabeth (Mia Goth), who Victor lusts for. He meets her uncle, Henrich Harlander (Christoph Walz), who is interested in funding Victor’s experiments.
As if this distinguished group wasn’t impressive enough, the film also stars the eminent Charles Dance as Victor’s strict father, Baron, and Jacob Elordi as The Monster. You know a director is respected in the industry when he’s able to convince so many venerable actors to appear together in his film.
Speaking of The Monster, he is far different from most previous film portrayals. The classic Boris Karloff monster is great and iconic, but he is much more cartoonish than Del Toro’s version.
The Monster is never referred to as Frankenstein in this film. I am chagrined to admit that I have never read the original Mary Shelly novel (I’m planning to remedy this soon), but my understanding is that The Monster is never given a proper name in the book. It was only later that he began to be called Frankenstein in popular culture.
One parallel between the Karloff and Elordi versions is that both are sympathetic creatures. They’re capable of doing great harm, but their actions are usually because of ignorance, not malice. In fact, it’s Victor who is the true monster of the story. By the third act, even he understands that.
At one point, late in the film, William tells Dr. Frankenstein that he’s always been afraid of him because he’s a monster. This is a minor nitpick, but I don’t like it when directors belabor a theme by having a character state it blatantly. It’s completely obvious that Victor, not The Monster, is the true villain of the story. We didn’t need a character to come out and say it directly.
Frankenstein is 2.5 hours long. This tested my patience but, in fairness, I was rarely bored. The film is reasonably well paced. I could have done without some of the relationship drama between Victor, William, and Elizabeth. Other than that, everything is relevant to the main storyline.
rating
I’ve seen remakes and adaptions this year that lacked a compelling reason to exist, but Frankenstein is not one of them. This is a worthy addition to the lore.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 8
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