By Ben Wright (@Iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited Frankenstein is exactly the kind of film you’d expect from the visionary director. Lush, haunting, and brimming with visual poetry. Told in three distinct acts, the structure gives the story a theatrical rhythm, allowing each section to breathe and explore its themes in depth. However, while the acts work well both individually and as a cohesive whole, the film does stumble slightly with pacing. At times, it feels drawn out, and narratively, it doesn’t do quite enough to separate itself from previous interpretations of Mary Shelley’s classic. The familiar beats are all here. Ambition, creation, rejection, and tragedy, and while del Toro executes them beautifully, one can’t help but wish for a slightly bolder narrative reinvention. Then again, when it comes to del Toro, the bar is always impossibly high.
Where Frankenstein truly excels is in its craftsmanship. Visually, it’s a feast. The production design is immaculate, every frame carefully composed and dripping with atmosphere. The colour palette, muted and moody yet rich with symbolic contrasts, reinforces the film’s emotional tone and deepens its storytelling. Del Toro’s ability to blend the grotesque and the beautiful remains unmatched. The film’s aesthetic perfectly captures the time period while reimagining Shelley’s world in new and vibrant ways, as if her words have been resurrected through gothic oil paintings and candlelit nightmares.
The performances are uniformly stellar. Oscar Isaac throws himself completely into the role of Baron Victor Frankenstein, delivering a performance that switches between manic brilliance and tormented obsession. Jacob Elordi’s turn as The Creature is transformational; his physicality and emotional depth evolve alongside the character’s growing self-awareness, making his journey both tragic and mesmerising. Mia Goth, as Lady Elizabeth Harlander, brings a poised and grounded energy to the film, her subtlety providing a perfect counterbalance to Isaac’s intensity and Elordi’s raw vulnerability. The supporting cast adds further richness: Christoph Waltz brings his trademark charisma as Henrich Harlander, David Bradley gives warmth and gravitas as the Blind Man, Lars Mikkelsen embodies stoic authority as Captain Anderson, and Charles Dance is chillingly regal as Baron Leopold Frankenstein.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein may not be a reinvention of the myth, but it is an exquisitely crafted and passionately performed retelling. It’s a film that feels alive, pulsing with artistry, emotion, and ambition, even when its pacing stumbles. Visually stunning and wonderfully acted, it’s a version of Frankenstein that’s absolutely worthy of your time.
X-Geeks 