RIOTUS

For the first time in a very long time, I’ve seen a Guillermo del Toro and not really known how I’ve felt about it even twenty-four hours after I’ve seen it. I’ve liked films that others have been cold on; Nightmare Alley and Pinocchio were easy for me to latch onto, yet this time, I still don’t know. The film I’m stuck on is his new film, his take on Frankenstein, released by Netflix. I was lucky enough to see it on a big screen, the Big Show screen at an Alamo Drafthouse, and the sound was top-notch. I was ready for this Milkshake on the table, ready to see what Oscar Issac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz had in store for me. With GDT writing and directing another monster movie, I expected a visual feast, and I don’t think I got that, but I think that has more to do with constraints than vision.

Here, GDT embellishes on the tale using the structure of the original novel of three parts. The opening setpiece reminded me of a Victorian Resident Evil 3 (the game, never the movies), with The Creature chasing after Victor Frankenstein like how Nemesis hunted Jill Valentine. Even screaming his name, I was like damn, I guess GDT is a Capcom fan like me. The film then goes into Victor’s tale from his upbringing (played by Christian Convery) with his oppressive father, Baron Leopold Frankenstein played perfectly by Charles Dance. Much like the book, the loss of this mother, along with this addition of father dynamic, gives Victor an even more relatable origin story for his reason why he wants to play god – to go beyond his own father’s genius.

Issac does well with playing the obsessively driven man, controlled by ambition and imagination; it’s hard not to see his version of Victor Frankenstein in the mold of the modern tech industry entrepreneur, with his push to do something without ever considering if he should or what that will do to the world. Issac gives off an energy as Victor that works and feels different from other takes on the character. He has some great scenes with Waltz, and he and Goth work well on screen together. It is he and Elordi that are the key on-screen relationship here. Issac’s Victor, through his performance, is able to bring you from the child he was under his father’s overbearing harshness to his terrible and uncaring treatment of his creation, his Adam. Elordi plays off this so well with his tall frame shrinking into that of a small, weak creature.

I think this film showed off his ability as an actor more than anything he’s done yet. Early on, when the Creature first comes to life, he does so much with his physical performance, at times feeling like that of a dancer in a ballet. Elordi does a lot with his face and his eyes to emote through all that makeup. When the film changes its focus to the Creature, the film becomes a much more melancholy film, and Elordi is able to really capture your attention as you empathize so much with this take on the Creature and tortured life.

As with all GDT films, the production design and makeup is incredible. This is the first time I’ve watched a version of Frankenstein and actually feel like the lab works to bring this man made up from the pieces of others, a living being again. The costuming is very good, with some of the best fits being on Mia Goth’s Elizabeth, which are always quite striking. I wish her character had a bit more to do, even with her role being expanded from the original source material. The makeup on Elordi makes him into a living anatomy drawing, with stitch being a line that accentuates his body and also brings to mind that of androids that have been in films since Metropolis, but here, all flesh and bone. His later costume in the Arctic is a very iconic look as well, top-tier coat game in this film.

As I continue thinking about this film, I feel that what stood out to me over and over is that the scale of the cinematography is small. While the images look good, they are immaculate and full of color. The composition of what you see in a frame is all great. There aren’t many big shots to use the breadth of the screen I was seeing it on. GDT, being as great a director as he is, fits his vision in shots that will look great on large flat screen televisions or home projectors on a wall. It’s this that, when I compare it in my mind with other versions, is what holds this film back. GDT’s Frankenstein is a good film and a fine take on the first science fiction story, with its more romantic take of the Creature, with its center of hope and forgiveness of humanity. This is worth watching, but it might not stick with you in the long term or reach the iconic heights of the Universal take from almost a century ago.