Frankenstein (2025)

A new Guillermo del Toro film is always something to celebrate, as a film fan you don't need me to tell you that. You also don't need me to map out the plot or synopsis to what is one of the most famous tales of all time; Mary Shelleys' 1818 novel has been adapted numerous times, with plenty of big hitters involved throughout the years when it comes to cinematic portrayals.

For del Toro, this has always been something that he wanted to offer his own imprint on, and finally, after a career spanning decades, he gets his chance- given to him, just like his last production (2022's Pinocchio) by Netflix. It's frustrating that as a result of this we don't get a huge release of Frankenstein because, needless to say, any del Toro production is worthy of the biggest screen possible. But, as I've said before, I'd rather these films were made than not, especially by people like del Toro.

Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein, rather superbly, and Jacob Elordi is excellent as the monster. And Mia Goth arrives as Victor's sister-in-law to be, and lays her own marker down as one of the finest actresses working today. The film opens near the end of the narrative, with the monster tracking Victor to a ship stuck in ice- and while he closes in, we hear Victor's tale of how he got here, told to the ship's captain, while the second half of the film offers us the monster's version of events.

Del Toro needs to bring his own ideas and style to a tale that you feel is almost as old as time itself, and unsurprisingly he does so with aplomb, complete with a staggering production design and a beautiful score by Alexandre Desplant. Frankenstein is unmistakably del Toro's work which is why it works so well; we might well all know the story from back to front but to see it on screen and immediately be aware of who's directing, is credit to del Toro for placing us in this world and keeping us there, gripped for much of the film.

The middle section of Frankenstein lags slightly, and at two and a half hours is a touch too long. But the final third is absolutely terrific, and Elordi's monster fully immerses you in his tragic tale- just as Isaac does in the first half with his own.

Christoph Waltz and Charles Dance also provide entertaining support, with Dance all too briefly involved, and there are demons at play throughout- and del Toro manages to offer up the same themes of humanity and unchecked ambition you'd expect, and understandably leaves you with the very same questions the tale always has.

It's always tricky for a remake- and in terms of Frankenstein, we've been here so many times before, it's hard to imagine who can pull something new from it. There will be many arguments (there already have been amongst critics) about how successful del Toro has been with his adaptation, but if you could think of one director who you'd want to direct a Frankenstein adaptation- surely del Toro would be close to the top of that list.

For me, strangely enough, the del Toro film that Frankenstein reminded me most of was Crimson Peak (2015), one that very much split opinion on release but that I rather liked. Frankenstein isn't del Toro's best film- it's not even close to something like The Devil's Backbone (2001) or Pan's Labyrinth (2006) for example; but this is an extremely solid, occasionally brilliant remodeling of a tale that we probably didn't need another adaptation of- but I'm certainly glad we got. 7.8/10