Movie Review: "Frankenstein" (2025)

This is a spoiler-free review - but seriously, how can you not know the story by now?

So I've finally watched the new Frankenstein movie on Netflix and though I probably would have been better off seeing it in the cinema, I have to admit I haven't been to the cinema in a while. Reasons for not attending are between me and my broken brain at this moment in time - all will be revealed perhaps next year. Anyways, Frankenstein seems to be a popular story to adapt but not everyone can do it well. There are various adaptations that didn't try too hard to stick to the book and yet did very well, there are others that tried to stick to the book and did terribly. One thing I think all of the adaptations have in common though is that none of them are entirely a 5/5 production. Why? Well, man is that book wild! You simply cannot capture that insane atmosphere 100% on a screen. But, let's take a look anyways...

First of all, let's look at the use of colour. The use of colour in this movie is something to be revered. Our director, also the creator of Netflix's Cabinet of Curiosities (which is also madly entertaining) and the classic Pan's Labyrinth shows us a similar style of folkloric colour schemes with dashes of bright red left dotted around an otherwise darkened, gothic canvas. Funeral scenes which reminded me of The Colour of Pomengranites appear in brilliant style, elegance and beauty - making death look almost picturesque (something that the novel does brilliantly as well).

Next, let's have a look at the dialogue. I'm not going to lie, I didn't feel the atmosphere intensify with the dialogue. In the scene where Victor is pleading his case with the partial body on a board which is heaving and catching a rubber ball, I mean it could've been lifted right out of a Harry Potter movie. Sometimes the archaisms sounded rather ridiculous and I understand it is for immersing the audience in the time and place, but it simply didn't have any gravity for me. It didn't move me like other movies set in the same era do. I found sometimes, blended with the jarring difference between some of the characters (which I'm not complaining about), it didn't really do well at keeping me involved with the movie or invested in it. Be that as it may, it was still better than the dialogue delivered by Kenneth Branagh in the 90s Frankenstein movie in which Tom Hulce would've made a much better main character.

Let's talk about the actors. I cannot help but think that Oscar Isaac may have given one of his best performances as Victor Frankenstein (of course since A Most Violent Year), but the real star of the show was a man I had not have heard of until recently - Jacob Elordi as the Monster. This actor is delightful, he really makes the movie more worthwhile. His narration, his movement, he even adds gravity where gravity may have been lost before. His very presence in this film made it a piece of unrivalled cinema. It is quite possibly one of the best portrayals of Frankenstein's Monster I have ever seen. I would, if I may suggest, love to see this actor portray Erik in Phantom of the Opera because I think that could be very interesting.

I'm not going to tell such a profound and brilliant director how to make their movie but I think that there were definitely some points that I personally felt could've been worked on. This doesn't mean they were objectively 'bad' in any way - it just meant that sometimes, they weren't for me. For example: the casting of Christoph Waltz was a bit of a surprise, I didn't even know he was in the movie - nor do I think this was the best use of his talents. But, Mia Goth was perfect as always, a faultless actress. On top of this, Charles Dance is incredible as an overbearing patriarchal figure - something we all remember from Game of Thrones.

All in all, this movie was something of a different experience for me. Everyone gave something to the role. But one thing I will stand by is that I hope this man continues to make these films with a dark, epic and folkloric atmosphere. It thrives, it survives and it is a breath of fresh air. Horror is finally treated as a high-brow, in-depth genre and its continuation will be built on the backs of filmmakers like these.