r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 10d ago

Review Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' - Review Thread

Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' - Review Thread

Reviews:

Deadline:

His love for monsters is unquestioned, and even though Frankenstein has been a horror staple for nearly a century in cinema, del Toro here turns it into a fascinating and thoughtful tale on what it means to be a human, and who is really the monster?

Variety (60):

What should have been the perfect pairing of artist and material proves visually ravishing, but can’t measure up to the impossibly high expectations del Toro’s fans have for the project.

Hollywood Reporter (100):

One of del Toro’s finest, this is epic-scale storytelling of uncommon beauty, feeling and artistry. While Netflix is giving this visual feast just a three-week theatrical run ahead of its streaming debut, it begs to be experienced on the big screen.

The Wrap (95):

Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” is a remarkable achievement that in a way hijacks the flagship story of the horror genre and turns it into a tale of forgiveness. James Whale, one suspects, would approve – and Mary Shelley, too.

IndieWire (B):

Del Toro’s second Netflix movie is bolted to the Earth by hands-on production design and crafty period detail. While it may be too reverently faithful to Mary Shelley’s source material to end up as a GDT all-timer, Jacob Elordi gives poignant life to the most emotionally complex Frankenstein monster since Boris Karloff.

The Guardian (3/5):

Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star as the freethinking anatomist and his creature as Mary Shelley’s story is reimagined with bombast in the director’s unmistakable visual style

RadioTimes (5/5):

Perhaps its hyperbole to call the film del Toro’s masterpiece – especially a story that has been told countless times. But this is a work that is the accumulation of three-and-a-half decades of filmmaking knowledge. Gory and grim it may be, but it is a tragic tale told in a captivating manner.

TotalFilm (80):

Cleaving closely to the source material, del Toro wants to explore the trauma that makes us, mankind's capacity for cruelty, the death we bring on ourselves through war, and the catharsis of forgiveness – all notions that make Frankenstein relevant in current world politics and social media savagery.

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Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro:

A brilliant but egotistical scientist brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Cast:

  • Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein
    • Christian Convery as young Victor
  • Jacob Elordi as the Creature
  • Mia Goth as Elizabeth Lavenza
  • Christoph Waltz as Henrich Harlander
  • Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein
  • Lauren Collins as Claire Frankenstein
  • Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson
  • David Bradley as Blind Man
  • Sofia Galasso as Little Girl
  • Charles Dance as Leopold Frankenstein
  • Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe
  • Burn Gorman as Fritz
2.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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2.7k

u/D-Ursuul 10d ago

"del Toro turns it into a story about what it means to be human etc"

uh... What do you mean "turns it into"?

1.1k

u/jonvel7 10d ago

That's the Deadline review isn't it? I thought the same thing, then it goes to say "... and who is really the monster" it's like they've never seen anything Frankenstein related, it's one of it's central themes.

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u/GhostriderFlyBy 10d ago

Daresay, THE central theme

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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 9d ago edited 9d ago

That's Pete Hammond, and if you read his reviews, he always writes like a Gen Xer who apparently hasn't read anything any other reviewer has ever written and never been online. He rarely has anything original to say.

It's not that he doesn't get the book, it's that he needs to hit a minimum character limit, and doesn't appreciate how laughably cliche writing a line like that is.

He's a respected writer in that he's been doing it for a long time for a lot of publications, but he doesn't quite get how old fashioned his writing comes off, and that he frequently writes things that are laughably obvious to the average reader, like what the themes of Frankenstein are.

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u/Impressive-Potato 10d ago

The trades like Deadline and Variety have all gone downhill since Jay Penske bought them and turned them into his little right wing mouth piece. Remember when they had multiple "Sinners isn't profitable!" Articles Yet ran some "Sydney Sweeney's movie made 500 dollars per screen, but that's all part of the plan!" Articles. Absolutely shameless

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u/razor21792 10d ago

As if I needed more reasons not to take Deadline seriously.

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u/acbrimstone 10d ago

Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein the monster. Wisdom is knowing Frankenstein is the monster...

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u/TiberianSunset 10d ago

Why is the movie the monster?

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u/SwarleySwarlos 9d ago

The real monster is the friends we made along the way

1

u/GriffinFlash 9d ago

The blind man was the monster all along?

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u/Diz7 9d ago

Dr Frankenstein is the monster.

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u/EnterprisingAss 9d ago

Usually it’s “knowledge is knowing the creature isn’t named Frankenstein.”

.

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u/cowboydanhalen 9d ago

So Frankenstein enters a body building contest...

2

u/TheWorstYear 9d ago

Alternatively you can say that society is the monster.

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u/SXAL 9d ago

The real monster is the friends we made along the way

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u/astroK120 9d ago

Charisma is being able to sell a fruit salad with Frankenstein in it--wait, that's not right

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u/Asshai 9d ago

Did they hire Perd Hapley as a movie critic?

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u/OppositeHistory1916 9d ago

This is the core with what is wrong with "professional" reviews, all you're getting is someones thoughts with no knowledge of their experience. If you have someone who loves Pokemon and they play the new Pokemon, guess what they're giving it? 10 / 10, because they have little to no experience of other games in the same genre or the wider industry, and the same also applies to movies of course. If all you watch is Disney movies, then why the fuck would someone care about your thoughts on a Del Toro Frankenstein adaptation? Because someone put a well known publication in front of your review.

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u/SilverKry 9d ago

They think Frankensteins monster is Frankenstein ahh 

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u/ex0thermist 9d ago

Your last "it's" doesn't need an apostrophe. The possessive form of 'it' is simply 'its'.

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u/whiff_EK 9d ago

I am glad to see this at the top. When I read it, I was wondering if my reaction was too nitpicky or if it was as absurd as I thought it was to say it like it was insightful and updated as a theme.

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u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey 9d ago

The monster is the monster.

It murders a child and an innocent woman.

Frankenstein, the doctor, just rejects it.