My Thoughts on Frankenstein (2025)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of those stories that just refuses to die, and it’s been stitched and re-stitched across generations, and every version seems to mirror the era that made it.
This time it is Guillermo del Toro's turn to make his own adaptation, where he divides the film into two chapters - one told through Victor Frankenstein’s perspective, and the other through the creature’s.
The first half follows Victor, played by Oscar Isaac, as he chases his obsession with conquering deathm with Isaac playing Victor like a man hollowed out by grief and ego, a genius who can’t stand his own limitations.
The second half though belongs to the creature, played by Jacob Elordi, and that’s where the movie truly finds its soul with Elordi bringing something fragile, curious, and painfully aware to the role, and even through the heavy makeup, there’s a softness to his eyes that makes every moment of confusion and rejection sting.
The film is also breathtaking to look at, and while Del Toro’s worlds are always carefully built, this one feels especially rich, where the production design by Tamara Deverell and the costumes by Kate Hawley are detailed down to the smallest thread and gear.
Dan Laustsen’s cinematography also gives every frame a painterly texture, and there’s something deeply satisfying about how it’s shot where you could pause the film at any moment and it would look like a classical painting.
Still, as much as I admired the beauty of it all, there are moments where the story feels a bit uneven, and the pacing in the first half drags a bit., with some scenes going on longer than they need to. You can feel del Toro’s affection for the material, but sometimes that affection turns into indulgence.
I do think del Toro’s decision to stay close to Mary Shelley’s text pays off, as so many adaptations turn Frankenstein into a simple story about a mad scientist and his monster, but del Toro actually treats it like a tragedy about creation and consequence.
Victor isn’t just experimenting with life here, he’s running from his own emptiness, and the creature isn’t some misunderstood brute either as he’s the product of that emptiness, desperate for meaning.
Oscar Isaac does everything he can to make Victor’s breakdown feel earned, and Elordi gives the film its emotional weight, with some heartbreaking expressions thrown in. I was surprised at how much humanity he brought to a character that could’ve easily been lost behind the makeup, and their two performances balance each other out nicely - Isaac’s fire and Elordi’s quiet sadness feel like two halves of the same doomed soul.
Towards the end of the film, everything has this tragic inevitability to it, where you know where it’s going, but the emotion still gets to you, and while didn’t think the ending was perfect, as it drags slightly and tries to tie up more than it needs to, I did appreciate the restraint, with just two beings realizing the cost of what they’ve done to each other.
Del Toro certainly isn't trying to modernize Frankenstein or reinvent it just for the sake of being different, as here, he simply tells it with honesty and respect, as it’s dark, poetic, and occasionally messy, but it all feels alive enough for you to feel it.
Frankenstein, through del Toro’s eyes, isn’t about horror at all though - it’s about creation, loneliness, and the things we try to bring to life even when they destroy us, and for that reason alone, I think it’s one of his most personal films that is worth watching.