We take a look at what is being said about Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi.
The Guardian: *** “Heartsinkingly, Del Toro will insist on making his monster more of a supernatural daemon, resistant to bullets. Although I have to concede the ingenuity and verve with which Del Toro pulls off a storytelling switch to the creature’s own point of view, allowing him to narrate his own experiences after escaping Frankenstein’s lab: absurd, and yet that shift is the lightning-flash that jolts the movie into some semblance of life.”
Time.com: “Guillermo del Toro does nothing by half measures, and his Frankenstein—premiering here at the Venice Film Festival—is so visually ornate, so charged with supersized feelings, that it feels a bit like four and a half movies squeezed into one. That’s both a plus and a minus.”
ScreenDaily.com: “When Frankenstein attempts emotional delicacy, del Toro’s occasionally awkward, on-the-nose screenplay undercuts the quieter moments. The unrequited longing Victor feels for Elizabeth fails to resonate, just as her growing affection for the creature comes across as forced. As is often the case with del Toro’s pictures, Frankenstein is frequently a triumph of spectacle over nuance — grand gestures over precise character insights. Still, by envisioning this confrontation between its paired protagonists as an epic metaphor for humanity’s hubris at trying to play God, the filmmaker knows who the novel’s true monster is.”
The Daily Mail: **** “The great director also knows how to dish up a feast for the senses. With its sumptuous sets and costumes and rousing score, Frankenstein is splendid on both the eye and the ear.”
Deadline.com: “It is hard to imagine any other filmmaker who could bring the Gothic spirit to this property better than this one. It is simply because del Toro has more to say, and more emotion to lay on, in this genre than anyone out there. He has proven it in different ways in Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, Pinocchio and certainly his Best Picture and Best Director Oscar winner The Shape of Water. 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? Do we have aspects of both in us?”
The Independent: *** “Jacob Elordi is a very sympathetic monster in this visually stunning but thematically lacking film, which co-stars Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Del Toro acknowledges James Whale’s 1931 masterpiece of the same title as a formative influence and his version draws also from its arguably even better sequel, 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein. That becomes apparent in The Creature’s Tale, when he escapes the castle and finds shelter in an isolated farmhouse with a blind old man (David Bradley, wonderful), overjoyed to have companionship. One of the film’s most touching moments is the Creature learning the word “friend.” That’s just the beginning of his education, with books opening up a whole world of language and knowledge.”
Radio Times: ***** “With burnished, beautiful cinematography from Dan Laustsen, a highly-charged score from Alexandre Desplat, and exquisite production design from Tamara Deverell, del Toro’s film is unquestionably one of the most beautifully crafted films you’ll see this year.”
RogerEbert.com: **** “Del Toro’s sense of design, executed by his crackerjack production and costume people, including regular collaborators Tamara Deverell and Kate Hawley, constantly hits you with surprising bits of visual synchronicity.”
Variety.com: “Exteriors are unconvincing, which undercuts the illusion del Toro is trying to achieve, such that a scene with CG wolves looks too fake to be upsetting. “Frankenstein” takes a turn toward the profound about halfway through, when Elordi bursts onto the ship and assumes the narration for the benefit of the Scandinavian captain (Lars Mikkelsen). It’s moving to hear him recount how he escaped his burning tower, twisting free of his chains — a slave elevated to Marvel superhero.”
Time Out: **** “Some might feel that in being given rejuvenating superpowers of healing, the Monster is more Wolverine than Boris Karloff, but this is not your grandparents’ Frankenstein (your parents got Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein and we don’t talk about it). As with The Shape of Water, del Toro makes no secret of where his sympathy lies and who the real monsters are, but there are surprises here. Not least of which is how moved you might feel in the end.”
Frankenstein will be released in select cinemas on the 17th October and out on Netflix on the 7th November.