Netflix placed a pretty big bet when it gave director Guillermo del Toro $120 million to remake Frankenstein.
The streamer even gave Frankenstein a limited theatrical release last month, which is something it rarely does.
Oscar Isaac stars in the film as Victor Frankenstein, while Jacob Elordi plays Frankenstein’s monster, or the creature as he’s known here.
If there’s one movie you should stream this weekend, Watch With Us‘ pick is Frankenstein on Netflix.
‘Frankenstein’ Is an Oscar Contender
Del Toro is the only living filmmaker who has won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for making a monster movie. But he just might do it again at the next Academy Awards, because Frankenstein really could be another Best Picture contender. This film has been one of del Toro’s passion projects for over two decades, and that may account for why it’s so visually arresting.
Each scene in Frankenstein seems to be meticulously crafted, and del Toro’s commitment to practical sets and special effects goes a long way towards making the film feel like a work of art. There have been Frankenstein movies for nearly a century now, but few filmmakers have ever attempted to tell the story at this scale before. It’s a feast for the eyes, and a tragedy in the making.
‘Frankenstein’ Faithfully Captures the Novel’s Dueling Narratives
The famous Universal Monsters Frankenstein movie from 1931 was actually an adaptation of a play rather than Mary Shelley‘s original novel. A lot of the Frankenstein films that came after that followed its example. Del Toro’s Frankenstein is more closely based on the book than anything else. And that’s why the creator, Victor Frankenstein (saac), and his creature (Elordi) both get the chance to share their stories.
Shelley’s novel has dueling narratives of Frankenstein and the creature, which del Toro includes in this film. For roughly the first half, it’s Victor’s story. And then it becomes the creature’s tale for the rest of the movie. Del Toro stayed pretty close to the original text, but he couldn’t resist making a few changes, including the creature’s unexpected bond with Elizabeth Harlander (Mia Goth), the woman Victor loves.
Jacob Elordi Gives the Performance of His Career
Oscar Isaac does a great job of building Victor up to be an unparalleled genius who feels he’s qualified to play God by bringing his patchwork creature to life. And yet the best acting in this film comes from Jacob Elordi as the creature. This film’s take on the creature is more talkative than previous takes on this classic character. But it allows Elordi to demonstrate that the creature does have a mind and a soul.
Elordi brings out the creature’s physicality, and the full-body makeup he wore for the character was also impressive. He can be gentle, or he can be lethal. But he’s imbued with such humanity by Elordi that the creature has our sympathy.
Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
