Egotistical scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose experiment in creating new life results in dangerous consequences.
Guillermo del Toro is one of the best contemporary directors... fantastic, in fact, but this just does not reflect it.
It lacks grit, which is surprising for a gothic horror. It's all runtime, which adds very little; the abandoned tower doesn't fit with the rest of the film. It feels cheap in places, and the CGI wolves and rats undersell it. The creature aside, many of costumes while well designed all look BBC drama off the rack new, with no wear or tear.
That said, the ship stuck in ice is a visual treat, and there's some impressive gore, and cadaver effects. Editing by Evan Schiff is first rate, Dan Laustsen's cinematography has it moments here and there, and Alexandre Desplat's score is effective enough.
It's not stylistic like Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Hammer or Universal's Frankenstein, and in contrast it's not as visceral as Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), or as grounded as Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire (1994). It simply lacks the atmosphere of those and Joe Johnston's The Wolfman (2010) managed to create which is a crying shame. It also reflects how good The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015) are.
It feels like much of Mary Shelley's source material is missing. I'd like to think it's due to Guillermo del Toro having to avoid some sort of rights issues mixed up with other on-screen incarnations.
Mia Goth is on form; Jacob Elordi makes a great creature. Christopher Waltz is notable but lacks screen time, though Oscar Isaac sadly feels off. Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson is memorable; also, blink and you miss Charles Dance, who is sorely underused. Both Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein, Victor's younger brother, and David Bradley as a Blind Man leave an impression.
Overall, I'd watch all the other aforementioned films and series' again. But this disappointingly doesn't have that pull.
No comments:
Post a Comment