There are some directors that when you here that there making another movie you straight away get excited for that movie and well Guillermo Del Toro. Is one of those directors and with his latest film technically being released as it has a received a limited theatrical release before being released on to Netflix it only made sense that I review his latest film and so the join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the film that is easily better then what The Bride is going to be with the film in question being called simply just "Frankenstein" enjoy.
The plot of this film is hoping to defeat death after the death of his beloved mother Victor Frankenstein creates something that may bring the end to both of them. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good as while this films plot is basically a more direct adaptation of the book even down to the main artic setting however tho this films plot is still one that's really interesting as while it is a more faithful retelling of the book it's also not afraid to just be it's own thing something which does come through in how the film tells it's story and while this films plot is still really good it's also one that's not as strong as it perhaps could have been as it was hard to tell just what the main plot of the film was even meant to be alot of the tie with the film instead feeling more like a novel than an actual film as it takes so long for the film to explain things which is fine for a book as there you can have as many pages as you need to tell the story but in a film you have set amount of time and to have vast chunks of time in just setting things up and not paying them off as something that does hurt the plot alot more then help it with it feeling like this films writer , director and producer Guillermo Del Toro wanted to get across that he was a fan of the book which is fine but it's something that shouldn't come in the way of telling a genuinely good story in it's own right with the plot of the film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein , Jacob Elordi as The Creature and Mia Goth as Lady Elizabeth Harlander and Baroness Claire Frankenstein. Also starring in this film is Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein , Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson , Christoph Waltz as Henrich Harlander , David Bradley as The Blind Man , Lauren Collins as Alma , Sofia Galasso as Anna-Maria , Ralph Ineson as Professor Krempe , Burn Gorman as Executioner and Charles Dance as Baron Leopold Frankenstein.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty i i all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this being something that's not really all that surprising for two reasons the first which being the fact that Guillermo Del Toro does have alot of good acting in all of his films with it being made clear as day that he's a director that really does know how to get a good performance out of all of his actors with the second thig being the fact that alot of the actors that are in this film are a bunch of really good actors in there own right as actors like Mia Goth and Oscar Isaac for example have proven time and time again that they are really good actors and they do indeed prove it again in this film however tho this films best actor quite clearly have to be Jacob Elordi as The Creature as while Oscar , Mia and Christoph can all use there facial features to get across there characters emotion Jacob really can't under all of that heavy make up and therefor has to rely on nothing more then body language and movement and yet he pulls it off so well with him getting across everything that The Creature is thinking and feeling in almost all of the scenes that he's in and while no one will ever be able to top what Boris Karloff did in the role in 1931 Jacob however manages to make the role his own whilst still turning in a really good performance in his own right with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script was just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the CGI for this film is Herne Hill Media , Hotspring and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Industrial Light & Magic. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty 9 in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the makers of this film really only using CGI when they have to and not when they want to which is a the best way to use CGI as it would have been super easy to have alot of this film be done inside of a computer and even have The Creature be an entirely animated character but there not and he's not with the film really only using CGI to great things like fire and lightening and even the ship that the characters are on does seem to be fully CGI with the film even having alot of CGI when Victor is claiming up to attack the device that would allow the lightening to hit the creature which even then seems like it was done more for practical reasons as one you obviously won't want your leading actor up on a very tall building whilst it's raining and two you can't predict when your going to a have a thunder storm therefor the only way to do that scene was with CGI backgrounds and lightening and while the film does over use CGI fire which does look decent but it's never going to top the real thing even this films bad looking effects still look some what decent because of the fact that there's more practical elements there which makes it alot more easier to blend those effects into the finished film.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like a film like The Hateful Eight which told it's story in chapters this film does the exact same with the film having three chapters with the first one being the prelude or basically the prolog and then we have Chapter One "Victors Tale" and finally there's Chapter 2 "The Creatures Tale". With Chapter 1 feeling more like a very loose remake of the original Frankenstein film as we do get to see pretty much alot of the things that was covered in that film only now we get alot more backstory for Victor with it being reveled that he has a brother who he doesn't really get along with that well and they had a father who pretty much hated Victor but loved his brother but what's odd is that whist Chapter 1 is pretty much a remake of the Frankenstein film Chapter 2 is pretty much a remake of The Bride Of Frankenstein with that chapter hitting on alot of the same plot elements from that film and whilst yes that film is pretty much just a carbon copy of alot of the book it still feels weird seeing things that are closely associated with that film like The Blind Man and The Creature learning to talk be featured in this film despite the fact that they were originally in the book with the only thing that's different being the fact that Victor doesn't create a Bride for his monster which really is a shame as seeing what Guillermo Del Toro could have done with The Bride as a character is pretty interesting to think about but given that this film is pretty much a more direct adaptation of the book it does make sense that he follow the book almost to a fault but at the same time tho it is odd that elements that are more well known for being in The Bride Of Frankenstein are suddenly showing up in this film for no rhyme or reason as those moments on their own don't really add anything to the plot of this film but they do add alot to this films version of The Creature.
To be frank I do very strongly feel that this film will be better then the upcoming remake of Bride Of Frankenstein which is called The Bride. As this film whilst still doing new and interesting things with the characters is still respectful to the source material whereas just based on the films teaser trailer and posters The Bride looks like it has nothing to do with the world of Frankenstein and the world that Mary Shelly created back 1818 with this film from a visual stand point looking very visually stunning with there being alot of practical sets which is something that Guillermo Del Toro himself insisted upon as it's proper old school hollywood film making and whilst The Bride does look like that it has practical sets as well it also looks like something that would be better off as a direct to DVD or even a straight to streaming movie and while yes this film has also gone direct to streaming you can't tell that that was always going to be the plan as it looks like the kind of film that you'd want to see on the big screen and not something that you'd expect to see on your computer screen with this being due to the fact Guillermo Del Toro is a fan of film making and will do anything to make the best film possible and it is something tat does show in all of his products as they all have looks to them are very distinctive and are looks that you'll only find in this films as your not going to mix up his take on Pinocchio with say the live action Disney version or that Russian one that stared Pauly Shore as the Guillermo Del Toro Pinocchio film looks like a Guillermo Del Toro film as it has alot of love and passion put into it where as The Bride just based off of the teaser trailer alone looks like that it's lacking that passion.
Where this film does somewhat fall apart is in it's characters as the film spends far to long in setting up Victor. With not enough time spent on making the characters seem all that interesting as the film sets up Elizabeth as Victors love interest but then gets rid of that part of the film once Chapter 1 finishes up with her character not having all that much to her as she's just basically the love interest to both William and Victor and really nothing more then that with William himself basically being a more sane version of Victor and the ships captain doesn't have anything about him that makes him interesting which I guess does make sense as he's having this story told to him and so we don't really get to see that much of him and what little of him we do see is just him asking Victor and later The Creature questions and that's really it with the only somewhat interesting character in the whole film outside of Victor being of course The Creature as this is a character that does go from loving Victor as the only father figure that he'd ever known really to hating him due to the fact that Victor is expecting progress to be made with him to be quick and easy when The Creature is basically a baby and therefor things like speech and learning words won't come easy to him like they don't come easy to a baby with this version of the character much like the Karloff take on the character all he wants is a friend and father figure and that's it and yet Victor who thinks that he's god because he's created life isn't willing to be either of those things as he's been driven mad and yet when The Creature does indeed lash out at Victor we feel for his character because at his core he's a just a kind and gentle soul with this being something that Guillermo Del Toro really did understand about the character.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and twenty one minuets and fifty one seconds. Which even for a horror film let alone a high end one like this one is is still a pretty long running time to have but my god is it worth it as there's not a single frame that could be cut from the main story of this film as if you loose any scene of this film it does effect the plot of the in a massive way with this film even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time as even tho this film feels like a novel and not a feature film this is a film that really did need a longer running time in order to tell it's story in a way that does justice to the story itself and while this film does use it's running time wisely in one regard in that the films plot is as well as it's ever going to be with the world of the film being as well thought out as you'd expect from a Guillermo Del Toro it's when it comes to the films characters that it doesn't use it's running tome wisely as none of the films characters barring Victor and The Creature are that well developed as characters which is fine for side characters like Henrich Harlander or even Baroness Claire Frankenstein as well as there just side characters at best but for characters like Captain Anderson , The Blind Man , Elizabeth and William there really should have been more thought and effort put into there characters as those are characters that are close to the films main characters and yet we get to find out very little about either of them as the film is alot more focused in giving all of Victor's origin story then it is in giving us good and well thought chaacters but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really well done. As what makes this film scary is the same thing that makes any good Frankenstein scary which isn't the kills but rather it's the idea that a man can play god which is a really creepy and scary idea in it's own right made even more so when that man then goes mad and starts to believe that he is god with this being something that was done really well in this film as we get to see Victor go from this charming and hopeful young man who wants to defeat death and yet due to the fact that he lost his beloved mother and wasn't really loved by his father he goes down this long and slippery slope to pure insanity which does end up with him basically becoming his father when he beats The Creature for saying nothing more then his name over and over again with the idea of man's hubris being big enough that he des believe that he is a god when all he's going is messing with things that are best left alone are themes and ideas and all good Frankenstein media should talk about as it's something that will always need to be talked about with this being film that whilst it doesn't have good kills in it it really doesn't need them as the idea alone is scary enough to make this film worth watching but in saying that tho it would have been nice if this film did have some good kills in it as that would then give us the audience a reason to be scared of The Creature in the first place in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall it doesn't matter if you've seen this film during it's limited theatrical release or if your going wait until November 7th of this year to watch it on Netflix either way you have to watch this film as it is a really good film in it's own right and is a film that you won't regret watching in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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