Frankenstein (2025)
2025
Directors: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Charles Dance, and more.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
I want to start by saying I love Mary Shelley’s classic tale and I’m a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, so I was very excited about this film once I learned of it. Opinions are divisive on this adaptation but I’m here to defend it. Mostly.
The story opens with Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) discovered half-frozen in the Arctic while a mysterious creature (Jacob Elordi) stalks the ship. Victor recounts his path from ambitious student to fevered scientist, encouraged by a domineering father (Charles Dance) and financed by a morally flexible arms dealer (Christoph Waltz). His infatuation with Elizabeth (Mia Goth), both muse and disruption, only accelerates his descent. When Victor’s obsession finally culminates in the creation of the Creature, horror and heartbreak predictably follow.
The framework is solid and the performances are even better. Elordi, especially, finds layers of innocence, rage, and physical awkwardness that make the Creature feel newly alive. Isaac gives a committed, deeply unpleasant turn as Victor—a scientist hollowed out by his own ego. Goth is magnetic as always.
There were some changes here. William, Victor’s brother, grows to adulthood and Elizabeth is his fiancee. Mia Goth plays both Victor’s mother Claire and Elizabeth, and I get what they were trying to do. They were trying to nail part of Victor’s obsession to the women in his life. For me, this didn’t work. Christoph Waltz as Harlander, Elizabeth’s uncle and Victor’s sponsor, was wasted. I get what they were trying to communicate, but it also didn’t land they way they wanted. It ended up being an arc that not only didn’t work but slowed the momentum in a key sequence.
Emotionally, the film feels like it’s keeping the viewer at arm’s length. Victor dominates so much screen time that the story’s emotional core, the Creature, sometimes feels secondary. Worse, when the Creature’s perspective is narrated rather than shown, the immediacy drains away. Elordi’s performance communicates everything we need, the voiceover only weakens it.
Victor, meanwhile, is written so monstrously that he loses the nuance that usually makes him tragic. Instead of a flawed visionary, he often plays like a comic-book mad scientist. Without complexity, it’s hard to feel anything but disdain.
There is so much here to love. Del Toro’s visual style and thematic fingerprints, the compassion for outsiders, horror born from human cruelty, the delicate line between love and monstrosity, are all there and powerful. The performances are excellent. But the emotional depth and visual ambition you expect from del Toro never fully ignite. Instead of a lightning strike, we get a steady electrical hum. It’s impressive, but not the excellence we hoped for.
Frankenstein (2025) is absolutely worth seeing. It’s thoughtful, beautifully made, and anchored by standout performances. But for a story that has shaped horror, science fiction, and the very idea of the modern monster, the film never becomes the towering, operatic triumph it promises to be.
It’s a good movie, sometimes a very good one, even at two and a half hours. The R rating is deserved. But, sadly, the film isn’t the masterpiece I wanted.
Isy