{"id":32398,"date":"2025-11-06T21:53:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32398"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:53:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:53:38","slug":"frankenstein-is-grandiose-but-the-drama-isnt-as-gripping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32398","title":{"rendered":"‘t as Gripping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 152 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a theatrical run, this motion picture will be\navailable to stream November 7th<\/sup> on Netflix.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most famous characters in horror literature and\ncinema gets a new adaptation Guillermo del Toro. The writer\/director has never\nstrayed far from the genre, with amazing titles like Pan\u2019s Labyrinth,\nCrimson Peak, The Shape of Water<\/em> and Nightmare Alley<\/em> among many\nothers. This time out, we get his take on Frankenstein<\/em>, which follows\nmany elements of the Mary Shelley source material closely, while also straying\naway to follow a few personal impulses. The result is grandiose and visually\nspectacular, but the gothic melodrama on display isn\u2019t as arresting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A ship searching for a passage to the North Pole by a\nhard-nosed Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen) finds itself stuck in the ice. As\nthe crew tries to free their ship, they are shocked to encounter a strange and\nterrifying presence around the boat. The large and lumbering figure is The\nCreature (Jacob Elordi). They also discover Baron Victor Frankenstein (Oscar\nIsaac). First, the wounded scientist tells his story. It involves domestic\ndrama involving Baroness Claire Frankenstein and Lady Elizabeth Harlander (both\nplayed by 0livia Goth), and his relationship with Henrich Harlander (Cristoph\nWaltz), a benefactor excited by his research reanimating the dead. The second\nsection depicts The Creature\u2019s version of events, eventually venturing out on\nhis own and seeking vengeance on Frankenstein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is a gorgeous-looking technical marvel. Everything,\nfrom the ship lodged in ice, to a university medical theater, as well as an\nestate that looks like it could be adjacent to the haunted house in Crimson\nPeak<\/em>, and every other site in the picture, is consistently dazzling. This\nis a beautifully shot film by frequent collaborator Dan Lausten, and no matter\nwhere the camera is, almost every frame is full of remarkable detail and\ninteresting camera angles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And of course, the cast do well to sell some of the story\u2019s\nclumsier melodramatic elements (which I\u2019ll get into later). Isaac isn\u2019t given\nmuch to do but to behave in an utterly obsessed and cruel manner. This is to\nthe point of complete disregard for the lives of those he cares for, yet the\nactor does manage to keep our attention. Waltz is amusing as a man who has a\nhidden reason for funding Frankenstein\u2019s works, and, even if the\nstitched-together appearance is a bit more subtle than expected, Elordi\u2019s Creature\nis sufficiently looming and brooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are issues with this presentation. The film\ndoes reasonably well in presenting some of the reasons why Frankenstein is so\ntroubled, with early scenes involving him wanting to impress an abusive father\nand bring back his deceased mother. However, the character flies off the rails\nso far, so fast that he becomes completely unsympathetic. Frankenstein is a\ndeeply flawed individual, but the character typically possesses some hints of\nhumanity and regret between his extreme actions. This version of the character\neven commits sadistic acts like murder. In case it wasn\u2019t clear enough,\ncharacters in the feature bluntly tell Frankenstein that he is, \u201c…the real\nmonster,\u201d on numerous occasions. Even viewers not familiar with the story will\nfeel like the themes are being hammered over their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As with other features from the director, he clearly relates\nmore to the Creature. Thus, the story veers off to tell events from that\nperspective (even though, and I could be wrong, it does seem that both\nstorytellers are describing several events that they were not present at). The\nbeing also is presented as far more innocent and less culpable for a couple of\ndeaths in this adaptation. And, while one expects Lady Elizabeth Harlander to\nfeel great empathy for the Creature, it\u2019s a surprise when she appears\nphysically attracted to the undead being without explanation. Sure, it\u2019s a\nunique take on that relationship, but one that doesn\u2019t play out in a convincing\nmanner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the Creature, there aren\u2019t many relatable characters\nand the drama between all the characters stalls as a result. And with such a\nlengthy running time, this adaptation is clunkier than anticipated. Frankenstein<\/em>\nisn\u2019t a bad movie by any means, but it has its share of issues, and doesn\u2019t\nstand as a personal favorite among the filmmaker\u2019s impressive cinematic\ncreations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 152 minutes After a theatrical run, this motion picture will be available to stream November 7th on Netflix. One of the most famous characters in horror literature and cinema gets a new adaptation Guillermo del Toro. The writer\/director has never strayed far from the genre, with amazing titles like Pan\u2019s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,741,3305,4362,7847,7849,7853,7854,7856,7857,8720,9319,10147,13196,13741,14680,15072,15506,17776],"class_list":["post-32398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-adaptation","tag-book-to-film","tag-christoph-waltz","tag-frankenstein","tag-frankenstein-2025","tag-frankenstein-film-review","tag-frankenstein-movie-review","tag-frankenstein-netflix-review","tag-frankenstein-review","tag-guillermo-del-toro","tag-horror","tag-jacob-elordi","tag-marh-shelley","tag-mia-goth","tag-netflix","tag-novel","tag-oscar-isaac","tag-science-fiction-2"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}