Write a commentI'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that I used to work at Blockbuster.
As of the writing of this review, it will have been just under 20 years since I donned the blue polo with the yellow collar. I had all manner of coworkers: movie nerds, potheads, managers whose conduct would most definitely precipitate a lawsuit in today's climate. There was one employee that was exceptionally awful.
In the interest of avoiding a lawsuit myself, we'll call this person Julie. Julie was a year younger than I was and engaged to a man we'll call Johnny. Johnny worked for an independent video store in East Syracuse and that made him believe he was somehow better than the rest of us. It seemed he believed he was executing some dramatic mic drop by saying this to the people of Blockbuster, but he was the one driving 90 miles a day. Even almost 20 years ago, gas ain't cheap. Johnny also was consistently argumentative, petty and didn't believe in deodorant or daily showers. I never tried it out, but I would put money on the fact that if I shut my eyes and ears, I'd be able to tell if he was in the building just using my nose.
Johnny was a terror, but so was Julie. Julie didn't seem to have much of her own personality besides that which she learned from Johnny. She believed she was better than everyone else there. Have you ever had someone attempt to "one-up" you? (A "one-up" is the practice of telling a story to someone and that person counters with a story that is somehow more dramatic and important than your own.) Julie did this all the time. Somehow, any story you told was miniscule and hers was Homer's "The Odyssey".
Besides being difficult socially, Julie also rarely did her job. She would sit around, gossip about others and read magazines just out of view of the cameras for her entire shift. This type of behavior is commonplace for that kind of a job and, normally, it wouldn't bother me, but the fact that she would begin bossing others around to do work was the issue.
Blockbuster used to have this cockamamie practice of doing cash drops in the middle of checking customers out and having the employees pocket the cash until the end of the night. One evening, I was settling into bed and I got a phone call. It was Julie. She forgot to empty her pockets at the end of her shift and she was demanding I meet her at the store so she could return the money. I explained to her that I was already in bed and she began to yell at me.
"Fine! Last time I do any favors for you," she yelled before hanging up.
(Author's Note: Julie had never done any favors for me whatsoever. In fact, it was an open secret that I was her standby scapegoat.)
The store manager, let's say her name was Connie, always complained about Julie. Said she wasn't a good employee, had a terrible attitude and would never amount to anything in the store or in life in general. Connie would get so annoyed by Julie that they would break out into arguments from time to time in front of customers and other employees.
When a shift leader position opened up, both Julie and I applied for it. We both interviewed and Julie ultimately received the promotion. All the bad behavior she had been exhibiting in her tenure as an employee thus far was now seemingly justified considering it did not prevent her from securing the position. She somehow got worse, more gutsy with her incompetence.
After a couple of months in the position, Connie took me into the store office. Connie, for whatever reason, wouldn't call people by their names. Instead, she opted for either "friend", "girlfriend" or, in my case, "boyfriend". It was a harmless verbal tic. That is until a classmate of mine that I was interested in romantically stopped in and I had to explain why my middle-aged manager was using that particular moniker. But, that's another story for another time.
"Boyfriend," she began. "I'm having a major issue with Julie. She's just not cutting it."
Earlier that day, Connie discovered that not only had Julie not done her necessary closing duties, but she also didn't lock the building. Connie didn't discover this until she was in the building by herself counting the deposit and a customer came into the building without her knowledge. Connie only found out when she came out of the store's office to find wet footprints on the tile that weren't hers.
I laughed, shaking my head. "Why are you telling me this?"
Connie, exasperated, rolled her eyes. "I don't know what to do."
I said, "Connie, you created this monster. Now you have to deal with her terrorizing the countryside."
Connie's eyes went blank. "Adam, I don't know why I bother telling you anything."
As has been the story of my life thus far, my references are often lost on people.
The point of my extended prologue is mostly that we, as a society, have varying opinions as to what makes a monster. Without getting too much into it, each and every one of us has our own experiences, trauma and, of course, our own moral compasses. You can always get into conversations with people and you can more or less agree on a great number of things, but once you get into the minutiae of any topic, the cracks start to grow.
Victor Frankenstein (Isaac) is an enormously arrogant man. You've heard people in the past talk about people having "a God complex", I'm sure. I get the feeling that the literary version of Victor is a poster child for this. As far as the film is concerned, Victor was schooled by his abusive father and had an eternal chip on his shoulder. He always had something to prove. You can almost hear Isaac's Victor saying, "You can't tell me what to do, Dad!" In a lesser movie, you may have.
We all know the rest of the story. The story of Frankenstein and The Creature (here played brilliantly and with abundant soulfulness by Jacob Elordi) has been around for ages. Some movies have adapted it outright (see: "Frankenstein" (1931) and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"). Others take the idea and make it their own (see: "Frankenhooker", "Frankenweenie"). I guess the point I'm making here is it's kind of a tired story at this point. How do you make a story we all know into something that is still interesting and entertaining?
Enter Guillermo del Toro. For just over three decades, the man has been one of the most consistent directors we have. While some of his films have scraped genius, none have been outright bad. According to all the press, del Toro has been wanting to make a film about Frankenstein for years. This is essentially his bucket list movie.
Considering all of that, you would think he would have some kind of a new take on the material. Yes, there's something to be said about being completely loyal to the text, but to the degree we see it in this film, it creates a distance between the film and the audience. I never really identified with Victor. Isaac plays him with all the intensity we've come to expect from the actor, but I never really got the emotional "oomph" towards the end with the end of his arc.
On the complete flip side, Elordi knocks it out of the park. His take on The Creature is one of del Toro's most empathetic characters. For sure, del Toro has been playing with monsters you can identify with his entire career, but Elordi throws his entire being into this character. Once we get to the back half of the film, Elordi's mere presence on screen gives you a lump in your throat.
The supporting cast are all great, too, with special shoutouts to Goth and Bradley. The production design is impeccable. There are a lot of great things about this film. But, that doesn't mean the film is not without its flaws.
The CGI and some moments of the cinematography really stop this from a perfect rating. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but many of the special effects shots don't look integrated enough. When Victor climbs the tower in the lightning storm, it doesn't look realistic at all. I can almost hear it now, "Adam, you moron, it's a fantasy film."
Yes, I get that. One of my favorite films of all time is Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow". That also is a fantasy horror film. Some of the special effects in it are wonky, I'll grant you that, but the backgrounds aren't CGI. They're matte paintings. There's something about how everything is integrated in "Sleepy Hollow" that feels much more rich and realistic. del Toro is always talking about how he wants all of his sets and costumes to stand out in his films, and they do, but the effect is muddled with all the CGI backgrounds.
All said, del Toro's "Frankenstein" is worth a watch. I was hoping to be more blown away by it, but there are so many instances of slow pacing that take me out of it. For the record, I would much rather take this film over some of the Marvel schlock we've been witnessing in recent years, but this doesn't reach the heights of "Sleepy Hollow", "Bram Stoker's Dracula" or even del Toro's own "Crimson Peak".
del Toro accomplished his goal of humanizing The Creature. He didn't go terrorizing the countryside. He was just misunderstood. Maybe that's true of Julie as well.
No, I take it back. She's awful.
Frankenstein (2025)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, David Bradley, Charles Dance
Runtime: 149 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images.
Rating (out of ****): ***
"Frankenstein" is available on Netflix with a subscription.
