So, Frankenstein. Some elements were world-class, some were not. The acting was generally, good, especially Jacob Elordi as the monster. Visual effects: absolutely wonderful. The props, especially Victor’s early experimental partial bodies, and every element of the elaborately dressed sets — terrific. The things I assume were CGI, especially the wolves and the human bodies being hurled and tossed — terrific. The ice-bound ship, which I assume was part practical set and part CGI, was lovely. All these visual elements had rich, deep, credible detail.
Well, one visual detail was amusing to any fan of The Lord of the RIngs. At an early point Victor is given possession of a decrepit tower to use for his experiments. The first time I saw this tall weathered stone tower, I thought Orthanc! It was a visual double of Saruman’s tower in the LOTR movies. I kind of suspect del Toro might have done that on purpose, giving the evil scientist the lair of Tolkein’s evil sorcerer to work in.
So what’s your problem, David? Two issues. One, Science. Especially simple physics. So many things were shown that just could not be, like the monster moving that thousand-ton sailing ship. I don’t care how strong he is; if a massive vessel is raised up, there is an equal and opposite force down, which, assuming he was strong enough to support it with his body, would then be pushing down on the ice through his feet. In other words, he would have sunk into the ice before the ship moved an inch. Or when he helpfully pushed large wooden fence posts into the soil just by leaning on them. No. I’ve set fence posts. Strength is not an issue; it’s that he would have to weigh tons to be able to push down that hard without his feet coming off the ground. And all the “electrical” paraphernalia Victor builds and employs, the glowing glass cylinders that represent “batteries” and so forth. None of that made any sense at all.
Second issue is moral. (Spoilers here) At two different times, Victor saves his own ass by blaming the monster for a crime that Victor himself committed. At the end, Victor and the monster reconcile and the monster forgives his “father”, but for me the moral scales don’t balance out; Victor gets off free for two really cowardly betrayals.
Friday 11/14/2025
Took a morning walk with Joanne. Then puttered around until lunch. Following lunch we got in Fred with Lois, and went to the book sale at the Menlo Park Library. I bought a couple of books of poetry.
Back home I took a tech squad call to Susan whose new Macbook I helped install a few weeks back. It had developed a black area on the screen which on close examination was obviously a failure of the LCD screen. Diagnosis, warranty repair time.
After supper I participated in a sing-along session in the lobby. And so to bed.
Codgerville 