Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Kenneth Branagh’s 123-minute Gothic adaptation, is now streaming on Netflix. The 1994 film stars Branagh as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro as the creature, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth and Aidan Quinn as Captain Robert Walton.
De Niro is best known for intense dramatic roles, from Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull to the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. His filmography also includes the more divisive Louis Gara in Jackie Brown, as well as Righteous Kill and Dirty Grandpa.
That makes his casting as Frankenstein’s monster particularly unexpected. Branagh’s version follows the broad shape of Mary Shelley’s novel, but its heightened performances, romantic melodrama and elaborate visual style give the story a distinct identity. It is less interested in subtle horror than in grief, obsession and the consequences of abandoning a creation.
A tragic journey from the Arctic to the laboratory
The story begins in 1794, with Captain Walton and his crew stranded when their ship becomes trapped in Arctic ice. A mysterious, cloaked Victor arrives and begins recounting the events that led him there, while an unexplained roar suggests that something dangerous is nearby.
Victor describes his childhood, his medical studies and his discovery of research concerning the creation of life. After assembling a body from human remains, he is horrified by the result and refuses to guide or comfort the being he has brought into the world.
The abandoned creature later seeks shelter with a blind patriarch and tries to understand humanity, but his appearance prevents him from building lasting relationships. Once he learns who made him and why he was rejected, he turns against Victor and begins a violent campaign of revenge.
Eventually, the creature demands a female companion and promises to leave Victor and humanity alone if that request is granted. Victor agrees, but cannot complete the second creation, setting the stage for further tragedy.
Robert De Niro brings sorrow to the monster
Branagh directs the film with the same appetite for theatrical spectacle found in his other literary and period productions, including his four-hour Hamlet and the later Agatha Christie mysteries Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
That energetic approach will not suit every viewer. Victor’s passion drives his decision to play God, yet his responses to each crisis are often impulsive and evasive. The film’s heightened tone can make its shifts in mood feel uneven, but it also brings the emotional extremes of Shelley’s story to the surface.
De Niro’s performance supplies the film with much of its emotional weight. The creature is not presented as a simple brute: he is intelligent, curious and exhausted by the cruelty directed towards him. His need to understand his origins, his maker and his own soul gives the character a mournful philosophical dimension.
“What of my soul? Do I have one? What of these people of which I am composed?”
The creature’s scenes are generally the most affecting in the film. Elizabeth also receives a more tragic role than she does in the novel, although the adaptation’s changes are delivered with the same broad, melodramatic force as everything else.
A lavish Gothic adaptation with limited scares
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is not a radical reworking of the classic novel. Its horror is weakened by the emphasis on romance and spectacle, rather than sustained fear, but the production remains visually striking. The Arctic sequences in particular convey the isolation shared by Victor and his creation.
Viewers looking for a restrained interpretation may find Branagh’s choices excessive. Those willing to embrace a passionate period drama will find strong performances, striking imagery and a melancholy story about responsibility, rejection and revenge.
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
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