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So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Friday, November 05, 2010

Movie Review - Splice

Splice (2010)
Starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, and Delphine Chanéac 
Directed by Vincenzo Natali

Splice seems to be asking the question as to whether science has gone too far when it comes to cloning. While the film offers an answer, the implications of cloning are somewhat brushed aside to allow room for some cheesy horror story to play out.  A better balance between these two sides would have made for a much better movie, although the flick is not a complete misfire.

Partners in both research and in romance, genetic engineers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) have successfully spliced together genes from a variety of creatures to create a brand new species of animal that will hopefully allow for some great medical breakthroughs with regards to curing various diseases.  Unwilling to stop there, the duo decides to splice human DNA into their next creation.  The hybrid human is successfully brought to term, but the creature has much more aggressive tendencies than regular humans.  Nonetheless, Clive and Elsa decide to watch over the creature and study its growth while attempting to keep it a secret from their colleagues.  As the creature grows and begins to take on more human characteristics, Clive and Elsa find themselves growing emotionally closer to the creature becoming more and more like parents and giving it the name of Dren.  It shouldn't be much of a surprise to discover that things slowly begin to spiral out of control and Dren's animalistic tendencies begin to suppress the human characteristics creating a bit of chaos.

I actually bought into the premise which certainly works in the film's favor (although it did remind me of some other movie that I can't quite put my finger on).  The problem really lies in the fact that the horror side of the film just isn't all that scary.  When Dren, who started out more animal-like, begins to shift from human back to animal again, the special effects (which should have elicited some excitement or tension) veered towards the cheesy side.

It doesn't help that both Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are about as exciting as watching paint dry.  It amazes me that Brody actually won an Oscar because in every single thing that I've seen him in post-Pianist, he is emotionless.  [I need to go back and watch The Pianist and see if he's as good as I remember.]  I've also seen Polley in a few things and, like Brody, she's just vacant all the time.  There's very little chemistry between these two supposed lovebirds.

Surprisingly, though, I wasn't completely turned off by Splice, but I can't really pinpoint anything beyond the premise that really won me over.  My rating below may seem a tad high based on my review above, but it falls into that "Meh" category that I wouldn't exactly recommend to people, but wouldn't tell people to shy away from.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

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