Splice Review
Vincenzo Natali is definitely one of the most interesting directors working in ''mainstream'' cinema today. With pictures such as Cube, Cypher and Nothing he has proved himself to be a proper original who's at the end of the day simply put is extremely interesting. This is for me an important point to make with splice for whatever you may call it, it is just not dull.
Splice is basically about two young and sort of perfect hollywood scientists who go a wee bit too far by splicing animal and human dna they manage to create an entire new species. Of course the creature isn't just going to stay put and be nice, or is it? The two protagonists are played by Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody, who also just happen to be a couple. Adrian Brody in my opinion is a wonderful actor and Predators was in some ways the last piece of a puzzle that really did show that he can pull off any sort of role effortlessly. Point being: name me three actors that believably would be able to do both Szpilman from the wonderful Polanski movie the Pianist and Royce from Predators. Sarah Polley is someone i really haven't seen before and i felt she didn't really manage this piece. It is probably because there are some quite striking problems with the script concerning the characters and partly because of the fact that she didn't made me buy into everything her character felt, and that is very much the main flaw the movie. Some parts didn't feel properly written and i thought the motivation and explanation for what the characters feels etc... weren't really shown. at all. Secondly, and it's very simple, they should have went with the strength of their convictions and gone all the way with the story because unfortunately, the final 10-15min of the film are just klisché horror movie stuff, and it had until then been too interesting and too gripping to justify bailing out.
What really worked with the movie though was the mood and story. Simply put it is actually quite good and more of a psychological and twisted drama/thriller than a dull slasher or horror film. What the movie has at it's best is a sort of twisted Polanski and Cronenberg vibe going on, you know, bits of psychosexual and bits organic horror.
In any creature sci-fi/fantasy type of film an important part are the creatures. Looking at both the design and the technical elements Splice definitely excels. The cgi is very good (and not overdone), the props look very ''nice'' but where the actual magic happens is in the design department. The main creature (which they name dreN) which is something they created by splicing both human and animal dna. It is a wonderfully weird affair, never knowing which animals they used you are constantly a bit nervous about which properties and abilities it has.
I want to conclude by saying this: Splice is not a a flawless affair, but it has a properly interesting mood and the ideas within are very interesting and gripping. It is something different and that is always worth celebrating.
Splice is basically about two young and sort of perfect hollywood scientists who go a wee bit too far by splicing animal and human dna they manage to create an entire new species. Of course the creature isn't just going to stay put and be nice, or is it? The two protagonists are played by Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody, who also just happen to be a couple. Adrian Brody in my opinion is a wonderful actor and Predators was in some ways the last piece of a puzzle that really did show that he can pull off any sort of role effortlessly. Point being: name me three actors that believably would be able to do both Szpilman from the wonderful Polanski movie the Pianist and Royce from Predators. Sarah Polley is someone i really haven't seen before and i felt she didn't really manage this piece. It is probably because there are some quite striking problems with the script concerning the characters and partly because of the fact that she didn't made me buy into everything her character felt, and that is very much the main flaw the movie. Some parts didn't feel properly written and i thought the motivation and explanation for what the characters feels etc... weren't really shown. at all. Secondly, and it's very simple, they should have went with the strength of their convictions and gone all the way with the story because unfortunately, the final 10-15min of the film are just klisché horror movie stuff, and it had until then been too interesting and too gripping to justify bailing out.
What really worked with the movie though was the mood and story. Simply put it is actually quite good and more of a psychological and twisted drama/thriller than a dull slasher or horror film. What the movie has at it's best is a sort of twisted Polanski and Cronenberg vibe going on, you know, bits of psychosexual and bits organic horror.
In any creature sci-fi/fantasy type of film an important part are the creatures. Looking at both the design and the technical elements Splice definitely excels. The cgi is very good (and not overdone), the props look very ''nice'' but where the actual magic happens is in the design department. The main creature (which they name dreN) which is something they created by splicing both human and animal dna. It is a wonderfully weird affair, never knowing which animals they used you are constantly a bit nervous about which properties and abilities it has.
I want to conclude by saying this: Splice is not a a flawless affair, but it has a properly interesting mood and the ideas within are very interesting and gripping. It is something different and that is always worth celebrating.
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