Splice (Review)

Splice

Splice (2010)

Directed by Vincenzo Natali

[this review brought to you by Insano Steve who'd like to have his DNA re sequenced one day]

I've always enjoyed movies where doctors try to fuck with human DNA in order to satisfy their genetic curiosity (and spite all of God's creation). Therefore, I was very excited when I initially saw the trailer for Splice. During a long layover in San Francisco recently, I was able to see this very unique film. It's a bit difficult to review this film without giving out any spoilers, so I'll just tread lightly on a few important points.

Plot: Two brilliant geneticists (played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley) are working on a gene splicing project in order to help find cures for all of life's many diseases. So far the project has been a huge success, as they've genetically engineered a couple of amorphous sloth-like creatures who's bodies are chock-full of cure-all medicinal chemicals. These blobs are made from DNA from a variety of animals (and some plants!).

One day, however, the two geneticists (who are also lovers) come up with a great idea: Wouldn't it be scientifically awesome to add some human DNA to their amorphous blobs and see what happens? Suffice it to say, the resulting offspring is not what they expected. And, at that point is where the spoilers would start to become necessary.

Acting: There's only maybe 6 actors in this entire film and they all do pretty good. The budget sure didn't seem that big, so acting actually mattered here.

Before Splice, I'd never seen an Adrien Brody movie. He's been in many movies that have won awards. Movies that I've never seen, and never will see. Brody was born in Queens, NY. Most recently, he was seen kicking a surprising amount of ass in 'Predators'. In Splice, he plays the more thoughtful/ethical/wimpy scientist.

Sarah Polley was the star of the underrated slacker movie, "Go". She fell off the face of the earth after that. Good to see her back working. Polley totally rocks the shit in this movie. In Splice, she plays the reckless/down for whatever scientist. Kind of like a grown up version of her “Go” character.

Finally, Delphine Chanéac, a Frenchy model/actress, plays the resulting humanoid DNA experiment. Her 'acting' in this film is 1 part Frankenstein, 1 part Natasha Henstridge.

Gore: Minimal gore. A couple of human deaths. Several random farm creatures are eaten alive. Bad humanoid! Bad humanoid!

T&A: Oh yeah, we get to see some female humanoid nudity. But as a guy, I'm still confused on how I should have felt about that. Um, I'm going to say I didn't enjoy it, just in case.

WTF Moment: Oh, there's a couple of good ones. A separate future article would be necessary for this.

Conclusion: See Splice. Seriously, see Splice! This was a super fun movie to watch. At first, I had hoped this would be a semi-realistic look at the dangers of gene manipulation.

As it turns out, it was just a B-movie, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, go see Splice!

Rating:
Check out the trailer below.