Splice Review

Clive and Elsa (Adrein Brody and Sarah Polley) are both bio-genetic scientist who are on a mission to create a specific protein by splicing together the DNA of different species.  Their endgame is to hopefully create a protein that will help facilitate in finding a cure for several human diseases.  Both Clive and Elsa protest the decision made by the suits to move on to the next phase of the project and take experimental matters into their own hands.  They conduct another splicing experiment by introducing human DNA into the multi-species DNA cocktail.  The results aren’t quite what they planned for and needless to say, it all gets a bit twisted from there.

Splice is a big neon sign for scientists of what not to do.  Is it far fetched? Sure it is.  What sci-fi movie isn’t on some level.  But with the advances in science and the whole cloning issue, it wouldn’t surprise me if some crazy scientist somewhere has been tossing around the idea of combining human DNA with something else.  Hello…..scientists are you listening?  Not ok!

But I digress….

Directed by Vincenzo Natali and starring Adrein Brody and Sarah Polley, Splice ended up being quite an enjoyable film, even though parts of it were a bit difficult to watch.  I won’t go into details because I don’t want to give anything away and really, I want to you experience the film in all of it’s gory glory. I haven’t really read any other reviews and I haven’t seen too many trailers for it so I went into the film with no expectations, and thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Brody and Polley both do a mighty fine job in their respective roles.  They both were able to convey the deterioration of the characters as the stress of what they have done takes its toll.  The product of their spliced bliss comes in the form of Dren.  The bulk of Dren’s character is shown in her mature state, played by Delphine Chanéac.  While not having any type of real dialogue, Chanéac brings a curious innocence to Dren as she goes from scared curious child to rebellious teenage / young adult. The key to understanding Dren lies in her facial expressions and those come across very well.

The story itself is a bit predictable.  It may be your typical “crazy rebel scientist going againt all that is moral and ethical to create new life” story, but it still works as entertainment.  Going to the movies is all about suspension of belief anyway right? Except documentaries anyway.  If you go to this movie expecting to find the next Oscar winner, you’ll probably be disappointed, but if you go just expecting a fun and at times mildly shocking film I think you’ll be in for a treat.  Clocking in at 104 minutes, it doesn’t feel too long or too short which is always a good thing.  Come to think of it, I didn’t check my watch at all.

I would imagine that seeing this film in a full theater would be the best way to experience it.  There are several “OH MY GOD!!” and “EWWWWWW” moments that a full theater would just add to.  The semi empty theater I was in had those moments but it wasn’t quite at that level that a full theater would provide.

In the end, Splice is a fun movie to escape to.  If you decide to see it, come on back here and let us know what your thoughts are.  We’ve also discussed the film in one of our Mouth Off Podcasts that you can find here.

Splice is released in the UK Friday 23rd July 2010.