![]() ![]() How much you embrace Splice will depend almost entirely upon how much you embrace the path that Natali follows as Dren begins to mature and what has been adorable becomes increasingly creepy. These scenes are so mesmerizing because they emphasize, with tremendous sympathy, the human within the inhumane. In the film's early stages, Sarah Polley was hypnotic as a young woman first driven by her own narcissistic needs then, suddenly, by a raging maternal instinct towards her creation (played by Delphine Chaneac as a teen/young adult). Had Splice continued down this rather warped path, it seems likely that the film would have bordered on greatness. Splice works best in the early going, when it appears that Natali is turning the film into a psychological/sci-fi thriller in which the development of Dren is presented parallel to the substantial changes going on within Elsa, who had previously sworn off children but who now seems to have become parent and guardian to this Pandora-like creature while Clive becomes resentful of Elsa's suddenly divided attention. Given the questionable ethics, unresolved childhoods and various other issues plaguing her creators, it almost goes without question that Dren is going to have a few issues of her own. Much to their surprise, Dren ages quickly and before long adopts an increasingly disturbing number of physical, emotional and intellectual characteristics that often mirror those of her creators. When the pharmaceutical firm nixes their plans, the two secretly set out to see just how far they can go by creating a half-human, half-animal creature in their private lab.īefore long, the two are violating virtually every ethic of science by unnaturally bonding with their creature, who becomes known as Dren (Nerd backwards, of course).Ĭan anyone else already tell this ain't going to be pretty? When they successful splice together two slug-looking creatures affectionately named Fred and Ginger, the giant (ie, greedy) pharmaceutical firm funding their research celebrates and plots to isolate an elusive gene deemed central to healing numerous diseases.Ĭlive and Elsa, on the other hand, are wanting to take their splicing even further and, unsurprisingly, into a more human arena. In Splice, Clive (Oscar winner Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Oscar nominee Sarah Polley) are biochemists and lovers whose successful splicing of various life forms has made them the current darlings of the scientific world as they adorn the cover of Wired magazine and contemplate their ever increasing professional success. In the remainder of the film's 80+ minutes, it seems as if Natali and his trio of writers can't quite decide what they want the film to be and, unfortunately, a film that flirts with greatness far too often settles for B-movie mediocrity as we dabble in sci-fi, horror, horror comedy and a reverential homage to old school monster flicks. Unfortunately, these "moments" equal out to only about 15-20 minutes of the film's 104-minute run time. ![]() There are moments in Splice, the latest film from Vincenzo Natali ( Cube), when it would seem that the film is on the verge of sci-fi greatness. ![]()
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