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James Whale was one of the greatest directors of the 1930’s. He crafted such different films as Show Boat and The Man in the Iron Mask. Though, he is most known for a trio of pictures he made for Universal. Those little flicks were The Invisible Man, Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. That grouping of films changed how Hollywood told tales of terror and forever reshaped the landscape–ushering in the era of classic horror. Since that time, the story of Shelley’s “The Modern Prometheus” has been done in varying ways and with various effects. We had the blood dripping horror of the Hammer re-telling, the bizarre take from Andy Warhol and the comic Mel Brooks parody Young Frankenstein. Writer/Director Vincenzo Natali gives it a modern re-work in Splice.
Our tale begins with a pair of young scientists, Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive (Adrien Brody). They have been creating a new species that could be used to farm the next generation of genetic drugs. In Phase One, they created Fred and Ginger, two things looking like a cross between The Blob and amoeba. Since the mutation is so unstable, they decide that they must use a human egg as the catalyst for the next, stronger generation Phase Two.
Working in a secret part of the lab, they grow their beast from a human donor egg. When it comes out, it looks like a plucked headless chicken. At first Clive wants to destroy it, but Elsa feels that more research should be done on this new species. Soon it turns into a more human looking creature. Both of the scientists notice how intelligent the beast has become, a beast that names itself Dren—Nerd spelled backward. Dren is played by a bunch of CGI and Delphine Chaneac.
All of a sudden our complications come in. The two scientists have more problems with their funding being cut off, Fred and Ginger mutations and Dren becoming a teenager. We get from Dren all the bad kid behaviors, but without any grounding of humanity. The awakening of what Dren is and the realization of what the two scientists have done drives the plot of Splice.
To be honest, for two scientists, Clive and Elsa are as dumb as a bag of boulders. So driven by a twisted view of science, they don’t see the downfall of what they are doing. The plot points in Splice are so simplistic, everyone but the people on the screen saw it coming. When the smartest guys on the screen are the most clueless people in the play, there is a problem.
The opening third of the film showed some strong promise. We get the driven scientific minds never pausing to question the drive behind their work. The ‘something is loose in the lab’ elements work, but all that happens within the first third of the flick. After the creature becomes more human, we get this twisted melodrama of a broken family trying to deal with an unruly teen. Elsa begins to show her mothering aspects and Colin his envy. Before we can say Electra complex, the film takes darker and twisted tone. By the time we get to the action-packed ending, most of the promise is lost. When one of the big reveals happens, the audience begins to laugh at the film, not with it.
The screenplay has some inside jokes. The two names of our leads are Clive after Colin Clive the person who played Henry Frankenstein in the James Whale production and Elsa Lanchester who played both Mary Shelley and the Bride in The Bride of Frankenstein. While I love film geek references, like the little jab that the scientists drive a Gremlin, but cute asides do not make a solid work.
As much as I disliked parts of the film, I thought the acting was superb. Both Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley look as if they are having the time of their lives, infusing soap opera drama in a sci-fi context. They play their parts so over the top that they almost look as if they may burst out laughing.
The film is the vision of writer/director Vincenzo Natali, so Splice must be what he wanted it to be. The retelling of the Frankenstein myth in a DNA age is an intriguing idea but the executing here just doesn’t work as a coherent whole. It is a nice idea that didn’t deliver.
This picture describes Splice perfectly:
Without the incredibly disturbing sex scenes, Splice would have been like watching a Scifi Original movie. The science did not feel at all realistic. Amazing scientific breakthroughs in a few hours or days works in Iron Man not Splice. In fact, audience laughed at many scenes in the movie that were supposed to be serious.
The movie would have been watchable (but not worth $10+ for a ticket) if the problems ended with ridiculous science and scientists that really needed therapy, not funding. Unfortunately it did not… As mentioned above the sex scenes were very disturbing. I had to spend hours after the movie on images.google.com finding eye bleach.
Other thoughts – David Hewlett was really good in this movie. Also, Dren looked a lot like Mew 2.. except Mew 2 was cooler. 😛
~rav
Bah, posting fail. I forgot to end the link. 🙂
~rav