Splice Review

One was allowed to expect a lot from Splice. Seeing the trailer, hearing about its amazing CGI and seeing the actual mutant was enough to water the mouth of any Sci-Fi fan to get excited about it. When you have seen the film, you come out with a completely opposite set of emotions. As said by many reviews, the film can be divided into two parts, the first, superior and the second, atrocious.

When the film starts, in spite of their overly fashionable style and pop star attitude, the two scientist who where about to create Dren, the mutant, are called Clive and Elsa, played by Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley. Not the typical cliché for high end geneticist, but it seems that our society has evolved from Einstein looking to “look like the actor playing you” style. I believe that the over production of hollywood films has killed the common film. When I look at Splice I don’t see two characters in the film I see two famous actors, better on a red carpet than on the big screen. Back to the film, the original creature Dren looks odd enough to make us think. It’s weird, with its spliced head and its eyes not looking forward forcing it to tilts its head to have a clear look. The best part of it is its little tendrils which really make it look otherworldly. Yet as its evolution advances, as it is obviously victim of a highly accelerated metabolism meaning she will die in a few weeks, it starts to look more and more human albeit with a tail and hinged legs.

The quality of the film degraded in association with how human Dren becomes. At the end of the film he is but a human with wings, hinged legs and a tail. The interesting early concepts where all be lost in an attempt to make the sex scene between Adrian Br… I mean Clive that much more enjoyable for the viewers. Too many scenes which weren’t necessary pollute a film which could have been a frank success. It seems today that a lot of films are always close to be good, but fail in their miserable attempts at getting as much audience as they can. They put all their efforts on dubious special effects fascinating the masses and disappointing and boring anyone interested in some sort of appealing script.  

“The old Frankenstein story is given a modern twist in Splice, a B-movie science-fiction melodrama that really needed the genius of David Cronenberg to bring it to life” says Allan Hunter from Express.co.uk, making a reference to the maker of the Fly remake, another masterpiece in glorious and intricate storytelling, which did not base all of it’s success on special effects.

Yet a lot of people see in this film what the director wanted them to see. Kurt Newman from Empire says that “it doesn’t go the complete distance, but this is a wholly admirable, refreshingly grown-up science-fiction movie: a Frankenstein with a beating, gene-spliced heart and top-of-the-range performances. Oh, and splatter fans, one botched scientific demonstration is worth the admission price alone.” Some people will love it others won’t, maybe that is the mark of a good movie in today’s desperately boring movie scene.