REVIEW : SPLICE

SPLICE

When I first heard the concept for the film Splice, it did intrigue me. Added to that some artwork and stills of our featured creature ‘Dren’ and you could have colourer me officially interested. Then about 3 years went by and I didn’t really hear anything about it. To the point where I figured that the project must have been dropped half way through filming, but oh no, like the opening scenes of the movie itself, Splice was all of a sudden dragged in front of kicking and screaming.

After creating an organism that scientifically benefits mankind, Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley are ready for human testing. The company funding them however are not, they only want the big bucks from the proteins created by the original little hunk of flesh. Of course Elsa (Polley) thinks it a great idea just to go ahead with it anyway and somehow manages to convince Adrian Brody to take there half human foetus to full term. The result is Dren (Nerd spelt backwards btw, but I shall let you laugh at this scene on your own) a half human, half god-knows-what, that the couple keep secret from their fellow scientists and friends. As you might have guessed though, these things never end well. Before long Dren starts to become something of a danger to all those around her.

All sounds pretty clichéd right? Well it is. It’s got some great effects, the evolution of Dren is fun to watch for the first 25 minutes of the film. Then we head into David Cronenberg territory, but mixed with the dumbed down nature of Species. Great you might say. Well yes, David Cronenberg tackled the ‘Body Horror’ sub genre with tact and finesse. There’s none of that here. The main difference is that Cronenberg, for the most part, has something to say within his films. This has nothing to say. Unless of course the message is “don’t make a genetic half breed because you’ll only end up shagging it”. Oh yeah, the film has a tendency to break out into inappropriate sex scenes as we go along. Which while driving the thin story forward, feel like they were added for shock value only.

I’m not saying that the film is bad, it kept my attention and I wasn’t particularly bored during the whole thing. But it could have been so much more and its not like they didn’t have long enough to make it a better film. The problem it suffers is that its too close to Species, but without the weird creature sex stuff. Oh no wait, that’s in there too.

OVERALL

By all means check it out if your fan of horror/Sci-Fi or if you have nothing else to watch. The creature evolution at the beginning of the film is a lot of fun and the special effects are well done for the fact its not a summer blockbuster. It’s not the best film you’ll see this year, but hey at least its not the worst. Yeah, Cherry Tree Lane. I’m looking at you. Probably worth watching on Blu-Ray too.