Movie Review: Splice (2010)
Solid premise, but a major letdown
Photo: Warner Bros.
Buzz for Vincenzo Natali's genetic sci-fi thriller Splice ramped up after its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It was snatched up by Warner Bros. and given a meaty summer release date so who wouldn't expect it to be as excellent as the hype was insinuating? At the very least it had to be more than just counter-programming against Universal's Get Him to the Greek… Right?
Sorry, Splice is one-half of an interesting sci-fi feature and one-half of an outlandish winged-creature sex romp. Perhaps the title of the film is more literal than I took it to be, because Splice is cut straight down the middle to the point the first half takes itself way too seriously considering where the second half dares go. Had this been conceived as a tongue-in-cheek B-movie from the outset I could have held on for the duration, but I can only make so many exceptions for one film.
The cast includes Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, David Hewlett and Delphine Chaneac. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Splice" is a Warner Bros. release, directed by Vincenzo Natali and is rated R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language. The running time is 1 hour 44 minutes.
Morality plays a major role in the first half of the film, and even got someone like me who is in favor of embryonic stem cell research to second guess myself, but it quickly loses its relevance as Natali's screenplay, co-written with Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor, abandons all intelligence in favor of downright stupidity. The moral issue was already in play and Splice just continues to pile on before overstaying its welcome and devolving into the absurd.
Several times I had to say to myself, Okay, that just happened, and it was dumb, but let's see where they take it. So many scenes in Splice are necessary just to make up for the stupidity of the scene that came before them, about 15 minutes of its running time could have been excised had the characters made smarter decisions. Clive and Elsa are gene-splicing masterminds and yet they're surprised when their human-bird-cow-frog-lizard-thing becomes more than they can handle and then becomes something Clive prefers to "handle" a little too much.
There's a point midway through Splice's second half I was ready to accept the silly turn the film had taken. I thought for sure what was coming next was the prelude to the certain sequel that will be spawned from this feature, but instead it was just another bump in the narrative. It was at this point I joined the rest of my screening audience and laughed my way through the final 20 minutes or so, and believe me this audience was laughing hard as one man leaving the theater could be heard saying, "Well, I guess we know what one of the worst films of the summer is."
Brody's performance as Clive was as reliable as we've come to expect from the Oscar winner, but Polley did nothing for me, oftentimes it felt as if she had learned her lines only minutes before filming each scene. The only real stand-out in Splice are the makeup and visual effects. Having Greg Nicotero along in the makeup department certainly helps as Delphine Chaneac playing Clive and Elsa's aberration, which they name Dren, did well in a muted role. The CG is very good early on though it tends to gets worse as the film moves along and Dren gets older and begins showing signs of additional physical developments.
Trailers paint this film as a stand-out horror. Early reviews called it "creepy" and "mortifyingly fascinating". None of this is the case. This is a Frankenstein meets the beauty queen version of Jeepers Creepers and it's simply two styles of storytelling that don't belong together. Don't get me wrong, there is an interesting moral dilemma at the heart of this film and it's the plotline you want to explore, but when Natali turns it into something else it's almost as if someone changed the channel and you find yourself watching a complete different movie with the same characters, but instead of being genius level scientists they are grade-A morons.
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Damn, I really had high hopes for this. Oh well, I'll still give it a shot this weekend. But a D+? Really?
Definitely see it for yourself, I am certainly in the minority opinion.
Oh my gosh, DO NOT SEE IT. It is more like a W for worst movie you'll ever watch in life. The entertainment value of this movie is next to 0 because the storyline is so full of holes and lacks of clarity. Nothing is explained, the storyline tries way too hard to be edgey, and the main characters are annoying. It has two scenes that are so rediculous that you know it's only in there because there's nothing else memorable about the rest of the movie (and it's memorable for all the wrong reasons). My entire theatre was groaning throughout the entire second half and we, being science majors who normally love movies in this genre, could not get out of there fast enough once it's over.
Wow, I'm surprised to see you give it such a low grade, Brad. Even if you didn't really go for the second half, I would figure the first half should have been strong enough. I realize this film may not be everyone's cup of tea, but this had to be one of the most original and interesting movies I have seen in a long time. It was weird, dark, and incredibly twisted, but in a way that took a hard look at some important moral questions. And I'm glad they stayed away from the horror route, and made it more into a sci-fi cautionary tale.
And to be honest, I think the places that the movie goes in the second half are important in order to drive home that moral point. It is certainly bizarre, but I think the increasing absurdity of Clive and Elsa's actions proves the danger of what they did, as they were blinded by their idealism and emotions, which led to bad decision after bad decision. This was a cautionary tale. They may be genius scientists, but they're also human, and I think that is the point of the story.
The problem is, the first half is a decent idea, but the second half is set up as the payoff, which made the first half pretty much worthless in my eyes, no matter the intrigue it caused.
Brad's right, it was as if someone wrote the first half, and the second half was written by another screenwriter who just wanted to make sure his half was more important. Hancock was the same; and both movies ended up suffering because of it.
I liked it and hated it at the same time. The too much handling on Clive's part was where it got too weird for me. From then on, I couldn't take it seriously. I found the last scene to be both disturbing and comedic- and hoping that a sequel never gets made. But it probably will, and in 3-D. Oh well, I give a C- to Splice.
Very interesting to read your review in contrast to Collider one, and to notice the whole mixed reaction to the film. Looks and sounds like a love-it-or-hate-it type of movie, and while it worries me for sure, it also makes the film much more interesting. Can't wait until it gets released on June 24 over here.
Thanks for the review. I wasn't really interested in the trailers, it reminded me too much of Species and I'm not a big fan of Brody…so I will skip this one.
You are too kind, Brad.
Splice is really good in my opinion, it's a horror film that uses atmosphere well and taps in to our more primal fears instead of going for cheap jump scares.
The film has more in common with Cronenberg's horror films than with the usual output of today, it's really a bold and refreshing film. The film goes a bit astray near the very end, but it's hardly enough to really tarnish the overall quality of the film.
I thought the movie was good but it is undeniably flawed. But it is worth a one time viewing, in my opinion.
Agree completely with you, Brad. The first half was thought-provoking, but I spent majority of the second half with my mouth open in disbelief of what I was actually watching.
I was seriously hoping to disagree with you Brad (I was really looking forward to it), but I definitely agree with you the whole movie was a big WTF. I like Sarah Polley, but she was pretty bad in this.
NOTE FROM BRAD: This comment contains a ton of story spoilers.
The movie was a total let down. I went to see it Saturday, the weekend it premiered, and was totally disgusted by it. The first half does have it's creepy moments, and even the credit make it out like the movie wick be horror based, but once Dren is older and Clive drowns her and finds that she can breathe under Ayer, the movie goes downhill. What makes this movie a D+ is the absence of moral behavior. Cloning in considered a sin, especially human cloning because some people believe it is an inhuman way of creating life. Then there's the intimate relationship between Dren and Clive which is inappropriate because she Is an experiment. The last horrid part is when Dren's estrogen level decreases and she turns into a male, and then rapes the character that Polley is playing, considering the fact that Polley's character put her DNA into the experiment, which is a big example of insets. Very disappointed by this movie.
All of you are ignoring the worst part of this movie: PLOT HOLES.
This movie was filled with plotholes.
Plus, I don't want to spoil anything, but there were some questions the characters were supposed to ask, some things they were supposed to reflect upon and never did.
I think the true culprit here is bad writing. The characters' development were horrible; their actions are completely random with no explanations; especially Elsa. If there had been better writing, the movie wouldn't have been so ridiculous.
I give it a D-
Ok, to all of you who even are thinking of seeing this please wait to redbox it. Brad was nice in his review of this film, it was the worst film I have seen in years. I had such high hopes for this movie, from the trailers I was thinking they would go the serious road with this and not the stupid monster movie way….they went the monster way. the first half had me interested but the film did a 180 into the toatally insane! Those types of experiments are happening today, believe it or not, and it was cool to me at the start, but the sexual things, wings, and Polley's charater were just retarded. Shana pretty much spoiled the whole thing for those of you who havent seen it, and for any other movie that would piss me off but this movie was just rotten.
This was a terrible movie. I wish I had not seen it. It was that bad. No one under 19 or 20 should see this movie. EVER!
3 words…. WORST MOVIE EVER!!!
This is an awful movie. It is not worth seeing at all. The first half of the movie was OK. But the rest of it was very WTF. The concept was pretty cool but the execution was awful. It was need lessly vulgar. I was hopeing would be a good scary movie to take my 15 year old sister to but she will never see this movie if I have anything to say about it. I don't think any one under 20, and very mature, should see this movie.
I feel as if our generation has utterly lost all ability to understand the roots of our being. Yes, the movie touches on many moral principles (abortion, parenting, etc.), but why be so close-minded when it comes to the various actions of the human mind?
Obviously, many critics did not seem to catch on to Elsa's family history, where her mother was dubbed "crazy" by Elsa herself, which in turn explains why Dren carried out most of those unbelievably awkward and disturbing actions (for those who haven't seen the movie, Elsa injected her own ovum into the experiment, thus passing on her genetics).
The movie is a psychological thriller, Dren is a human-animal creation, she is bound to push the boundaries of sexuality, procreation is the sole purpose of all living things. So if you don't understand basic principles of the human mind and human actions and are unable to process such "absurdities," then you have no place to call this movie terrible.
I did get that Dren was going "crazy" as the movie went on but that was not the problem with this movie. The problem was that this movie did not have to be so sexual it could have been a truly wonderful horror story. The point is that for a psychological thriller it was OK. There was really no mystery to be unraveled. Everything was laid out in front of you. Your mind didn't have to work to understand this movie and there for for me it was terrible. I'm not saying that you cant like this movie or anything like that but for the bulk of the viewers it was just not up to the standards they have set for Hollywood. Most people go to the movies to be entertained and granted there are the ones who go for other reasons but most of them will actually watch the movie and this one just wasn't worth seeing.
I understood every aspect of what this pretentious mess of a movie was trying for: the fact that Elsa's your typical mess of a character because of her own traumatic childhood, the fact that genetic technology will pave the way for a whole host of ethical issues, and that the hybrid harboured the basic animal carnal instincts, etc. It was way too obvious of a storyline, and you shouldn't assume that people did not like this movie because they didn't get it. Oh we got it. This movie failed to be thought provoking and tried way too hard to look like it was.
1. Dren's development was faster than an average human so if insanity is part of the movie it only truly develops at it's later stages and does not represent Dren's initial behavior in her "child state"
2. There certainly are many plot holes and unexplained actions in the movie, yet what I fail to see in most criticism are the implications caused because of Dren's partial humanity which relates and causes most of the "obvious" and "stupid" behavior and decisions from the scientists.
3. I believe there are differences between shock factors which fail to provoke thought and those that do. This movie dared to shock us and actually do what most would avoid. There is a struggle in seeing Dren as a human or as a non-human that the two scientists must face. If seen as a human, Dren becomes a daughter because of her humanity; if as an experiment, Dren is a subject they can't afford to trust or completely understand.
4. Part of the movie explores our own humanity and what aspects of humanity are primal. We can't discount Dren as an it, nor can viewers separate completely from her. Not to mention the obvious psychology at play with mother and father complexes and nature versus nurture (why did Dren not recognize what was right and wrong?)
5. In other words, this movie is far from failing the provocation of thought.