Warner Bros | 2010 | 104 mins. | R
In 1997, Canadian Director Vincenzo Natali’s psychological thriller Cube became a minor hit for its innovative story about a group of prisoners who awaken in a cube shaped room with hatches on all sides. Depending on the choices, the hatches may lead to freedom, other cubes, or worse. An eerie psychological thriller, Cube strove to make viewers think as well as entertain. Jump ahead to 2010: Natali’s latest project, Splice, is undeniably thought provoking.
Working under the guidance of executive producer Guillermo Del Toro, he explores bioengineering and genetics, in what I suppose could be seen as a retooling of Frankenstein for the genetics generation. While Splice is a science fiction film, the director has pushed the boundaries of the genre, clearly hoping to force critics and audiences alike to take notice of his film.
Clive (Adrian Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) work for a pharmaceutical conglomerate that turn a blind eye to their morally questionable means of getting results. When the duo creates a new genus imbued with a valuable (and profitable) protein, the company demands more. Clive and Elsa argue that they can achieve what the company wants via the use of the human genome. When they are rejected, they violate all protocols and decide to go ahead anway.
The result of their labor is a human/animal hybrid they name Dren (Delphine Chaneac), growing both physically and intellectually at an exponential rate. Initially, Dren seems aggressive but soon becomes rather docile. Elsa is at first fascinated by the idea of being able to study their creation’s entire lifecycle in a compacted period of time, and then she and Clive find themselves connecting to Dren on a deeper level when a sort of parent-child relationship develops. As Dren grows into adolescence, she longs to be more than just research. Fearing exposure, Clive and Elsa lock Dren up in a remote cabin. Naturally, the creature is less than happy about said living arrangements. As the company starts investigating their methods, Dren begins to grow antsy – and then violent.
Without giving away major plot points, from here Clive and Elsa become are windows to some of the worst humanity has to offer. These are the absolute worst people to bring up an animal/human hybrid, because they haven’t even figured out how to accurately communicate with each other, let alone a whole new species. Of course, they’re going to get it wrong. Not only do they keep Dren locked away but they give her conflicting signals about their feelings toward her, they don’t engage her intelligence, they don’t teach her about the nature of sex and death. All that being said, she is understandably confused by these people, and she lashes out; the fact that she ends up causing all sorts of trouble, should surprise no one.
Suffice it to say that the moral of the story turns out to be yet another cautionary tale about the dangers of women in general and motherhood in particular. Vincenzo Natali and Guillermo Del Toro had all the elements in place to make the next great horror/sci-fi film. Instead Splice is its own hybrid: half good, half awful.
Splice is presented in 1.78:1 1080p widescreen. Warner Brothers has offered up a very attractive transfer that should please genre fans. The colors are solid and feature fine detail and depth. There is some softness to the image at times but this never gets in the way of enjoying the film. There are many dark sequences in Splice so the film doesn’t really ‘pop’ that often, but when it does it’s extremely impressive.
The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in English. Warner has given fans a very good audio mix that features a generous amount of surround features when needed The ambiance adds depth to the film and the dialogue, music and effects are clearly heard. The speakers get a hearty workout closer to the end of the film when the action picks up. Also included on this disc are English and Spanish subtitles.
Special features are noticeably lacking. The only thing included is a short featurette called “A Director’s Playground: Vincenzo Natali on the Set of Splice” that includes some behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew at work, as well as some talking head interviews with Natali and some select cast and crew members. A DVD and Digital Copy is also included.
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