Splice has inspired me to roll out a new feature that has been
percolating in my head for several years. Sometimes, we see a movie and need to talk about The End. It can be the most important part of the film, making you love it or hate it for eternity, but, as critics, we never get to talk about it. Until now.
After Splice has been in theaters for a few weeks, and everyone has had a chance to see it, we'll talk about The End, because you won't believe where this one goes.
Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley star as Clive and Elsa - a pair of wunderkind, married scientists making massive strides forward producing livestock medicine for a pharmaceutical company. The two have created blob-like creatures by splicing DNA from different animals, and harvesting the proteins or whatever it is these monsters produce, but Elsa wants to go further.
To make some advances towards finding cures for Alzheimer's, cancer and more, Elsa introduces human DNA into the creation of a new blob, but the results are not exactly what she expects. Now, Clive and Elsa have a weird new beast putting them in legal jeopardy, and acting like parents to a very troubled child.
What have Elsa and Clive created?
Is it human?
Will it deliver on all of the promise and hope Elsa holds dear?
Splice is kinda like the last boyfriend or girlfriend you dumped. Oh sure, everything seemed to be very cool, exciting and full of potential at the beginning, but the relationship becomes frightening, disastrous and repulsive by the time you are ready to walk out.
Writer/director Vincenzo Natali, along with co-writers Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor, sets up a curious, intellectually challenging and creepy B-movie that could have been interesting. The audience is teased with what Elsa and Clive may have created. We have to wonder if they have broken the law by cloning a human being. Natali has the twosome on the verge of being discovered at every turn, which has the audience tense and screaming at the close calls and frightening actions by the new creature.
Natali is driving a feeling of foreboding and danger at every turn, and we like it! You could even argue Splice is a late night campy horror film with a sense of humor. Then, we see the creature, Dren (Delphine Chaneac). It's all downhill from there.
The monster's revelation leads Splice down a very strange and disgusting path. The team makes Splice into a drama about the marriage between Else and Clive.
And, it's a drama about Elsa's strained relationship with her mother.
And, it's a drama about how to deal with their corporate financial backers and the man overseeing their project.
And, it's a drama about raising a rebellious child (you haven't seen the terrible twos until you see this baby fighting back, and the teen years? Oh boy!). However, it all devolves into a horrifying conclusion that shocks for all of the wrong reasons.
Natali and the team have a movie that makes sense and follows a basic logic, until the temptation to shock is too much temptation for Natali.
1 Waffle (Out of 4)
Splice is rated R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
To make some advances towards finding cures for Alzheimer's, cancer and more, Elsa introduces human DNA into the creation of a new blob, but the results are not exactly what she expects. Now, Clive and Elsa have a weird new beast putting them in legal jeopardy, and acting like parents to a very troubled child.
What have Elsa and Clive created?
Is it human?
Will it deliver on all of the promise and hope Elsa holds dear?
Splice is kinda like the last boyfriend or girlfriend you dumped. Oh sure, everything seemed to be very cool, exciting and full of potential at the beginning, but the relationship becomes frightening, disastrous and repulsive by the time you are ready to walk out.
Writer/director Vincenzo Natali, along with co-writers Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor, sets up a curious, intellectually challenging and creepy B-movie that could have been interesting. The audience is teased with what Elsa and Clive may have created. We have to wonder if they have broken the law by cloning a human being. Natali has the twosome on the verge of being discovered at every turn, which has the audience tense and screaming at the close calls and frightening actions by the new creature.
Natali is driving a feeling of foreboding and danger at every turn, and we like it! You could even argue Splice is a late night campy horror film with a sense of humor. Then, we see the creature, Dren (Delphine Chaneac). It's all downhill from there.
The monster's revelation leads Splice down a very strange and disgusting path. The team makes Splice into a drama about the marriage between Else and Clive.
And, it's a drama about Elsa's strained relationship with her mother.
And, it's a drama about how to deal with their corporate financial backers and the man overseeing their project.
And, it's a drama about raising a rebellious child (you haven't seen the terrible twos until you see this baby fighting back, and the teen years? Oh boy!). However, it all devolves into a horrifying conclusion that shocks for all of the wrong reasons.
Natali and the team have a movie that makes sense and follows a basic logic, until the temptation to shock is too much temptation for Natali.
1 Waffle (Out of 4)
Splice is rated R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
