The Line Between Right and Wrong

Splice

Directed By: Vincenzo Natali

Starring: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, & Delphine Chanéac

Splice is bound to be a divisive movie; if you take a group of your friends, I imagine that you will be evenly split into those that will like it and those that will hate it. In fact, I suspect that there will be some of you who will love it and leave the theater proudly proclaiming that it is the savior of the long-ailing horror genre. Now, I'm going to splice all of these reactions together (See what I did there?) and come up with a more accurate response. Splice is certainly fearless and surprising, thus making some people think that it's great. Splice is also consistently entertaining, thus appealling to people on a more basic level as well. But, Splice is also rather simplistic and obviously-manufactured, which is why some people will hate it. Blend all of this stuff together and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am you have an above-average science fiction thriller that is entertaining, but not even remotely as groundbreaking as it should be. I know that that will disappoint some of you, but it's true. The good news is that Splice is so convinced it's important and unique that it just might convince you of it too, what with the abundant discussions of ethics in science and all. But, I point you in the direction of Deep Blue Sea, a movie that posed similar questions, but had the guilt-filled benefit of super smart sharks. And when I can justly compare an all-too-serious science fiction thriller with a movie about intelligent fish that starred LL Cool J, you know there's something not quite right with it all.

In fact, I actually liked Deep Blue Sea more, but that's just because it had the good sense to be a fun movie that didn't take itself too seriously. Splice becomes almost mired in its own seriousness. It features Clive and Elsa (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, respectively), two scientists who have just created a new organism, composed of DNA from many different animals. The hope is that they can generate a helpful protein from the organism. The parent corporation feels that enough genetic testing has been done and that it is high-time that Clive and Elsa started work on finding a way to mass-produce the protein, a slap-in-the-face to the scientists who had hoped to introduce human DNA into the mix. So, in an act of rebellion, they do just that. They'll see if it works and, if it does, they will immediately terminate the new organism...just to prove that they can do it. But, when a new organism is indeed created and it is aging so rapidly that it will probably die soon anyway, they decide to keep it and study its entire life cycle. The initial product, resembling something you might have seen on Monsters, Inc., grows into Dren (Delphine Chanéac), a beautiful humanoid who becomes something like a daughter to Clive and Elsa. She wears dresses, puts on makeup, and plays with toys...but eventually starts to show startling signs of aggression, signs that come to make our main characters fear for their lives.

To be fair, however, this is only a small fraction of the plot of Splice, which takes an out-of-left-field turn right near the end that...well, I'm not really sure what to say about it. It's not that I so much minded the twist, but that I didn't like how it was handled. It didn't really flow or feel natural, instead feeling like something that was divised simply to move the plot ahead. It forces one character to act so unlike how they have been developed that it is almost laughable to actually watch it transpire. Had it been established more appropriately, it might have been the key ingredient to make Splice transcend the boundaries of a typical monster movie. Instead, the twist feels inspired, but poorly-executed. This also leads the movie into its final scenes, in which it quickly transforms from a dark drama into a full-fledged horror movie. This is when Splice seems to really have fun with itself, delivering a suspenseful and often downright frightening conclusion that I actually appreciated. I felt that these scenes, in which all hell finally breaks lose, retrospectively makes the first part of the movie even better. It's just that damned twist that connects the two that's the problem; oddly enough, had it been removed altogether, I don't think the movie would have been affected that much. In fact, it would have made me feel that the rest of the movie is so good because of the screenwriters' skill rather than sheer dumb luck.

I fear that I have led you to believe that I disliked Splice...when, in fact, I didn't. I like monster movies, and Splice is a relatively good one. It takes itself too seriously quite often, but that doesn't dampen its sheer entertainment value. I was constantly engaged and I appreciated the slow-burn feeling of it all, culminating into an impressive final act. The performances are top-notch; obviously, Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are very good, but it is the virtually-unknown Delphine Chanéac who steals the show. She becomes the character of Dren so flawlessly and so frighteningly that you can barely pull your eyes away from her. She is aided by brilliant creature effects and surprisingly good visual effects that never feel cheap or hokey. Dren is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying, a blend that is complex to pull off and yet seems so effortless here. As I said, this movie will be divisive, though. Some people will not be able to get over the aforementioned twist - which really isn't a twist, I suppose, but rather a plot development that feels like one - and accept it as one flaw in an otherwise solid movie. I, on the other hand, was able to move past it; some of you will too. Ultimately, Splice is a creature feature. It wants to be more, but never quite accomplishes it...and that isn't so terrible. There's nothing wrong with a good, solid creature feature. In my opinion, modern cinema doesn't have enough of them.