Splice 2010

[Z...]

This is a new movie about genetic engineering and playing God that might interest you all.

IMO it gives a good explanation why are most of the secrets of creation locked for humans as they are. The same rule about cleaning the machine to be able to engage in esoteric work - could also be employed here - can we play God as dirty as we are?
So basically we have a scientific couple - one of them has been seriously narcisistically damaged if not ponerized- who has cracked the code.

I wont say more not to spoil it for you, it opens many interesting questions, the effects are great, the pace is exciting.
Only, it will leave you with very bad feelings especially if you start empathizing with the subject of their experiment.

Seven stars out of ten.

 

[Z...]

Here is the review from someone on IMDB who also gave it 7/10


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A solid new movie about a tired (and almost overdone) ethical topic​

I was privileged enough to catch a screening of Splice last night that headlined the director Vincenzo Natali as a special guest. I've been a moderate fan of his work since his eerie and claustrophobic feature, Cube. Like Cube, I found that this movie was able to set an atmosphere that was almost palatable throughout the film. The main characters, Elsa and Clive (played by Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody, respectively) were both likable and detestable, and yet all the time believable throughout the film. I credit Natali's writing with this emotional tug-of-war, because he was able to explain the motives of the characters without giving too much away and forcing the pacing to lag. (The man is whip smart, and it showed through his handling of the Q&A session after the movie). They do some despicable things, but Natali oft times tries to explain the character's background to justify certain actions. I appreciate the effort, but at the same time, I felt the film required some serious suspension of disbelief on the part of its viewers to really swallow some scenes and resulting relationships.

After seeing the movie, you'll probably realize you've seen this movie and premise before. Without giving too much away, this tale reminds me a lot of Jurassic Park. The overarching narrative parallels the sentiments of Dr. Malcom from Jurassic Park ("but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. "). The character's themselves were even named after pivotal actors in Bride of Frankenstein (Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester), an homage to one of the great creatures of Science Fiction films, and a source of inspiration to the director himself. The hybrid starts off looking quite alien, but evolves into looking quite human-like (probably due to budget constraints, as well as done to help the viewer identify and empathize with the creature) with legs immediately reminding me of the aliens from The Arrival (1996). Throughout the film, you could see the evolution of all the characters that contributed to the final climax of the film. Elsa and Clive make a lot of mistakes and poor judgments throughout the film considering how 'brilliant' these scientists were supposed to be. They try to approach the creation of this hybrid being with an objective mind - purely for the sake of science. However, in turn, they make a lot of 'human' errors along the way where their emotions come into play. As Chaos Theory explains, small variations in initial conditions renders long-term predictions impossible. The movie keeps you guessing throughout. It evolves in an uncontrolled way, just like the hybrid the scientists created. Like every other creature feature flick before it (Frankenstein, Jurassic Park and even Species), everything culminates into a final climactic scene where the makers are forced to atone for their actions.

The creature effects were solid and the actress playing Dren is amazingly beautiful and exotic looking. Her mild androgyny was perfect for the role. Her sharp movements seemed quite alien to me and she took the creature further than what special effects could have done alone. Brody and Polley were both solid actors throughout the film. I particularly enjoyed Brody's wardrobe and styling. The pacing of the film started almost magical, like ET, then quickly picked up pace, paralleling the frenetic tension the scientists themselves must have been feeling.

It wasn't a perfect movie by any means and it certainly wasn't one of my favourites in recent years, but I enjoyed it. If I had to compare it to his earlier work, Cube, I would have to say that Cube made a much more lasting impression (I own it and recommend it to friends often). This movie is a fun way to spend an evening. You'll come out of the theatre with a positive experience, but it probably won't be a movie you'd rush out to see a second time.

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

We saw this recently and it indeed left me with an awkward feeling. I thought the love scene with Adrien Brody and the creature was very disturbing (and shocking), not only because the creature is half human-half animal but also because in some ways, it is almost like his 'child' (he saw her grow, he fed her, etc.).

Tthe end is disturbing as well. As the review above states, Natali tries to find excuses to his characters (the girl was apparently ill-treated as a child, if we are to judge by what she says about her mother and the bedroom she used to live in at the farm) and that's what I did not really like, I think. I too preferred Cube. The review says that it's a fun way to spend an evening, and that you will come out of the theatre with a positive experience, but I'm not so sure (just saying that for the more sensitive members of the forum).

Adrien Brody is, as usual, very good.

 

[Z...]

We saw this recently and it indeed left me with an awkward feeling. I thought the love scene with Adrien Brody and the creature was very disturbing (and shocking), not only because the creature is half human-half animal but also because in some ways, it is almost like his 'child' (he saw her grow, he fed her, etc.).

Tthe end is disturbing as well. As the review above states, Natali tries to find excuses to his characters (the girl was apparently ill-treated as a child, if we are to judge by what she says about her mother and the bedroom she used to live in at the farm) and that's what I did not really like, I think. I too preferred Cube. The review says that it's a fun way to spend an evening, and that you will come out of the theatre with a positive experience, but I'm not so sure (just saying that for the more sensitive members of the forum).

Adrien Brody is, as usual, very good.

Yea I was in weird mood after the movie too. The scene was equally shocking too me, I don't know if that was the intention of the director but
I understood that DREN overpowered him with some sort of pheromones, he was resisting quite well until certain point. But I might be imagining things that were not intended.
As regards to DREN's mother, that was clear from the begining - that she was deeply damaged by her mother and she continued the vicious circle with her "child"

 

[Luis Miguel]

I saw this movie recently and I must tell you that I found it disturbing :S, IMO at the beginning was interesting but then the things just start to go south. And also left me with an odd feeling, a bad taste so to speak.

 

[Tigersoap]

I don't know if that was the intention of the director but I understood that DREN overpowered him with some sort of pheromones, he was resisting quite well until certain point. But I might be imagining things that were not intended.

That's what I thought as well because it made sense that she had animal traits so she was using pheromones to attract the man but it was barely explained at all in the movie.

What could have been a tale of hubris just turned out into something sick, morally speaking osit.

 

[Turgon]

We saw this recently and it indeed left me with an awkward feeling.

I saw this movie recently and I must tell you that I found it disturbing :S, IMO at the beginning was interesting but then the things just start to go south. And also left me with an odd feeling, a bad taste so to speak.

I felt the same way after seeing Splice. As much as I found the characters interesting and the movie didn't seem to lag at all, the sex scenes left me feeling ill at ease.

After the movie ended, a part of me enjoyed the movie, another part of me was deeply disturbed by it. Just like when I saw Inception. Both these movies left me feeling a bit disoriented for some reason. Now, Scott Pilgrim on the other hand...

 

[knowledge_of_self]

I usually don't read threads of movies I'm planning on seeing cause I don't want a spoiler, so I finally got a chance to watch this last night and as others have said it left me feeling very awkward.

ESPECIALLY the sex scenes in the movie (mostly the one with Adrien Brody)

We saw this recently and it indeed left me with an awkward feeling. I thought the love scene with Adrien Brody and the creature was very disturbing (and shocking), not only because the creature is half human-half animal but also because in some ways, it is almost like his 'child' (he saw her grow, he fed her, etc.).

I don't know if that was the intention of the director but I understood that DREN overpowered him with some sort of pheromones, he was resisting quite well until certain point. But I might be imagining things that were not intended.

That's what I thought as well because it made sense that she had animal traits so she was using pheromones to attract the man but it was barely explained at all in the movie.

What could have been a tale of hubris just turned out into something sick, morally speaking osit.

I totally agree with Mrs. Tigersoap. That sex scene was imo borderline incest. And I thought the same thing about the pheromones thing but, it seemed that Adrien's character was observing that within himself and finally realized that the reason for the attraction may have been because his wife chose to 'splice' her own DNA to create Dren. And so he confronted his wife about it but in the next scene he ends up having sex with Dren ( so wrong! :/)

Tthe end is disturbing as well. As the review above states, Natali tries to find excuses to his characters (the girl was apparently ill-treated as a child, if we are to judge by what she says about her mother and the bedroom she used to live in at the farm)

The ending was very disturbing for me also. But it left me thinking about narcissism and how the wife treated Dren harshly and 'over-powered' Dren in some ways. Like taking the cat away or maming Dren's tail. So when Dren became male, he acted out by overpowering his mother in return. Though very graphic and disturbing... ( and also once again incest :/)

I didn't like the ending at all. I had a feeling she was going to end up pregnant after the rape scene so when you see her belly in the end, I was like of course! Though I didn't understand how she could even want that baby after all said and done.

All in all, I'd give it a 5/10 for mood, graphics and the ideas of narcissism being carried out through families. But still.. in a very awkward way :/

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

I didn't like the ending at all.

Me neither. It really showed the woman as having no morals whatsoever, keeping that baby and taking the money. It does appear that way at the beginning: Adrien Brody is the one trying to rein her in several times.
So,when she was looking out the window and staring at the city, it seemed to me that she was in some way keeping the baby for the money but also for revenge (like a 'Wait until I deliver that monster, it will do to all of you what it did to me' kind of thing). Spooky...

 

[KKP]

This movie was disgusting and disturbing. I don't recommend it for anyone who's on a date.

 

[anart]

This movie was disgusting and disturbing. I don't recommend it for anyone who's on a date.

Well, against my better judgment, I watched this movie tonight. I wish wasting two hours of my life was the worst part of it. It was sickly perverted, violent and twisted, with little to no redeeming value whatsoever. In other words, most reviews here are spot on. Whoever wrote this crap has some serious issues - and the acting was horrid. The rape of the mother was the icing on the disgusting cake - seriously, this one is for the dust bin.

 

[theos]

I just came across this thread but I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Well, against my better judgment, I watched this movie tonight. I wish wasting two hours of my life was the worst part of it. It was sickly perverted, violent and twisted, with little to no redeeming value whatsoever. In other words, most reviews here are spot on. Whoever wrote this crap has some serious issues - and the acting was horrid. The rape of the mother was the icing on the disgusting cake - seriously, this one is for the dust bin.

I agree. This must've been written by some sickie who wants to have sex with aliens. There were no redeeming qualities to this movie whatsoever.

 

[Ninas]

Hello Everyone!


This movie is just hideous and left me with a nauseous feeling after I saw it. I think that I was disgusted for a week, especially, everytime I remembered certain scenes. What really blew my mind was the feeling I had throughout the movie, that events like this are actually taking place. {NOT THE SEX SCENES} But maybe, I'm not so sure...

Obviously in the movie, it just shows two rogue scientists with apparent issues from the past especially the woman, but I believe that there are places that do experiment with animals, humans? etc.

This movie reminded me of a recent program that I saw called "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura" and it was very interesting... I posted a link for anyone who is curious.

http://www.trutv.com/conspiracy/government-lies/plum-island/secret-disease-research.html

The episode presents a theory that Plum Island Animal Research Center off the coast of Long Island, N.Y. have been accused of being a bio-warfare lab started by a Nazi-German scientist named Erich Traub who allegedly invented African swine flu and Lyme disease. They supposedly experiment of animals and several strange creatures have washed up on the shores of long Island. They even show pictures...It's very bizarre, that's for sure.

 

[Erna]

What really blew my mind was the feeling I had throughout the movie, that events like this are actually taking place.

Yeah, this was on my mind the whole time as well. What strange creatures are there in labs somewhere due to genetic experimentation? We can only wonder...