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Director: Vincenzo Natali
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Thriller
Year: 2009

The newest addition to sci-fi films done right got its release this weekend (as of 6.7.10) and it goes by the name of Splice. A thriller regarding two brilliant scientists exploring the realm of cloning and insistent on using human genes, even if illegitimately. When their experiment proves successful, Klive Nicoli (Adrien Brody; The Pianist, The Village, Love the Hard Way) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley; My Life Without Me, Go) allow it to proceed to term and then further, resulting in the birth of a creature, part human, part animal and full of trouble.

Expecting a horror film more than anything else, this film far succeeded my expectations, giving us a convincing drama, based in the relationship of these two scientists who are also intimately involved with each other. As the experiment proceeds, the bond of their relationship is tested. Here and there it seems their roles are a bit too harshly scripted, but the caliber of these two actors skills is for the most part able to surpass those hurdles. The sci-fi aspect of the film thankfully breezes past the technical side of things and is far more concerned with the aftermath, bringing up questions — while providing no answers — to questions dealing with ethics and morality when it comes to human cloning.

Having recently read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, I was struck by the wonderful way this movie and that book compliment each other. The two could not be more extreme in their outlook, but at the core the questions being brought up and the issues that are being dealt with are often the same and these two sources provide extremely different outlooks. It will be interesting, once Never Let Me Go the movie is released this fall, to watch the two films side by side.

In general, I would highly recommend this film to any fan of sci-fi, keeping in mind that it is not entirely perfect and it does manage to hold on to a handful of cheesy moments that one could have done without or that could have been easily changed on a screenplay rewrite. Nevertheless, this film is a must watch for any fan of the genre and for those that might be interested on the philosophical arguments of cloning.

Rating:
Comments: NOT FOR CHILDREN! I was astounded, at the theater, that one couple brought their kids to the theater. The scary moments and the frightening creature were not enough, to get them to walk out. Neither was the full nude scene of the creature strapped down to the table. It took a scene far more grave than that to finally empty out their seats. There are two scenes in particular here that might disturb a lot people, so exercise caution.