Last night was the first free screening I’ve been able to get into since HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON opened, and it was for the new science fiction movie SPLICE, starring Adrian Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac, and David Hewlett.  Since the pass I had was good for two, I invited my buddy Ryan along for the first free movie he’d been to since TAKING WOODSTOCK last fall.

 

SPLICE is a “next step” sci-fi film.  We’ve cloned animals, so now, let’s mix & match ‘em into one ugly blob of a creature.  When Clive (Brody) and Elsa (Polley) are told by the corporate representative that the research they are doing is going into storage and a new direction is necessary, they decided to break the rules, with the rhetorical question, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

 

The various animal DNA that they have already spliced together successfully has human DNA added to the mix, and a new thing is birthed in the lab.

 

At first looking like a featherless chicken with a semi-human head, the creature grows to look more human, while keeping the various animal characteristics, and triple-jointed legs & prehensile tail.

 

 

Soon, the secret is out at the lab, and the two scientists move their creation, dubbed “Dren” (Chaneac), to the abandoned farm left to Elsa when her abusive mother died.

 

And things, of course, get worse for them from there, both professionally & personally.

 

As we were leaving the theater last night, Ryan and I both agreed that SPLICE wasn’t what either of us were expecting it to be.  He shared the opinion that the writer(s) of the film must have had really horrible experiences raising their own children, because of the parallels in the film of the scientists “raising” the rapid-aging Dren.

 

After having some time to think about it, I’ve decided that SPLICE is about really smart people making the dumbest mistakes possible.  I thought it was interesting that of the two, it’s Polley’s character of Elsa that wears the pants in her relationship with Brody’s character of Clive.  She’s the one who wants to use human DNA.  She’s the one who runs the container out to the lab after they successfully mix the two.  And she’s the one who decides to keep Dren alive, time and again, over Clive’s objections and attempted murder.

 

 

I was hoping for a bigger role for David Hewlett, since I’m a fan of his work in the STARGATE franchise. Though, I admit, it was interesting to see him as a corporate stooge instead of the super scientist that he played on SG-1 and ATLANTIS.

I do wonder why the animal hybrids are just blobs of flesh, but the combination of human DNA is what gives the hybrid a form, but still with animal characteristics.

 

Since I know Jason likes it when I notice this sort of thing, music does play a role in the film.  Rock music is used when the Clive and Elsa first attempt to combine the DNA to make a human hybrid, and after deciding they’re working to the wrong beat, Clive changes it to a jazzier tune.  He also uses metal to cover up the sound of Dren’s cries echoing through the lab’s ductwork.  And, of course, there is a bit of dancing later in the film.

 

Ultimately, I’d say that SPLICE is worth a matinee on a slow day, or maybe just the rental in a few months.  There was a bit of applause from a few folks at the end of the film last night, but one guy yelled out, “Stop that!” and it stopped.  There’s a bit of disturbing material – assault, torture, and a rape – as well as a couple of creepy sex scenes and nudity, so the film earns the “R” rating.