Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print
When Elsa (Sarah Polley) enthuses, "You are such a good girl," she uses the sort of high-pitched, encouraging voice common to proud parents and pet owners.
She is doling out candy treats and complimenting Dren, who is a little bit of a daughter, a pet and a research subject. She's a hybrid who is part human, part animal, part genetic breakthrough, part disastrous science experiment and the ultimate focus of the sci-fi film "Splice."
- Starring: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley.
- Rating: R for disturbing elements, including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
Elsa and her live-in boyfriend, Clive (Adrien Brody), are superstar genetic engineers who splice DNA from different animals to create new hybrids. They work for a pharmaceutical company that, as the movie opens, refuses to take their research to the next step.
"If we don't use human DNA now, someone else will," Elsa warns. She and Clive take matters into their own hands and clandestinely add human DNA to the genetic mix, and the result is ... Dren, or "Nerd" spelled backward.
Early on, when the unnamed experiment seems like a tragic mutant, Clive asks, "Do you think it's in pain? ... I'm gonna kill it."
But even when the couple believe the creature is dead, it's not, and the rapidly growing Dren becomes more human-like by the day. As in "Frankenstein," the couple's quest for scientific advances trumps everything else, with dire and deadly results.
As always in these movies, the questions are: Who's the monster -- the creature or the creators? When you try to play God, do you condemn yourself or others to hell?
"Splice," more than a decade in the making, is smarter than your average sci-fi movie thanks to its Sundance Film Festival roots and director Vincenzo Natali.
He makes science hip in ways large and small, from how he marries music and magic/madness in the lab to the procession of distinctive T-shirts Mr. Brody wears. By casting the Oscar-winning actor from "The Pianist" and Ms. Polley, Mr. Natali sends a signal that he's not in typical Hollywood territory anymore.
The creature, a composite of a young actress or an older one with computer-generated imagery, is truly distinctive. She goes from freaky to almost human, hairless, with extremely wide-set eyes, wings and a tail with a stinger.
A pivotal scene in "Splice," about 80 minutes in, sets off a cataclysmic chain of events. Given all that's come before, it seems out of character for one of the principals, but it's also why Mr. Natali wanted to make the movie.
Subsequent turns are startling but not shocking. Mr. Natali lays the groundwork for one (if we can anticipate it, why don't the brainiacs?) and the other is a more conventional horror movie conceit. As for how someone digs into frozen earth or why a pond isn't icy in the dead of winter, well, those are tiny distractions licking at the corners of your mind.
The R-rated "Splice" is like a flawed hybrid itself. It lives by the code that less is more, conjures characters who are pursuing knowledge rather than fortune, and allows moviegoers to weigh what lines they might tiptoe across or recoil from, in fear and terror.
Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
