Movies recommended or seen lately... les films a voir #118: Splice

Genre: Sci-fi/Science-Fiction

Annee/Year: 2009

Format: Blu-Ray

Splice. A winner on many levels. This is a movie by Director Vincenzo Natali a director with few movies under his belt but probably a much greater potential. He also directed Cube (1997) a movie which is now on my list of films to watch. The movie Splice was shot and mainly produced in Canada which is a strong sign for our film industry as this has got all the parts of a big holywood blockbuster.

The film main actors are a team (couple) of scientist played by Sara Polley and Adrien Brody. Adrien is one of these actors who has the wind blowing in his diretion these days. After playing in King kong and Shamalayan's The Village, he played recently a lead role with Dario Argento in the movie Giallo but mainly he was the main character in the last Predators movie. He will be playing soon in the soon to be released movie The Experiment which i am convinced will be memorable(based on a true story). Polley played in ExistenZ from Cronenberg as well as Dawn of the dead, as well as Beowulf and grendel. Yes both of them kicked ass in these roles. Note also here the participation of David Hewlett which many will remember from his Stargate Atlantis days. The special effects are truky spectacular on this movie by the way.

The story written in part by V Natali relates the story of the couple/scientists who are experts in their field of genetic engineering and who study the splicing of genes from different species. They manage to produce a new chimera species which they plan to use to produce new proteins which can solve some of the world's problems and assure cash flow of their hosting company. The movie up to that point is an excellent platform to discuss the ethics of this type of research. But it takes a turn to bring us into a much darker area when our two scientists decide to splice human DNA into their recipe to get to the next level...and what a step it is.

I will not divulge more of this really captivating story but i will say that the movie does loose a lot of credibility when the scientists start breaking ALL the rules which normal sane scientist would self impose. Including having sex with your experiment...The last part of the movie becomes closer to a Stephen King novel but remains entertaining and exciting. In the end it turns very far away from a movie which you can use to reflect on etichs and becomes more of a modern day Frankeinstein. Definitely an intense and captivating movie but perhaps not for everyone. Definitely 16 and above.
Note that the blu ray is very good quality transfer.

Le film Splice a plusieurs bons points pour lui. Il est tout d'abord un film produit entièrement au Canada. Il est dirigé par Vincenzo Natali qui a fait Cube et qui est un directeur avec énormément de potentiel. La distribution du film est excellente avec Sara Polley et Adrien Brody (King kong, The Village de Shamalayan , il a joue le rôle principal dans le dernier film de Dario Argento Giallo ainsi que dans Predators. Il jouera egalement dans le film The Experiment qui sortira bientôt et qui promet. A noter que les effets speciaux sont vraiment spectaculaires et tres bien reussis.

Le film Splice relate l'histoire d'un couple d'ingénieurs génétique qui développe de nouvelles espèces en combinant l'ADN de plusieurs espèces afin de produire de nouvelles protéines et en faire fortune. Le souci est que malgré les ordres de leurs supérieurs ils décident d'utiliser également de l'ADN humain dans leur combinaison. Le film jusque-là était une bonne plateforme pour discuter des enjeux de l'éthique des expériences génétiques et des pratiques scientifiques.

Mais le film prend un détour beaucoup plus sombre et nous montrent deux scientifiques en perte de contrôle et qui cassent TOUTES les lois qu'un être normal s'imposerait. Incluant le sexe avec son expérience... je ne dévoilerai pas le sujet plus que nécessaire, mais le film en souffre de sa crédibilité et devient un film qui tient plus de l'horreur digne de Stephen King. Ceci n'est pas totalement négatif, car le film demeure une excellente plateforme de divertissement qui nous garde en haleine jusqu'a la toute fin. Très bon film, mais plus pour sa valeur de divertissement qu'autre chose.

Great quotes:

Clive Nicoli: Why the fuck did you make her in the first place? Huh? For the betterment of mankind? You never wanted a normal child because you were afraid of losing control.
...
Elsa Kast: [crying] What do you want? What do you want?
Dren: Inside... you...

Link: http://www.splicethefilm.com/dvd/

Rating perso: 8.0/10