AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
I grew up watching classic sci-fi B movies with my dad. To me, being old enough to watch The X-Files was a big deal. So, when I saw the trailers for Splice, which was so clearly drawing on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and a long tradition of “creature features,” I was intrigued and excited.
Splice starts with two scientists, Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) working on a project splicing together the DNA from different farm animals to create new creatures (that look sort of like slugs or Jabba the Hut) in order to produce a type of protein that they hope will cure diseases when used in pharmaceuticals. Elsa wants to try splicing in human DNA, but her bosses (Joan Chorot and William Barlow) are worried about moral outrage. Plus, they just want Clive and Elsa to get the animal products ready for sale. Elsa, however, does the splicing anyway, just to see if it would work. And it does, as you might guess, with disastrous results. In the end, Splice is a good cautionary tale for the importance of following scientific protocol.
Critics have been praising this movie, and, frankly, I’m surprised by that. When the credits rolled, my jaw was on the floor, and it was not due to any enjoyable shock. First, let me clarify, I actually did enjoy the first half hour of this film. Initially, Clive and Elsa seem pretty cool. They make creatures, listen to good music, and work in a lab full of good-looking nerds. The creature they make with the human DNA, Dren (Nerd backward. I rolled my eyes so hard I hurt myself), looks really interesting in each stage of her development. The special effects department seems to have had fun working with the different animals that were spliced together to create an intriguing hybrid that is at times funny looking and at others frightening. Actors Abigail Chu and Delphine Chaneac do a marvelous job of bringing this chicken-frog-human being to life.
There are early indications that Elsa likes to flirt with danger, or is maybe a little unhinged, but at first she’s just fueling the suspense of the movie. As soon as the creature is born, however, things take a turn for the worse. Elsa starts treating Dren like she’s their child, which is more creepy than sympathetic. Early in the movie, Clive and Elsa have a conversation about having kids and Elsa is clear that she does not want to have any. So, watching her interaction with Dren, the audience begins to wonder if she just didn’t want to get pregnant. There are two problems here. First, the female scientist is portrayed as unstable, unreliable, and overly-maternal. So much for the plight of women in science. Second, the movie seems to be dabbling with issues over fertility in contemporary science, but not in any clear or responsible way. Then things get even worse in ways I can’t or won’t go into here. You’ll have to see it for yourself. I’ll say this though, I recommend thinking about what’s going on in this movie, but looking for any clear meaning in the ending of Splice is futile and exhausting. I needed a nap.
The biggest problem I have with Splice is that it simply plays at being intelligent. It bites into interesting questions about the complicated relationship between science and morality (and whose morality), and what makes up humanity, but it doesn’t actually interact with these questions beyond introducing them. At the end, the movie doesn’t really mean, say, or do anything with the ideology it introduces. Further, within this non-engagement is some pretty hefty sexism and just plain stupid dialogue. If you’re going to make a smart monster movie, it had better actually be smart. Otherwise, make a stupid but enjoyable one. The visuals in this movie are really very striking and I was riveted by the story for the whole hour and forty minutes. My interest, however, was the result of watching a disaster unfold, not of being engaged by good storytelling. The shock of how problematic Splice is didn’t wear off for days. 2.5/5 stars
Splice was directed by Vincenzo Natali and written with Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. It runs 104 minutes and is rated R for disturbing elements including strong sexuality, nudity, sci-fi violence and language.
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