Film Review: SPLICE (2009)

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Vincenzo Natali (screenplay/story), Antoinette Terry Bryant (screenplay/story), Doug Taylor (screenplay)
Running time: 104 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 23^rd July 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 15^th March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

A film that gained some critical acclaim on release but the public didn’t appear all that enamoured. I must say this one has intrigued me for some time and so when it finally aired on TV this week I jumped on the chance to give it the once over. To be honest I’m going to have to go with the public on this one… I didn’t find it all that great and I’ll tell you why after this very brief summary.

When biochemists Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) perfect the technique of splicing genes together they are ready to take it to the next stage; using human DNA. Their bosses, Joan Chorot (Simona Maicanescu) and William Barlow (David Hewlett), are dead against it, preferring to cash in on the work done so far. Our scientists decide to go ahead anyway, but in secret. They finally produce a creature which, with accelerated growth soon becomes too big to hide in the lab. They call her Dren (Delphine Chanéac) – and yes, that is ‘NERD’ spelt backwards – and move her to Elsa’s childhood home, a nearby abandoned farm. Our learned friends go through the usual moral dilemmas, but Elsa is keeping a secret and Dren is more dangerous than they imagined. I think I’ll leave it there or I may give too much away.

I didn’t enjoy this film as much as I was expecting to; I guess I wanted better from the director of Cube. I felt there wasn’t enough character development and so I found it very hard to sympathise with either of the leads. It is alluded to that one of them may have had psychological problems as a child but this is just skated over and when it later becomes a major plot point it has lost all of the impact it might have had. I thought the performances were all right with nobody really standing out. I do have to give a little praise to Delphine Chanéac though for her portrayal of Dren though; it was more of a mime because there’s no dialogue, but I thought she did it well. Over all, a disappointing film that promised much but failed to deliver by the end. It all became a little too predictable from the point the cat appears on the scene; you *know* it’s going to end badly for the cat – what is it with filmmakers and cats!? Let kitty live! It might gain you an extra point!

SteelMonster’s verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED

My score: 5.2/10.

IMDb Score: 5.9/10 (based on 53,042 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1017460/

MetaScore: 66/100: (Based on 35 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 74/100 (based on 183 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 37/100 (based on 244,934 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1208173-splice/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
[techno music playing]
Clive Nicoli: This retarded, fascist, über music is the fuckin' problem. It's got us thinking in circles.
[turns on jazz music]

Elsa Kast: If you could understand crazy, it wouldn't be crazy.

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.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THE EXPERIMENT (2010)

Co-Writer/Director: Paul Scheuring
Running time: 90 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/Thriller
USA Release date: 21st September 2010 (DVD Premiere)

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 3rd July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is an American remake of the 2001 German film, Das Experiment. I should say, for the record, that I haven’t seen the original and so I can only judge this one on its own merits. Rest assured that the original is firmly on ‘The List’ for future a viewing (and reviewing). The story is based on the infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" conducted in 1971. A group of individuals were taken to a makeshift prison where they were split into two groups, the guards and the prisoners. It sounds like it might be an interesting concept and to some extent it is… I’ll tell you more of my thoughts after this brief summary.

I should first say that for taking part in the experiment all participants were to be very well paid. This meant that all kinds of people were attracted to sign up. There’s Travis, the peace loving guy who wants money to follow a girl to India, there’s Barris, the repressed guy who has to stay at home and look after his mother, and many others. The one thing they all have in common is that they need the money. Having been split into their respective roles things start off quite jovial enough. However, the guards are warned that they cannot use violence, but must maintain discipline. Also, the rules must be strictly adhered to and failure to comply will end the experiment and nobody gets paid. This causes tension amongst the guards as the prisoners begin to rebel against the rules. One guard, Barris appoints himself the leader and singles out Travis as the chief troublemaker. As the level of the guards’ retribution escalates, it’s clear that something is going to give, and when it does it’s going to be bad.

A decent cast, including Adrien Brody as Travis and Forest Whitaker as Barris did a decent job of what I found, at times, a rather uneven script. Also worthy of a mention were; Cam Gigandet as Chase, Clifton Collins Jr. as Nix and Ethan Cohn as Benjy.

There is much you have to take at face value and that doesn’t really help the narrative all that much. I did actually find it quite engrossing for the first two thirds, but it did get a little predictable towards the end. The ending, when it finally came, was a bit of a disappointment I’m afraid. Over all, it’s quite watchable for the first two thirds, but not something I’d give a second viewing to.

My Score: 6.1/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0997152/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-experiment-2010/
Trailer:

Film Review: PREDATORS (2010) [REWATCH]

Director: Nimród Antal
Running time: 103 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 8^th July 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 12^th June 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Having seen this at the cinema almost a year ago it finally arrived on in the TV schedules. Since I quite enjoyed it first time around I thought I’d give it a second look. Below is pretty much my original review with just a couple of adjustments and a slightly revised score. On second viewing it didn’t quite have the impact it did first time around, but it was still entertaining where it needed to be and I finally figured out just what Noland added to the plot.

The film opens with a man dressed in battle fatigues falling, he is unconscious, but comes round. Shortly before impact with the jungle covered ground below a parachute opens, but he still lands with a bone-crunching thud. Others land around him and are, at first, aggressive towards each other until the first one persuades them it would be better to band together. They are all from the less desirable side of the tracks, there’s a mercenary, a convict, a sniper from Guatemala, a yakuza, a freedom fighter from Chechnya, a kidnapper, a religious fighter and a doctor. It soon becomes apparent that they are not on Earth and that they are being hunted by an unseen enemy. One by one they are eliminated by this foe. Eventually a plan is formed to defeat them and get off this planet.

Very reminiscent of the original film, Predator (1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but maybe without the same impact. All very well done with some excellent special effects and CGI. Decent performances from all involved. Honourable mentions go to, Adrien Brody as Royce, Topher Grace as Edwin, Alice Braga as Isabelle, Walton Goggins as Stans, Oleg Taktarov as Nikolai, a nice cameo from Laurence Fishburne as Noland, Danny Trejo as Cuchillo, Louis Ozawa Changchien as Hanzo and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Mombasa.

Although not as good as the 1987 original, I quite enjoyed this reboot. Having seen several films featuring the Predators since then, they don’t have the fright factor they used to. But it was an entertaining film with some great action sequences and a nice twist at the end. It’s not the best film in the world, but over all recommended for those who like this sort of thing (I did). Oh, and it ends wide open for a sequel.

My score: 7.1/10

LINKS:
(RT=Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1424381/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10012256-predators/
Official Site: http://www.predators-movie.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: PREDATORS (2010)

Director: Nimród Antal
Running time: 106 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

UK Release date: 8th July 2010

Watched at the cinema Saturday 10th July 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Since my local cinema only has two screens and, as a provincial picture house, has to make a profit, at times they have a limited choice of films. This week was a case in point. Just the two very popular films showing this week meaning I have to travel in order to see my personal choice. A bus, some legs, a train and some more legs later I find myself standing in the queue at the multiplex. Having purchased my ticket and waited for the screening room to be cleaned up form the previous showing we are let into Screen 2.

The film opens with a man dressed in battle fatigues falling, he is unconscious, but comes round. Shortly before impact with the jungle covered ground below a parachute opens, but he still lands with a bone-crunching thud. Others land around him and are, at first aggressive towards each other until the first one persuades them it would be better to band together. They are all from the less desirable side of the tracks, there’s a mercenary, a convict, a sniper from Guatemala, a yakuza, a freedom fighter from Chechnya, a kidnapper, a religious fighter and a doctor. It soon becomes apparent that they are not on Earth and that they are being hunted by an unseen enemy. One by one they are eliminated by this foe. Eventually a plan is formed to defeat them and get off this planet.

Very reminiscent of the original film, Predator (1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but maybe without the same impact. All very well done with some excellent special effects and CGI. Decent performances from all involved. Honourable mentions go to, Adrien Brody as Royce, Topher Grace as Edwin, Alice Braga as Isabelle, Walton Goggins as Stans, Oleg Taktarov as Nikolai, a nice cameo from Laurence Fishburne as Noland, Danny Trejo as Cuchillo, Louis Ozawa Changchien as Hanzo and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Mombasa.

Although not as good as the 1987 original, I quite enjoyed this sequel. Having seen several films featuring the Predators since then, they don’t have the fright factor they used to. But it was an entertaining film with some great action sequences and a nice twist at the end. It’s not the best film in the world, but over all recommended for those who like this sort of thing (I did). Oh, and it ends wide open for another sequel.

My score: 7.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1424381/
Official Site: http://www.predators-movie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi2220360729/