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: CUBE (1997)

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Writers: Vincenzo Natali, André Bijelic, Graeme Manson
Running time: 90 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 25^th September 1998

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 29^th December 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I first saw this film many years ago and I very much enjoyed it then. Over the years I’ve tried to track it down but sadly failed to snare it. So I was very happy to see it appear in the TV listings this week; needless to say; recording equipment was appropriately set. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

A collection of seemingly random people wake up inside a mysterious maze made of rooms in the shape of cubes. In each room are six doors, one on each wall, that lead to adjoining cubes. But some of the rooms are booby trapped and it’s up to them to figure their own way out. The main characters; Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint), a cop; Worth (David Hewlett), an office worker; Leaven (Nicole de Boer), a student; Holloway (Nicky Guadagni), a doctor and Kazan (Andrew Miller), who is mentally ill are all being affected by the cube in various ways. Who will figure it out before they all succumb to the psychological pressures posed by The Cube?

I love the ideas behind this film; a mystery combined with some sci-fi and more than a touch of horror is right up my street. Unfortunately the execution just fails to pay off sufficiently for me to call it brilliant. I think the dialogue comes over as a little dated and that does let it down somewhat. Also the twist at the end was a tad predictable. Even so, I can’t help but like this film; I think it appeals to the mathematician in me (don’t let that put you off by the way). You’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it. Over all; a decent enough film that’s maybe becoming slightly dated, but still has the edge over many a high budget blockbuster or two.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.8/10

IMDb Score: 7.4/10 (based on 92,460 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

MetaScore: 61/100: (Based on 12 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 59/100 (based on 34 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 74/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 85,853 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cube/

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

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Quentin: Listen, we can't go climbing around in here.
Holloway: Why not?
Quentin: There's traps.
Holloway: What do you mean traps?
Quentin: Booby traps. I looked in the room down there, and something almost cut my head off.

Quentin: For Christ's sake, Worth, what do you live for? Do you have a wife, or a girlfriend, or something?
Worth: Nope. I've gotta pretty fine collection of pornography.

Worth: What do ya think?
Leaven: You don't have a lot of lives left.

Worth: There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan.

[Quentin and Holloway are discussing who could have made the cube]
Quentin: This place is... remember Scaramanga? The bad guy in "The Man With The Golden Gun?" It's some rich psycho's entertainment
Holloway: [laughs] Is that what you think?

Kazan: This room is... green. I wanna go back to the blue room.

LINKS:
(NOTE: All links were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer: (Beware: A major plot point is given away in this trailer)