** stars
Splice could have been one of the coolest movies of the summer. Its premise is timely and controversial, it has a solid cast and crew (starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley and produced by Guillermo del Toro), and its buzz was quietly hot. Instead, the film becomes too weird for its own good and fails to deliver what it promises.
Brody and Polley star as Elsa and Clive, married scientists who are on the verge of a groundbreaking experiment by splicing together human and animal DNA new create a new organism. To their surprise and completely rebellious towards their moral ethics, it works. They decide to name it Dren (the unimaginative idea of spelling Nerd backwards), as it begins to grow into a deformed female infant and later becoming close to the form of human.
Conveniently for the plot, Elsa and Clive are unable to get pregnant, which is why they decide to keep it as their own and ignore the road to publicity. Time passes and things change, and the couple eventually leads themselves down a path of self-destruction.
While I admire the idea of what Splice tries to do (the psychological repercussions of their actions), it falls victim to unnecessary scenes of awkwardness, including some of the most ridiculous sex scenes I've seen since the remake of The Hill Have Eyes. To the point where I would suggest a disclaimer before the opening credits stating: A long shower is needed after the viewing of this film.
I never like to dis on a film when it tries to go there. Usually, I admire the guts it takes to make a film stand out (regardless of the subject matter), so long as the film stays true to itself. Unfortunately, Splice commits the sins of being weird for the sake of being weird, as if being weird is the controversy itself.
Brody and Polley star as Elsa and Clive, married scientists who are on the verge of a groundbreaking experiment by splicing together human and animal DNA new create a new organism. To their surprise and completely rebellious towards their moral ethics, it works. They decide to name it Dren (the unimaginative idea of spelling Nerd backwards), as it begins to grow into a deformed female infant and later becoming close to the form of human.
Conveniently for the plot, Elsa and Clive are unable to get pregnant, which is why they decide to keep it as their own and ignore the road to publicity. Time passes and things change, and the couple eventually leads themselves down a path of self-destruction.
While I admire the idea of what Splice tries to do (the psychological repercussions of their actions), it falls victim to unnecessary scenes of awkwardness, including some of the most ridiculous sex scenes I've seen since the remake of The Hill Have Eyes. To the point where I would suggest a disclaimer before the opening credits stating: A long shower is needed after the viewing of this film.
I never like to dis on a film when it tries to go there. Usually, I admire the guts it takes to make a film stand out (regardless of the subject matter), so long as the film stays true to itself. Unfortunately, Splice commits the sins of being weird for the sake of being weird, as if being weird is the controversy itself.
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