I've been waiting for Splice to come out ever since it was announced because Vincenzo Natali is my very favorite director. It's finally out and I saw it and I want to talk about it. In brief: I overall like the film, but it's not my favorite of Natali's (though it's tough to compete with Cube.)
I'm not giving away any big spoilers here, so don't worry. Because I dance around some of the surprises, this review will ring more true (hopefully) if you've seen the film. But also use it to prepare yourself for what you'll see and look for the right things.
Genre
If you're expecting a mainstream horror film, this isn't it. At the same time, it's too mainstream to be artsy. One of the great things about Natali's movies (he often writes as well as directs) is that even though there's something strange going on in the plot, the movie is never ABOUT the plot. It's always about character. So, yes Elsa and Clive have created a species by splicing human and animal DNA. But the real movie is about how Elsa's childhood has affected her outlook, her needs and desires. If you don't follow that train of thought and instead look simply for a monster movie plot, you'll be disappointed.
But can I say, that the movie was moving in one direction with one tone, and then changed around 20 minutes before the end of the movie. I hated the fact that it went from this movie about struggling with morals to some cliche monster in the woods versus humans who've dropped their flashlight in the stream. I mean, really, guys? The very final scene is fine, but the climax, I suppose you'd call it, felt like it was stuck in there by Hollywood.
Character
The characters are strong, at least the main two characters. Even though both often flip flop their opinions on they are doing, it's never out of character and always in reaction to something that's happened. We slowly get the full picture of Elsa as the pieces of her childhood fall into place over the course of the film. I feel like some people aren't going to like the very end of the movie, the last shot, but it's inevitable, in a way, at least thematically. It sums up the character and brings full circle Clive's accusation earlier in the film about what Dren (the creature) means to her. I would have liked to see more between Clive and his brother. That relationship seemed a little thin. Deleted scenes?
Direction
You know, when I first started to watch the film, I thought that the movie didn't feel like Natali. It didn't feel like anyone in particular, but as the movie went on, the STORY felt more like Natali, especially the ending. He always has a sound story with strong characters who end up either transforming or, even more often, becoming the people they are, as Nietzsche might say. It'd say it's closest to Cypher. It's got more of that Hollywood feel to it than Cube, Nothing, or Elevated.
Music
Didn't notice the music too much. Certainly wasn't bad. Would have preferred some more Micheal Andrews. Or, who did the music for Cube? I wish there was a soundtrack to that.
Special Effects
Holy cow, good. Natali's movies are usually very organic. If you recall the first scene in Cube or the ending of Nothing, we tend to see some body innards, and not usually in a gory shock appeal sort of way. He never does anything for the shock effect (except maybe that first scene in Cube?). But it's often shocking just the same. Dren is clearly partially played by a human sometimes (or all the time?). There is makeup, but there is definitely a lot of work in post too. I think. It's hard to tell, really. It looks really good. She looks mostly human except her eyes are too far apart and you can see the place where the two halves of her brain formed. And then of course, her legs bend like a dog's and she has a scorpion tail. There are also other organic things in the film. Lots of placenta sack or strange hybrid creatures that look like something out of an advanced eXistenZ or something. It all looks good, especially for being an indie film.
Acting
No problem with the acting. There's a scene in the beginning where I guessed one of the big twists as early as I could have possibly guessed it. Was it too predictable or was the way that the actress (Sarah Polley) spoke so good, I could tell she was lying? Also, I was pleasantly surprised that David Hewlett has a pretty big role in the film. I thought it would be a cameo, but no. He was good as always.
Theme
There are three big things going on here.
1. Elsa's childhood. How upbringing impacts your mind as an adult.
2. Morals. When you start changing the rules, how do you know what's right and wrong?
3. Coming of age. Dren's rapid age puts her through childhood and puberty as though she were a human being.
I thought all these entwined nicely and without one, the story would collapse.
Choices
As you can see, I've mostly only had nice things to say, so why has Splice gotten some bad reviews? As a viewer, there are some things that I would have been happy if they left out. Some reviewers are applauded at the "bestiality" in the film, and I agree I could have done without those two scenes AS A VIEWER. But as a WRITER, I can see that those two scenes are extremely important to the story. They could have done something else there, yes, and then the story would have gone in a different direction. The first scene is immensely important to themes one and two. They lead the characters to do what they do next. Without it, they never would have had such a big emotional change-around. And the second scene is crucial to the end of the movie, and therefor theme 1 which is the whole point of the movie. Without it, it falls apart. So yeah, ew, but you write your movie, let them write theirs.
The experience
I saw this in a half-full cinema on a Saturday morning. The movie was getting a good reaction from the crowd. There are parts that are really intense or gross and you could hear and feel the audience tensing up. There were only two big laughs in the movie and neither of them were comedic parts. There aren't actually any genuinely comic elements in the movie despite that Natali has done comedies (see Nothing). The laughter was a release of tension from two really tense parts of the films. Both times were in a moment of quiet where the characters were in trouble by someone else. People in the theatre were yelling things like "Oh snap!"
To sum, I thought the characters, story, performances, and effects were all very sound. I hated the random b-horror-flick climax. I was disturbed but didn't disagree entirely with his choices. The movie is graphic, but not for shock effect.
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