2 out of 5

Director: Vincenzo Natali

Splice: fascinating concept, sketchy execution. Splice is about two cool genetic scientists who successfully splice some random jive together to produce a profitable protein. Of course, these scientists – Brody and Polley – want to continue the process, taking what theyve learned to splice stuff with human genes and get on the road to curing all sorts of diseases. But Big Bad Corporation says wait – lets profit off of what youve done and then we can move on. So Brody and Polley continue their work in secret, successfully splicing human genes with something other… Complications arise. Now problem one is pacing. Whats nice about Splice is that the point doesnt seem to be regarding the rights or wrongs of playing god, but rather taking responsibility for your actions and trying to take into account the realistic possibilities and not just the probable ones of our decisions. This is more interesting moral ground, but it required director / co-writer Vincenzo Natali to make some jumps in plotting and characterization to get to the meat of his film early on. So some things happen fast and some happen slow – i.e. the Splice baby ages quickly and then seems to just stop aging when its appropriate for the plot. Problem two: characters. They are presented mostly broad until an important plot point is needed for them to develop more discernible personalities. So its not a successful combination of idea and medium. The conclusion suffers from this as well, as the thought-provoking concepts rattle away in favor of trying to give the ending some good ol Hollywood thrills and punch, seeming cheap in light of what was bubbling around beforehand. But the film looks good, and the creature is represented interestingly. It is worth seeing for conversation topics, but maybe not for the movie itself. Best as a rental.