yeah, I don't understand why the critics like the movie so much. i really don't.
Good luck. Try not to kill people. Hands! Hands!
Willow ,'Storyteller'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
le nubian - Jun 04, 2010 6:35:37 pm PDT #8710 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
billytea - Jun 04, 2010 6:44:34 pm PDT #8711 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Ok, found a spoiler for the movie ending.
...Still better than The Human Centipede.
Steph L. - Jun 04, 2010 7:04:27 pm PDT #8712 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
Thanks to billytea, I had to go find a spoiler for the ending, and -- that's so fucked up it made me laugh and laugh, although I imagine if I saw it, I'd be aghast.
le nubian - Jun 04, 2010 7:09:44 pm PDT #8713 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
feel my pain. feel it!
Amy - Jun 04, 2010 7:14:04 pm PDT #8714 of 30000
Because books.
More fucked up than Orphan even?
le nubian - Jun 04, 2010 7:14:51 pm PDT #8715 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
OH YES.
DavidS - Jun 04, 2010 7:17:59 pm PDT #8716 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Point me to the spoiler ending!
One reviewer admires the over-the-topness:
******
The trickiest thing in Splice isn't the creature design and FX but rather the tone. Someone described it to me as in the vein of Re-Animator, and I would agree to an extent. Splice is less obviously jokey than Re-Animator, but it does go large, and it goes large with gusto. I don't know that any of the choices the characters make actually make real world sense, but they all lead to wonderful things, and to an ending that keeps going places I didn't think it would. Natali and his team of co-writers certainly didn't feel the need to every play it safe.
Brody and Polley get the tone, and they go for it. Brody especially embraces it, which is the only way for him to get through some of the third act business when the movie gets extremely weird. Natali isn't just exploring gene splicing through the lens of scifi-horror, he's examining it through the lens of procreation. Natali is interested in how we deal with our offspring, whether naturally born or lab-grown, and how our own upbringing impacts that. A genetically engineered life form won't be the next leap, he's saying, it'll be just the next turn in a cycle of abuse that has gone on for generations.
There are a lot of problems with Splice; for a movie that had been in development for so long the script felt slightly half-baked, and the odd tone of the film means you either go with it right from the start when Adrien Brody looks like he just stepped off stage at a Hong Kong Cavaliers show or you'll be totally lost. If you can get in, the film is exceptionally rewarding with strangeness and cool creatures and a lingering aura of simple madness. Splice is exactly the kind of movie I keep waiting to see: strange, over the top, cool, thoughtful, monster-filled and just plain crazy.
Frankenbuddha - Jun 04, 2010 7:34:27 pm PDT #8717 of 30000
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Yeah, I've heard comparisons to early Cronenberg, so I kinda got to see it. But I do understand that is DEFINITELY not everyone's thing. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be either.
DavidS - Jun 04, 2010 7:36:36 pm PDT #8718 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Okay, I found some spoilers and that doesn't seem particularly different from general Cronenberginess. In fact, it seems like standard Cronenberg with better CGI instead of latex FX.
Polter-Cow - Jun 04, 2010 9:26:35 pm PDT #8719 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Yeah, I can definitely see the Cronenberginess. I generally agree with the reviewer Hec quoted. And the io9 review. I really liked the family aspect, watching Clive and Elsa raise Dren. I thought that made for good sci-fi. The special effects were great.
Like le nubian said, it definitely goes to a fucked-up place and then finds a lower place.
(Still not sure it's as fucked-up as Oldboy, though.)
It's a twisted, disturbing movie. But, though flawed, it's a good one.