At the Movies with Fatwayne

By now, everyone should know that “you don’t mess with Mother Nature”! And then there are those folks who just don’t give a darn. Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) are two brilliant scientists who are working on gene splicing techniques in order to create a new species that will benefit mankind by enabling them to synthesize proteins in order to cure diseases and genetic disorders that afflict humans. A worthy goal but also illegal when Elsa introduces human DNA to the process.

Prior to this, the pair had developed a new creature that looked like a giant slug about the size of a medium dog. This mass of tissue they name Fred and he produces proteins that are beneficial in growing crops. They then decide to create a female version which they name Ginger. All goes well and the two seem to get along smashingly. The decision is made to go public with their creations and so they present them at a stockholders meeting of their funding corporation. All goes well until they lower a plexiglass barrier separating the two “slugs”. All at once they begin to attack one another with  large spike like blades that project from their chest area. Blood splatters everywhere including all over the unlucky stockholders as the two kill each other. It is later discovered that the female has mutated and became a male thus causing their “territorial” disagreement.

With their funding threatened, Clive and Elsa are pressed to make some discoveries that will benefit their corporate backers financially. They are having a difficult time of it until Elsa makes progress using a new genetic sample from a Jane Doe and now, all of a sudden, they are introducing human DNA into the equation to see if they can produce a viable hybrid.

The result is a very strange creature with a featureless torso and large chicken like legs that runs in circles bumping into things. It has a fantastically speedy metabolism and in no time at all it starts to resemble a humanoid child replete with a tail equipped with a stinger much like a sting ray has. As the thing develops, Elsa starts to become attached to it and learns that it is intelligent and so decides to raise it as a human child. She names it Dren (nerd spelled backwards). There is friction between Clive and Elsa as Clive believes they should destroy Dren lest they wind up in deep legal trouble. Elsa will hear none of this and continues to nurture Dren.

Dren is quite cute in her rapid development. But, alas, she starts to exhibit some disturbing tendencies like eating raw meat and attacking people with her lethal tail stinger. The story has several plot twists that emerge from this point forward. This is a cautionary tale that we can all learn from with a story that could be taken right off the front page of any newspaper. I am, of course, talking about DNA research, cloning, etc.

The creature effects are solid and Dren is definitely an oddity. The story moves along at a good pace with adequate character development. The ending is somewhat surprising but manages to be believable and satisfying at the same time. I liked this film and can recommend it to you.

Quotes from Splice
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Fatwayne’s Rating  -    -