Much like the Joker's magic trick in THE DARK KNIGHT, the script for Vincenzo Natali's SPLICE sets up its turns with devious simplicity, and then reveals its twist with a delicious (and gory) flair for the ironic.
Horror doesn't usually do it for me, to be honest. Looking at my DVD collection, I see FRAILTY and THE THING representing this proud genre. ALIEN, maybe, if you want to count it as a horror film. The visceral scares of horror might be enjoyable once, but I find a lot of horror difficult to re-watch. It loses so much of its appeal after the first time as you count the minutes until the next character is disemboweled/decapitated/caught in a doggie door in a garage door/etc.
But SPLICE savours the build-up to the scares, delighting as the characters dig themselves deeper and deeper into ethically murkier and murkier ground. The moments in between The Big Moments are what are really interesting about this film, as the script lays out exactly where it's going to go and dares you to call.
SPLICE is holding pocket aces though, and it bets big. Capital-B Big, actually. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley go full-bore and give themselves over to a script that calls for some huge risks, and not just in obvious ways. In my opinion, they completely succeed. What emerges is a disturbing, refreshing look at a pretty classic story.
I know I'm being vague, but that's deliberate. You need to get yourself into a theatre and watch this movie. And tell me when you're going, because I can't wait to watch it again.
So it was good eh? I was wondering about it.
ReplyDeleteI should have told you ahead of time and you could have joined me, but I just caught Splice after finishing my projection shift (an opportunity to make sure the film was threaded perfectly and in fine focus knowing I was the one about to watch it!)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you on this almost entirely. Adrien Brody's performance really stood out to me. Some moments that could have been a pitfall for lesser actors he pulls off believably by trusting in the script entirely. Your prose are obviously sweeter to the reader, but I'll simply say I didn't see most of that shit comin'! Well, I saw a lot of it coming, but I didn't trust myself in my predictions which kept me on the edge of my seat.
I can see how people can be divided on this film, plenty of people exiting over the last few weeks screaching of how terrible it was, but I personally enjoyed the heck out of it. Sometimes all you need is a classic story done in a cool way.