Film Autopsy of SPLICE

Yes, there was hope regarding this film. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are two smart actors who usually make good film choices. And then also, this movie got a huge unexpected boost from the recent announcement by Craig Venter of the creation of the first synthetic DNA. Everything was lined up perfectly for an intelligent sci-fi film that tackles some of the tough moral and ethical issues surrounding the creation of life in a laboratory. So we got Splice last week (See the trailer here). Unfortunately, a better movie on the topic is waiting to be made. The science in here is atrocious and morality and ethical discussions are at the level of 5th-graders. However, there are some intriguing plot lines involving the two main human characters - and wish they had explored those themes further.

Well, as I pointed out in an earlier post about the film Vincere, Kevin Anderson and I usually have conversations about the films playing in the theater. Kevin is a serious film buff and is a lecturer in anthropology and film studies at UMass-Amherst. We will be collecting our reviews of films at the Film Autopsy blog (there are 6 more recent reviews ready - but I still have to convert them into slide-videos. Check back the site in a couple of days).

In the mean time, here is an autopsy of the film Splice (about 7 minutes long):