Republic of the Philippines

Surigao del Sur State University

Rosario, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur 8300
Telefax No. 086-214-4221
Website: www.sdssu.edu.ph

Name: RoseAnn C Quimpan Date: December 31,2020

Course: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering - 1B RATING:

SPLICE
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Splice is the story of two scientists, who are also involved with one another, hard at work
trying to crack all manner of genetic codes. They are fusing the genetic material of various
types of life in order to create an entirely new organism that can then produce valuable
proteins used to fight diseases. The smitten biologists are confident that their work is on the
right track until tragedy strikes at a convention and their parent company threatens to pull
the plug. In desperation, they decide to cross the ethical point of no return and add human
DNA to the mix. The result of their experiment is Dren, an amalgamation of several animals
but predominantly exhibiting distinctly human features. Their excitement turns to horror
when Dren displays erratic, violent behavior.
I liked Splice a lot, and I feel I’m right on the cusp of loving it. For me, Splice represents
exactly what Science-Fiction is supposed to be. There is a stigma, and perhaps at one point I
held this same belief, that Sci-Fi is a juvenile, plastic genre that produces little more than
spectacular effects and mindless fantasy. But great Sci-Fi takes a very tangible societal issue
or question and uses technology to emphasize the universality and timelessness of those
issues. The interesting thing about Splice is that it is less interested in examining the obvious
moral quandary of cloning as it is the question of abortion. At the beginning of the film, our
protagonists Clive (Adrien Brody) & Elsa (Sarah Polley) discuss the possibility of having a
child and while he is strongly for the idea, she is staunchly opposed. The argument appears
to placed on the back burner in the wake of Dren’s arrival, but if you listen closely to their
conversations about what to do about Dren and how to handle the situation, they are
echoing the conversations of a young couple struggling with the abortion decision; their
actions and the shift in their relationship are also indicative of such a decision.
Generally, Splice is fantastic. It delivered everything I could have asked from a Sci-Fi flick and
was never boring; a fear that had been festering in me since I watched the initial trailer. The
last shot of the film, though admittedly very predictable, nevertheless succeeds in putting
the metaphorical bow on top. I think this will be the film that serves as a gateway for those
unfamiliar with Natali’s work to go back and revisit his cannon. My only hope is that it scares
up enough buzz to keep him making smaller genre films that pack this kind of punch.