Forget the promotional campaign, because SPLICE is not a thrill a minute horror film. It's a sprint through the moral quandaries of human cloning, not a ponderous morality tale, but an entertaining ride that hits all the right audience pleasing buttons. It's a FUNNY film without resulting to cheap laughs. Thanks to the slick direction of Vincent Natali (CUBE) and the seamless visual effects (A perfectly meld of practical and digital) the exotic looking creature of (Named Dren) jumps to life. Natali and his crew create a believable environment, and succeed in keeping the story chugging along without resorting to cheap gimmicks, but the character work of the two scientists that create the creature is heavy handed at best. The skeleton of what the filmmakers want to pull of is evident, but it never really works. Adrian Brody is a weak willed lump of jello continually pushed by Sarah Polley into doing the wrong thing. We never really get to know them, nor they ever grow above surface quirks and big plot beats. Polley basically turns into a moustache twirling villain by the time the film arrives to its half hearted formulaic ‘monster on a rampage’ ending. The big turning point of the film makes thematic sense, but logically, seems to come out almost out of nowhere. It lands on the audience with a laughable thud. Overall, a film that is not as deep as it wants to be, but still does a solid job at keeping the audience entertained. There's a film that could have been here, a subtler more intimate film, but this isn't it.
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