Splice
(2010/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD) + Prehistoric Park
(2006/BBC DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B/B-/C+ Extras: C-/C Feature: C-/Episodes: C+
The idea
of genetic engineering and stem-cell research has been a wild one. Of course there are dangers of abuse and how
politicized it all became in the 2000s (imagine Jurassic Park being the same kind of hit under those
circumstances), but Science Fiction has always been suspicious of science going
wrong, always moving into Horror in the process. Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2010) was a delayed release (we suspect for non-political
reasons after seeing it) that finally made it to theaters.
Adrian
Brody (Predators, Jackson’s King Kong, The Pianist, Thin Red Line)
and Sarah Polley (Slings & Arrows,
John Adams) play two scientists
whose research project is shut down when they want to add human DNA to the
mix. Of course, they may be forced to
leave their funded institute where they work, but no worries… they’ll just set
up a similar lab in their own basement and yes, it will bring them (and
everyone else around them) nothing but trouble.
I like
Brody and Polley is not a bad actress, but here, they are two of the most
absent-minded scientist since Jerry Lewis played one and their total lack of
common sense as scripted by Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor
(who gave us the awkward In The Name Of The
King and They Wait) leading to a
wacky film that is like Species and It’s Alive with zero purpose or
direction, though this could have worked if those behind the camera took the
material more seriously and concentrated instead of relying on digital visual
effects.
Of
course, Jurassic Park is also more responsible for
such films, even when they do not involve dinosaurs. In 2006, one of the many TV shows to try and
capitalize on the seemingly endless popularity of dinos was first issued on DVD
by BCI Eclipse; a documentary mini-series called Prehistoric Park. Here is our original review:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5524/Prehistoric+Park+%E2%80%93+The
That set
has been out of print for almost two years, but now, BBC Video has picked it up
and except for slight variants on the titles of the episodes, it is the exact
same set with the same 1.33 X 1 picture and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. It holds up well, but the dated digital CGI
effects have become a bit more so.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Splice Blu-ray was shot in Super 35mm for flat (as we say, versus
Scope 2.35 X 1 Super 35 is more associated with) and the makers have gone way
overboard with the Digital Internegative ruining the image throughout as shot
by Director of Photography Tetsuo Nagata (La
vie en rose). We get constant motion
blur, other harsh visual edges and monotonous color gutting that is just as bad
on the even more poorly defined anamorphically enhanced DVD. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix
is not bad on the Blu-ray, with a decent soundfield and few audio issues, while
the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD cannot handle all the audio
information. The only extras (Blu-ray
only) is a behind the scenes/on the set piece with the director.
Maybe it
should have been a thriller about genetically engineered food, but that would
have been too imaginative, we guess.
- Nicholas Sheffo
