Gattaca
(1997/Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: C Film: C
Andrew
Niccol has somehow survived being a director despite turkeys like S1m0ne and disappointments like Lord Of War and he even wrote the
highly overrated Truman Show, all
reviewed elsewhere on this site, but the one film he did helm that people still
talk about somewhat is Gattaca
(1997) a murder thriller set in a science fiction future that tries to revive
the modernist look of Logan’s Run
(1976) as young Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) wanting a better life and future
in the middle of a repressive, autocratic world will do anything to break free
of its restraints.
The world
is now being filled with genetically engineered people and he is one of the
last who is not, yet is determined to somehow stay a star at Gattaca Aerospace
and then its flight director is murdered and all hell breaks loose. The twist is that he is pretending to be a
genetically engineered athlete (Jude Law) to make it and has to go to crazy
intends to mask his true identity in a world where everything is measured to
the last bit and byte. Complicating
things further is a woman (Uma Thurman) who either will be a love interest or a
back-stabber.
As a
thriller, the film does not work that well.
Acting is not bad, but the upgrade of the modernist look is not as good
as some have said despite its acclaim.
It has not been influential 11 years later either. However, the one hook that shows the failure
of the whole film to work has been the debate about Hawke’s character trying to
do what he has to do to make it.
I have
been surprised on more than one occasion that the curiosity and debate has been
from people who ask the question about whether you would go through what he did
to make it to a “next level” or get somewhere where you would be otherwise
rejected because you would want to make it that badly. It is a good question, except that it shows
that the rest of the point so the film have backfired as it eliminates the idea
that you should not have to live in a society that excludes anyone for any
reason, whether it be racism, ethnic supremacy or any other elitist reason to
kill. This is a disturbing failure of
the film that will always plague it as if it were merely the reality TV show
disaster Survivor for eggheads.
In
answering the question, another point the film never makes, it is a good thing
that Hawke’s Vincent would then have to live as someone else the rest of his
life? That leaves the film with all
kinds of hanging issues and though it does not have to supply answers, it never
was well-rounded enough to ask all the questions that would have made it a
classic, leaving it ambitious at best.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in Super 35mm film by Slawomir
Idziak (Black Hawk Down, Three Colors Trilogy) is shot smoothly,
but the playback has some Video Black issues and softness that was not part of
the film’s stylizing. Still looking
better than a Superbit DVD, the film’s production design saves it with limited
digital work. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix
is as good as it is going to be for a film that is often quiet, including
Michael Nyman’s subtle scoring. Dialogue
is nicely recorded and I could not imagine this sounding any better considering
the mix. Extras include deleted scenes
that don’t help any, substance test
outtake, original featurette and two new featurettes: Welcome To Gattaca and Do Not
Alter?
Good for
fans, but not much more for the rest of us.
- Nicholas Sheffo
