Gattaca
Cast
Ethan Hawke .... Vincent Freeman
Uma Thurman .... Irene Cassini
Jude Law .... Jerome Eugene Morrow
Gore Vidal .... Director Josef
Xander Berkeley .... Dr. Lamar
Directed by
Andrew Niccol
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
7/10. There are a select few movies you are able to watch in school. Not
only must they be appropriate to show in school, but they also must
protain to whatever the students are learning. Ergo, about every
student in a certain subject watches the same movie. That's the case
with biology and Gattaca. It's centered around science, it's PG-13,
and it's not boring; what else could you want in a movie to show to
highschoolers?
In the near future (a time period too often used), most parents
decide to have children genetically, so they can alter features both
internal and external, to make perfect children. Some don't, though.
Those that are genetically created are called "Vailds"; sexually
created, "In-valids". Clever, ain't it? An In-valid, Vincent (Ethan
Hawke), always dreamed of becoming an astronaut, but couldn't
because he was to die at about his 30th birthday. He finds a way,
however, by changing identities illegally with Jerome (Jude Law), a
brilliant scientist who is now reduced to a wheelchair. In addition,
people think that Vincent killed someone at Gattaca, the space
station. Did he? Will he successfully go into space?
Futuristic movies are always fun, especially ones that actually
could happen in the future (which is not the case for the epitome of
sci-fi films, 2001: A Space Odyssey), and the possibility of
genetically altered children is not far off. And thankfully it
stayed plausible: oftentimes movies like this can get carried away
in making a special effects show to lose whatever credibility or
actual movie-going experience there was before. There were few, if
any, effects here, which is a change to science fiction films. It's
just a science fiction drama.
Having recently learned about DNA and all in biology, I thought that
the movie would have more about it, while about the only thing to it
is how the DNA nucleotide letters A, T, C, and G are emphasized in
the opening credits. DNA isn't really explained much in the movie,
but I digress. As interesting as the concept is, Gattaca takes a
while to get going, and it seems like a lot of the picture was
missing from the full-screen DVD we watched. In addition, many of
the characters are extremely undeveloped and exist only to either
hurry the plot along or to spew out pithy quotes. And the worst part
is, most of those characters are played by great actors, and they
don't even get to act. What a waste.
Don't let that last paragraph fool you, though. Gattaca is an
entertaining drama, and it explores something that will most likely
happen soon. If you aren't forced to watch it in school, I recommend
it for something interesting to watch.
Rated PG-13 for brief violent images, language, and some sexuality.
Running time: 101 minutes
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