Smeared science

The science fiction genre remains so glutted with rehashes of Alien that when a film comes along with a premise that’s actually interesting, a moderately intelligent story, a stylish aesthetic and entertainment to boot, it’s quite a relief. Children of Men recently combined these elements with ample success. All this may have contributed to my elevated hopes in the opening moments of Animal, Roselyne Bosch’s new scientific thriller that plays on the hot topic of genetic tampering. Alas, the second coming of the genre was not to be this time around.

Set “somewhere in Europe, maybe tomorrow,” as a title card informs us, the film begins with Dr. Thomas Nielsen (Andreas Wilson) paying a visit to the cell of Vincent Ipparak (Diogo Infante), a serial killer on death row. Wilson is conducting research on the genetic causes of aggression, and thinks he may have found a vaccine to cure violent behaviour. When Infante gets tired of being his guinea pig, Wilson determines that he should reverse the experiment on himself. His newfound aggression wins him professional status, along with the attentions of researcher Justine (Emma Griffiths Malin), but also gives him a hair-trigger temper and a violent streak, with predictably dire results.

The themes raised by the film are undoubtedly intriguing—the whole issue of humans playing God with our genetic make-up and all—and the film has a good look and decent pacing (a British- French-Portuguese co-production, it stays away from Hollywood formula for the most part), but the tone is heavy-handed and uneven. The cards are laid on the table in the first scene, wherein Wilson is actually introduced by another character as “a brilliant geneticist,” and Infante villainously chews scenery, incurring a heavy debt to Hannibal Lecter. Unfortunately, it becomes clear pretty fast that this campiness is being played straight.

There’s also the matter that Wilson looks like he just got out of high school. The film has a few references to his youthful looks, but they don’t change the fact that he lacks the gravitas a more mature actor would bring to the role. All in all, the scientific intrigue and the Euro-stylishness can’t compensate for the deadly dose of clichés and predictability.

ANIMAL OPENS THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 9