Picked this up from a local store that re-sells DVD's and gave it a shot since it had Leslie Nielsen in it. I was expecting campy, but not 'Naked Gun', which is how many of us remember Leslie Nielsen.
One of the earliest works I've seen Leslie Nielsen in was 'Forbidden Planet' and being so young and unfamiliar with his earlier work, I was unaware I was actually watching him. This movie, being 15 years later, I recognized him a lot easier, but it was still strange to see him in something that he wasn't playing a comedy role. Though, the DVD I got with his picture on the cover is more recent, from the 90's- early 2000's.
Leslie Nielsen, regardless of his role, always plays his characters straight forward and with a straight face. Even as Frank Drebin in 'Naked Gun/Police Squad' or Dr. Rumak in 'Airplane!', he's always a serious character delivering funny lines. In this movie, he's a hard-edged reporter who happens upon the accident of senator Zachary Wheeler. Every step of the way, he stays focused on his task and is even a bit pushy in many instances, as one would expect a character like this to be.
The plot itself is decently thought out, usually weighing the pros and cons of cloning and the morale and ethical implications thereof. The commity (and even doctors) in charge of the project are written in such a way to never truly be the "evil bad guy", but never actually being the "white knight". All the characters of the project are left in a mostly ambiguously gray area and to me that really sets the tone for real life. They might not think what they're doing is wrong and they always validate their decisions with the whole in mind, not just themselves, but they aren't above letting a little blackmail steer their judgement.
The writers knew what they were going for and did it well, but one problem I had with the movie is there is no specific focus on any one character. Despite the name of the movie, it seems to focus equally among senator Wheeler, Harry Walsh, the doctors, and the commity. This isn't a bad thing, but it just seems like they could have combined some of the story to shorten the screen time of each while still achieving the same message. That, however, might have shortened the movie itself which does seem like it was light on plot points to make it a full feature. Again, not bad, but you can really tell their ideas might have been stretched a bit thin.
It's a decent mix of (light) sci-fi and detective genres, but it does get pretty slow. They don't give away too much in the beginning and you find out most of it toward the middle and end, but it at least holds your interest enough to find out more and what they might do with the project.
The quality of the movie is subpar at best, even a bluray version I've seen is just watchable. This movie was shot on video tape and THEN transferred to 35mm. This means there is no original 35mm print to restore from if it were shot the other way around. The bluray copy does seem to bring up the color quality, but you're still stuck with a paltry 240p screen size and the inevitable tape to film transfer issues, such as tracking errors and lots of film noise (one portion of the movie has a green line running through it for about 20 seconds and later on large bits of fuzz can be seen slipping along the film reel across the light into the lens). You're also going to have random dialogue cuts, most likely multiple video tape switching to put it on 35mm as one long run and sometimes audio doesn't sync.
-Ending spoiler-
The movie ends abruptly with Walsh finally discovering the truth of senator Wheeler and both being blackmailed into keeping the project silent. Walsh and Wheeler, however, have unofficially agreed to expose everything at any cost. This seemed like a good setup for an ending, but a sudden phone call to the doctor leaves you with the information that someone has had a second coronary and he will be at the facility shortly. The movie literally stops after that with no followup and we are left wondering who this person is and what they have to do with the rest of the movie. I scanned through and could not find any other mention of the name, though I'll admit that I simply cannot make out the name, it sounds like he says "Joanne Lie", but he says "he", so I don't have a clue.
I would like to think this meant they were going to have a sequel, but I can't imagine what it would be like and how they would have filled another hour and a half now that we know everything. Still, if you're a fan of Leslie Nielsen or are curious about one of the very first movies about cloning, I recommend at least giving it a try.
One of the earliest works I've seen Leslie Nielsen in was 'Forbidden Planet' and being so young and unfamiliar with his earlier work, I was unaware I was actually watching him. This movie, being 15 years later, I recognized him a lot easier, but it was still strange to see him in something that he wasn't playing a comedy role. Though, the DVD I got with his picture on the cover is more recent, from the 90's- early 2000's.
Leslie Nielsen, regardless of his role, always plays his characters straight forward and with a straight face. Even as Frank Drebin in 'Naked Gun/Police Squad' or Dr. Rumak in 'Airplane!', he's always a serious character delivering funny lines. In this movie, he's a hard-edged reporter who happens upon the accident of senator Zachary Wheeler. Every step of the way, he stays focused on his task and is even a bit pushy in many instances, as one would expect a character like this to be.
The plot itself is decently thought out, usually weighing the pros and cons of cloning and the morale and ethical implications thereof. The commity (and even doctors) in charge of the project are written in such a way to never truly be the "evil bad guy", but never actually being the "white knight". All the characters of the project are left in a mostly ambiguously gray area and to me that really sets the tone for real life. They might not think what they're doing is wrong and they always validate their decisions with the whole in mind, not just themselves, but they aren't above letting a little blackmail steer their judgement.
The writers knew what they were going for and did it well, but one problem I had with the movie is there is no specific focus on any one character. Despite the name of the movie, it seems to focus equally among senator Wheeler, Harry Walsh, the doctors, and the commity. This isn't a bad thing, but it just seems like they could have combined some of the story to shorten the screen time of each while still achieving the same message. That, however, might have shortened the movie itself which does seem like it was light on plot points to make it a full feature. Again, not bad, but you can really tell their ideas might have been stretched a bit thin.
It's a decent mix of (light) sci-fi and detective genres, but it does get pretty slow. They don't give away too much in the beginning and you find out most of it toward the middle and end, but it at least holds your interest enough to find out more and what they might do with the project.
The quality of the movie is subpar at best, even a bluray version I've seen is just watchable. This movie was shot on video tape and THEN transferred to 35mm. This means there is no original 35mm print to restore from if it were shot the other way around. The bluray copy does seem to bring up the color quality, but you're still stuck with a paltry 240p screen size and the inevitable tape to film transfer issues, such as tracking errors and lots of film noise (one portion of the movie has a green line running through it for about 20 seconds and later on large bits of fuzz can be seen slipping along the film reel across the light into the lens). You're also going to have random dialogue cuts, most likely multiple video tape switching to put it on 35mm as one long run and sometimes audio doesn't sync.
-Ending spoiler-
The movie ends abruptly with Walsh finally discovering the truth of senator Wheeler and both being blackmailed into keeping the project silent. Walsh and Wheeler, however, have unofficially agreed to expose everything at any cost. This seemed like a good setup for an ending, but a sudden phone call to the doctor leaves you with the information that someone has had a second coronary and he will be at the facility shortly. The movie literally stops after that with no followup and we are left wondering who this person is and what they have to do with the rest of the movie. I scanned through and could not find any other mention of the name, though I'll admit that I simply cannot make out the name, it sounds like he says "Joanne Lie", but he says "he", so I don't have a clue.
I would like to think this meant they were going to have a sequel, but I can't imagine what it would be like and how they would have filled another hour and a half now that we know everything. Still, if you're a fan of Leslie Nielsen or are curious about one of the very first movies about cloning, I recommend at least giving it a try.