Gattaca (1997) Review

Gattaca (1997)

Gattaca follows Vincent Freeman, an in-valid, who, in order to go to space, purchases the genes of Jerome Morrow, a laboratory engineered valid, assuming his identity and joining the Gattaca space program, where even the slightest mistake could spell trouble. 

Science fiction, especially in todays day and age, has always been about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, sometimes aliens, other times war, but the best of the genre has always dealt with ideas. Ideas that make us think and question our very time and existence in this universe. When parents can make perfect babies, will they? Or will they leave it up to chance, possibly dooming them to a life of shortcomings and thoughts of what could have been. This is where Gattaca comes in. Set in the not so distant future, it’s those questions that linger over everything and Vincent’s predetermined fate to be less than everyone else, most of all his perfect brother. Simply being born natural leaves him at a disadvantage in the eyes of society, a truth he’s not willing to accept. And a truth, as he goes on to prove, that is skewed, where even in a perfect future, the imperfect can be just as much, if not better. For them, their end is already written, so there’s nothing to lose in trying. 

So, it’s in this idea that we get Jerome—genetically engineered to perfection and still second best, doomed to life in a wheelchair after a failed suicide attempt. Together, they create the heart of this moving and tragic film, each helping the other to realize their dreams as well as the self worth they so deserve. From the very first notes of Michael Nyman’s evocative score, Gattaca is proven to be something different, something real, something tangible and it’s because of that and it’s ideas on predetermination, that it will stick with me long after the fact. 

Of course, we get a stellar cast as well, in Tony Shalhoub, Gore Vidal, Xander Berkeley, Alan Arkin, Loren Dean, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, and Ethan Hawke. Hawke is at his very best here, wholly believable as a flawed future just trying to bide his time, working so beautifully against Law, a flawed past, with hopes to improve one future at the risk of his own. 

Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol, is an intelligent and provocative science fiction drama that finally deals with ideas, as opposed to soulless effects and nonstop action, bringing a particular meaning to the will of the human spirit and it’s ability to subvert what anyone could imagine is possible. 

10/10