Gattaca

Gattaca is one of those movies that I never had the chance to see in the 90's when it came out. Recently, I finally had the chance to see Gattaca and found it to be a good movie. Set in the not too distant future, society is now separated based on the genetic makeup of a person to determine what types of work a person is eligible to do. Gattaca is a science fiction movie that falls along the same lines of 1984 or even Fahrenheit 451, where everyone's individual lives are controlled by a central governing body. The story centers around Vincent Freeman, who is genetically meant for only menial jobs, but through a false identity he is working a higher end job in hopes of going on a scheduled space mission. This is one of those science fiction movies that is a lot of fun to watch as the story unfolds as it puts you on the edge of your seat.

Ethan Hawke stars as Vincent Freeman the man who through the use of false identification has left what should be a limited menial job to go out and live his dream to go on a mission into space. Hawke give a really strong performance and has a strong believability in his role. His performance is one that makes the audience not only think, but really question how we could ever get that way in society, where people are hampered by a perceived genetic ceiling. Hawke has an ability as well to play his character with such a confidence yet vulnerability that one can not help but root for him to be successful in his deception. Alongside Hawke is Jude Law in the role of Eugene Morrow, a former athlete who is now restricted to a wheelchair. He works with Hawke's character to help him stay ahead by providing the blood and other things necessary to not get caught with all the tests everyone is regularly subjected to. Law gives a strong performance that we truly believe especially during one scene where he is crawling to get to the door so that the whole deception is not found out. Uma Thurman plays the love interest and it really is a role that works just fine for her. I believe this to be one of her first roles and it is interesting to see the potential she had at this point and to see how far she has come in her career. The rest of the supporting cast do a good job and really serve a purpose. The supporting cast at moments helps to keep the story moving along.

The story of Gattaca is one that i really enjoyed. It is a movie that while the story of a controlling dystopic society is not exactly ground breaking, I fell the way the director unfolded the entire story to be very unique. Sometimes science fiction movies are very strong with the action, but when the important moments of the story come about the movie can feel stalled. Gattaca does a great job at having smooth transitions between the moments of action with these moments where the plot is set to move along. The pacing fits so well as it does not get caught in such slow movements that you are wondering how much longer the movie will be, but instead they keep you right on the edge of your seat.

It is always interesting to see movies that deal with the future and what types of technology they view that will be around in a "not too distant" future.  Gattaca's view of the future was fairly simple and really not much that was too far fetched of what we could generally see in the future. Movies like Gattaca that has the main story dealing with so much of our being completely controlled by the government and them wanting perfect type genetics, hopefully serves to remind society to prevent this type of control every being allowed. I feel directors that occasionally do a movie that deals with a dystopic society is to prevent society from thinking a Utopian society is attainable.

Gattaca is a science fiction movie that is not only an edge of your seat thriller, but is really a movie that almost anyone can sit down to watch and enjoy. Gattaca has a strong cast that give good performances that help the story to move and not stall. I am giving Gattaca three and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that is enjoyable and a movie that can give you a science fiction hit. It is one that I have added to the movie collection and is definitely one worth renting or if you come across it on TV to take the time to watch.

-The Movie Man