Gattaca

The world created by Andrew Niccol is a fascinating one. It’s clean, quiet and very creepy. He’s created order with disorder. He’s brought together a story that seems simple, but has an underlying complication in it. And he’s brought together the perfect actors/actresses to pull this storyline off. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman were perfect in their roles. Hawke has that perfect, boyish charm, but he screams of imperfections. He plays a character that struggles to obtain his dreams and he plays him well. Uma Thurman, as Irene Cassini (nice last name. anyone catch that?), who seems to be perfect, but is held back due to an imperfection of the heart. That alone can be used as a metaphor when it comes to her character’s sympathy for Hawke’s. Jude Law is also perfect in his role as Jerome Morrow, a perfect englishman who had everything pulled out from under him thanks to a twist of fate. His character is the very definition of tragic, as he’s only taught that he’s got so much to look forward to if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Very tragic and helpless.

So, this amazing cast of characters, with a very visionary director, creates a haunting view of the possible future that we’re heading towards. With scientist messing with genes and offering the capabilities to alter DNA, you shouldn’t dismiss this view of the future. That’s why this film is great because we’re really drawing closer to this reality than most people can understand.

Blu-ray is the best

The visuals for this movie are incredibly enhanced on Blu-ray. I think I actually enjoyed it better because it was so pretty. For a visual movie, it’s gold. This format improves the director and writer’s intentions. It makes it stand out more, this was certainly the case of Gattaca. It helped show how dreary and tired this world was. How separated everyone was from each other. It certainly drove home a lot of ideas even harder than it’s DVD or theatrical release. Blu-ray improves these areas immensely. Add that to beautifully enhanced 5.1 surround sound and you’ve got yourself a joy of time, as much as you can be joyful with this film.

The features are probably the only lacking part of the Blu-ray. While you get a new featurette Welcome to Gattaca, you certainly deserve more than it delivered. Here’s what you get in total:

– Welcome to Gattaca (Featurette)

– Original Featurette (I’m not a fan of re-used material)

– Substance Test Outtake (hilarious, but short and alone)

– Do Not Alter? Featurette (good stuff, not great)

– Deleted Scenes

If you’re going to do something in Blu-ray, go all out. While I understand this probably wasn’t the best of movies for most people, it’s still worth a bit more features and time. I think that there should have definitely been more outtakes. I mean, come on! I bet there was some hilarious outtakes coming from this movie (Ernest Borgnine had to be funny!). With so much space probably left on the disc, there should have been a bit more. I’m definitely okay with most of what you see on this list, but I just wanted a bit more insight on this film. There’s so much there that needs explaining or that I wanted to be explained again.

Drama, some noir, and high-def

A movie I once disliked is now a movie that I can’t soon forget and respect. Gattaca really is an eye-opener bother visually and through it’s underlining message. It’s mysterious, haunting and damn-gorgeous on Blu-ray. You’ll find the special features a decent bonus as well.