Whether it’s intentional or not, the most terrifying sci-fi stories can often be the ones that sound far-fetched on paper, but aren’t all that far away from becoming the truth in one way or another. Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca fits that bill, with the minor masterpiece painting a thought-provoking picture of a world that may not be as futuristic as it seems.
Ethan Hawke’s Vincent has always harbored dreams of venturing beyond the stars and into outer space, but it’s never going to happen after his physical limitations have seen him branded as genetically inferior. Making his own destiny instead, he purchases the genes of Jude Law’s genetically-engineered specimen, and uses it to join the Gattaca space program.
Along the way, an investigation into the mysterious death of an officer further complicates matters, and the net soon begins to close in around our protagonist as he edges closer and closer to fulfilling the ambitions he’s held his entire life. Powerful, moving, existential, and thought-provoking, the film is fully deserving of its status as one of the most unheralded classics of the modern era, one that left a legacy behind for transhumanists, socioethecists, and bioethecists to pick apart in detail given the plot revolves around separating humanity by its worthiness, and building perfect people from the ground up.
Look somewhere else if it’s action sequences and space battles you’re looking for, though, but that hasn’t dissuaded streaming subscribers from revisiting the richly-detailed world of Gattaca on-demand. Per FlixPatrol, the Academy Award-nominated gem has entered the iTunes Top 10 in several countries dotted around the world, and it makes for an excellent companion piece to writer and director Niccol’s In Time, which the filmmaker himself described as being the 1997 favorite’s “bastard child.”
Published: Feb 10, 2023 02:49 am