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| Gattaca | 
| Category: Movie
Buy New: $2.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  393 reviews
Sales Rank: 595
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 107 minutes
ASIN: B000T45C32
Theatrical Release Date: October 23, 1997
Release Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not your standard Sci-fi February 6, 2008
At first glance, it may look like any other film. But it truly is a sci-fi film and a brilliant one at that. People in the future can choose to have the perfect baby, without ailments and without defects. This is a story of one man, who wasn't so lucky. Ethan Hawke is broodingly perfect in this. His heartfelt performance really carries this film. Jude Law's small but heartbreaking role should not be missed either. Yes its sci-fi, but its so unconventional, you don't need to be a fan to watch this, or vice versa. Its dramatic and depressing and often beautiful too.
 "I never saved anything for the swim back." February 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ten years after the movie they have gone and done it. We now know how the genetic make-up of human beings. Some Job descriptions even say without consideration of age, race, religion or genetics. We also have electric cars and wrist radios. This is no longer sci-fi; it is speculative fiction. Or at least it is speculative. Anyway I have a friend that had a back problem in his youth. They left some dye in him and it was spotted during a job interview physical for a desk job; you guessed it.
Anyway this is a spectacular film. The sound track helped support the movie. They did a good job of picking the actors. The characters were believable. Uma did not even have to show her Thurman's. Ethan did a convincing transformation and Jude was good enough that you almost thought the film was about him. The scenes were breath taking. I was most impressed with the sunrise on the solar panels and the swim competition.
Two points to look for on your second viewing are:
1.Several times the brothers compete physically and logically. Even with his handicapped origin Ethan Hawke" Vincent Freeman" surpasses his brother Loren Dean "Anton."
2.Jude Law "Jerome Eugene Morrow" Was not without ambition. He was disappointed that his advantage was not advantageous enough for the gold and receives his gold thought the actions of Vincent.
Vincent who was conceived in the Rivera, as child of God (taking their chances) must compete in a world where all the negative genetic dispositions are usually removed as was his brother's case. Vincent is tagged for failure at birth. To overcome this social barrier and obtain his goal of going into space, he borrows the genes of an athlete gone astray. The director where he is working (GATTACA) is killed as the last obstacle to the mission. Will Vincent be found out? Irene (Uma Thurman) suspects the number one candidate for the space trip Jerome of the murder. She never suspects that he is really Vincent.
Bottom line is if you aren't genetically correct the movie may scare you.
Panasonic DMR-EZ47V Up-Converting 1080p DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with Built In Tuner
Intelligent, Character Driven Sci-Fi January 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is a "love child" - that is, he was conceived (at some time in the techno-marvel future) without benefit of the genetic engineering utilized by all sensible parents in this New Age. While this engineering cannot transform ordinary DNA into extraordinary DNA, it can eliminate potential genetic flaws, select for sex and appearance, and generally ensure that Baby represents the Best Of Mom And Dad. Vincent's parent's failure to utilize this technology results in a baby who is horribly nearsighted, and who has a serious heart defect that projects a lifespan of only 30 years. This DNA profile places Vincent close to the bottom of the social, economic, and professional scale in the New Age, where opportunity is linked to a great set of genes. Vincent's chastened parents don't make the same mistake with their second baby, and place their hopes on their younger son, giving Vincent embarrassed, qualified affection, and little in the way of goals, expectations, or hope.
Vincent, however, grows up with more spirit than might be expected, and ultimately refuses to be defined by his genetic profile (hence the not too subtle choice of surname, Freeman). He dreams of going into space and spends all his spare time studying and acquiring knowledge that might, with a different DNA profile, have allowed him to realize his dreams.
After years of mopping floors and cleaning toilets, Vincent is desperate to obtain a position at an aeronautics company where he can perform work that might bring him closer to his goal. He decides to become a "de-gene-erate": someone with a low-value DNA profile who uses a "borrowed ladder", or a high-quality DNA profile, obtained from the owner of a more fortunate set of chromosomes.
Vincent locates Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a former Olympic athlete now living in isolation, and confined to a wheelchair after an accident caused by his own drunkenness. Morrow has a stellar DNA profile that puts him in the 99th percentile of the population. His bitterness over his lost glory and hopeless future persuade him to "lend" his DNA profile to Vincent. This transfer requires Vincent, among other things, to have his legs lengthened in painful operations so that he is as tall as Morrow, and to change his appearance in other ways in order to resemble Morrow's photo ID and genetic description as far as possible. Vincent has to have dental work done, has microscopically fine fingerprint covers made, scrubs off as much of his own body hair and skin cells as possible each day, and carries Jerome's urine around with him, as company employees have to submit to a urine test every day, designed to detect just this kind of deception. Vincent even puts a few of Jerome's hairs on the comb he keeps in his desk drawer, in case of a routine check.
Finally, with the help of Jerome's "ladder", Vincent is accepted at the aeronautics company, where his superior work comes in for praise ("not one mistake in a million keystrokes"). However, complications ensue: Vincent falls in love with a beautiful colleague (his then-wife Uma Thurman) and is faced with the dilemma of whether to tell her what he really is, especially as she seems to suspect something unusual about him from the beginning - she steals a hair from his office comb (fortunately, Jerome's hair) to have tested at a DNA lab.
The crisis that propels the film to its conclusion is a murder at the aeronautics company that brings in the police. By a fluke of fate, Vincent's younger (and supposedly genetically superior) brother is assigned to work the case with an older officer played by Alan Arkin. Vincent's brother eventually works out who "Jerome" really is. The confrontation between the two, and the younger brother's incredulous disbelief that Vincent has performed such high-level work with such inferior DNA, is sad and gripping.
Vincent has to use all his wits, risking life and limb to protect his new life, his relationship with Thurman, his dreams, and the opportunity he knows he will never have again if his true identity is discovered.
This story of how one man manages to confound the destiny arbitrarily laid out for him is well-acted, well-written, and well-produced. Hawke is excellent as the determined Vincent, and Jude Law gives a fine performance as the embittered Jerome. The evolving relationship of the two men, as they share one identity, is at least as interesting as Vincent's relationship with Thurman.
The film is not, however, without narrative issues. One is that, although we do see Vincent reading up on space travel over time as he grows up, the idea that he steps into a position at the aeronautics company fully prepared to perform his work there, with no previous experience, is a bit far-fetched. But an even greater issue in this otherwise well-crafted story, is that it never addreseses why Vincent's obvious intelligence doesn't register on his DNA profile, along with his bad heart and weak eyes. Given the abstruse work Vincent later performs as "Jerome Morrow", it is not plausible that his intellectual abilities do not also appear in his DNA profile. Equally implausible is a world obsessed only with physical perfection, but indifferent to intellecutal perfection. Perhaps the story's creators wanted to sidestep the sticky issue of the role genetics play in intelligence, or do not accept that role; or, perhaps they viewed acknowledging such a role in intelligence as part of the problem the film explores: genetic (read: ethnic/racial) pigeonholing. Regardless, the omission is glaring, and begs questions that the film fails to answer.
Those issues aside, this is a superior sci-fi, whose warnings are timely in an era when genetic maniuplation is marching inexorably forward, and that asks us to remember that each human being harbors a non-quantifiable mystery of individuality and possibility.
Tampering with mother nature is inevitable January 22, 2008
3 out of 13 found this review helpful
Brilliant movie and a true classic of all time! This movie goes on top of my list of most watched.
This will definitely be a good buy on blu ray.
Great Movie! January 20, 2008
I am a teacher aide in a high school and first saw this movie last year in one of our science classes as we were learning about DNA.....I was just taken in by it.....Great cast and I liked the movie so much that I just had to purchase it!
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