This past Friday I attended Flora’s showing of the movie Gattaca. This film showcases a futuristic world in which the use of eugenics has resulted in a society of unequal treatment and opportunity. This is a wildly interesting concept, and thus I expected to be wowed by the film. Instead, I was left underwhelmed by sub-par acting, despite the presence of various well-acclaimed stars including Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. Unfortunately, these actors delivered emotionless, static, and scripted characters in whom I was not invested. In fact, even the love story between Thurman and Hawke’s characters was implausible and forced. There was absolutely no chemistry between them, as they barely conversed with each other. Therefore, why should I have to care about their so-called romance? It didn’t even advance the film’s plot.

Furthermore, I was disappointed by the film because there was no great villain to root against and despise. The people of the futuristic society who hired mainly genetically superior people were the antagonists, and I certainly did not agree with their practices. However, they were not outwardly evil enough to be despicable. Once they solved the murder in the movie and justly indicted one of their own genetically superior workers for the crime, that was it! Problem solved! No great battle ensued between the hero (Ethan Hawke) and the villains. Hawke simply went to space and accomplished his dream without serious issue. This movie simply did not sufficiently advance a conflict, furthering my lack of investment in the film.

The other big problem with the movie was that I did not feel sympathetic towards the hero, Ethan Hawke’s character. He had a heart condition and thus faked his identity, disguising himself with good genes, so he could accomplish his dream and travel to space. Although I am certainly not an advocate for eugenics, I still don’t believe that people like Hawke with serious cardiovascular conditions should be allowed to travel to space, as they would be endangering their comrades and themselves. Hawke’s character couldn’t even handle running on a treadmill without nearly dying. Therefore, it’s hard to feel sympathetic and root for Hawke’s character.

Thus, overall, the film left me uninvested, as I didn’t care about the supposed hero, was too apathetic towards the villain, and was underwhelmed by bad acting.