Incredibly underrated film... Beautifully shot and acted, the various themes in the film are as relevant today as they will probably be in the future: e.g. how the institutions and corporations in our society commoditise us, the human spirit's struggle to overcome circumstance and so many other things...
The movie was sensual, spiritual and highly entertaining all at once. So underrated. I rarely hear people reference it... has it been forgotten?
It never did that well on release and tends to get overlooked, sadly, though I've read that it's shown in university biology & genetics course to this day.
It doesn't have enough traditional sci-fi elements for sci-fi fans (space travel, aliens, laser fights, cool gadgets), and it doesn't have much action for a thriller (unless you count Vincent beating up a cop), and people who like character pieces usually don't look for them in sci-fi, so it still probably has trouble finding the right audience.
Good points. It feels more like literary science fiction.
shareI'm glad you are posting this. It's a thoughtful Sci-Fi Dystopian Thriller, without a lot of gimmicks, ala, gunplay and chases. It's a thoughtful movie.
shareI love Joss Whedon, but just think what a mess he would have made of this story, at least based on his well-known works. Maybe like Spielberg he has a "Schindler's List" lurking inside him, but I think he, like most sci-fi directors/producers, would have insisted on cliffhangers, gunfights, high speed chases, etc. Even without those checklist items, this movie is suspenseful, especially when Anton goes to their house and tests Jerome's blood. His crawling up the DNA-spiral staircase to reach the front door gets me every time.
shareI've always loved it. However, I would chalk up its forgotten-ness on poor marketing. I'd never heard of the film before watching, only watched it during high school - it was selected by the substitute teacher, I believe, because it was available and they had never seen it - and don't know many people who've seen or heard of it. How was it marketed when it first came out? Pretty poorly, I imagine.
shareI don't recall the marketing campaign for the theatrical release at all. It did very poorly at the box office ($12 million against a $36 million budget). https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=gattaca.htm
I never thought to look at these numbers before and they are very surprising to me, given the high quality of the film and the cast. Even at 7.8/10, I think it's underrated. This one was a 9/10 for me.
I agree with you. It's honestly shocking imo. This movie has always been imo objectively well done. It deserves at least an 8.5 rating. But this pretty much confirms in my mind the poor marketing of the film.
shareEven two decades ago, this film wasn't really a compelling theatrical view. It's great as a character drama, but you wouldn't miss anything by watching it at home versus the big screen.
There was no way to advertise this film as something that just had to be seen on the big screen.
That being said, it's one of my favorite films, and it has a great aesthetic with its use of yellow, blue and green.
I decided to look into the other stats.
Unfortunately, "Gattaca" was only in theaters for three weekends and two weeks instead of the usual three months. They also pitted it up against "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "The Devil's Advocate" in 1997. No wonder why it did terribly at the Box Office. I don't even have any recollection of seeing the trailers if there were any.
The only way I found out about this wonderful movie was through my high school biology teacher. Glad he rented it from Blockbuster and showed it to the class.
So you and Wint3rFir3 share at least one thing in common -- you both had awesome teachers!
I also noted the extremely short theatrical run. I wonder if that was a consequence of a poor opening weekend performance or if a very limited run was planned from the beginning. Considering the film's budget, I assume it was the former because I can't believe the producers ever saw a path to profitability with a three-week engagement.
I don't understand about going against Last Summer and Devil's Advocate. I don't like either of those films much, and this is very different. Gotta release a film sometime. Better than against a Star Wars movie.
I don't know why this slipped by people, other than it's rather cerebral and might not grab the popcorn crowd. An I don't remember the marketing either. If it isn't marketed at least competently, it likely won't sell a lot.
Yeah, I'm a sci-fi fan, and there was less sci-fi 20 years ago, so I stayed on the lookout for it, but I never discovered Gattaca until I found it in Blockbuster. I'd never seen ads for it at all when it was released, and there was no buzz.
shareAndrew Niccol's best, imo.
I remember reading the original script. It's a little more racy than what wound up on screen.
I watched "The Host" which Andrew Niccol wrote & directed, and it was only okay, nothing to compare with Gattaca. I think he put his heart and soul into this movie, similar to the saying that everyone has at least one novel inside them next to their heart.
shareTotally agree, this is a terrific film and it's a shame it doesn't get more recognition and referencing. Incredibly poignant and an important central message.
shareAnd let's definitely NOT forget the incredible OST to this film, which imo can hang with the likes of Bladerunner, interstellar and Inception!!
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