Review No.166: Clone

Before latest Doctor Who Matt Smith became a household name he was a jobbing actor picking up any films that came his way and obviously the chance to have a love scene with Eva Green was too much to resist even if it was in such an odd film as Womb which has since been re-named Clone on its UK release. In a weird English beach town of the near future two kids, Rebecca and Tommy, are very close however when her family move to Japan she goes with them. The older Rebecca, played by Green, journeys back to the town to find Smith's Tommy shacked up with Natalia Tena however it doesn't take too long for old feelings to come to the core with the pair hooking up. As they go off on the road together the two get into an accident which injures her but kills him off however desperate to get him back she decides to enrol on a programme in which his DNA can be used to bring him back however she must give birth to him first. This is where everything gets a little weird as Rebecca essentially has to raise the baby, she calls Thomas, into the man she loves so she can get with him or something like that. Smith obviously resurfaces again as the older Thomas whose mother is in love with him however he hooks up with Monica, played by Skins' Hannah Murray, who is a little unsure of the frosty relationship in her boyfriend's household. The plot of Clone is a fairly odd one which looks at how much science could meddle in our future relationships if cloning of this nature ever becomes popular but more than this it is just a bit confusing.

Anybody wanting to watch this film just for Smith may want to know that he's not in it for great periods of time only a bit about twenty minutes in and then for the final half hour. In that time he does some things you wouldn't normally catch him doing on prime time BBC1 such as saying the F-Word, showing his bare behind and that aforementioned romp with Ms Green. Talking of Eva Green this is really her film appearing in the majority of the scenes she perfects the wistful stare casting her eye over the unknown beach in many scenes throughout the film. For me Green's performance is the best thing about this film for a country mile as she manages to make the preposterous plot at least halfway convincing in that she is able to portray a woman torn between trying to be a mother and caring for her lost love. Smith once again does his best manchild impression, similarly to the one he does in Doctor Who but this time without a Sonic Screwdriver, while Hannah Murray is given little but gives a lot as the girlfriend weirded out by the situation she finds herself in. The seaside locations add a nice touch and everything is well-photographed but there's no getting away from the fact that this is a ridiculous film and more than that is fairly dull for long segments in between. I found there were far too many quiet moments that were meant to be arty but came off as as slightly pretentious and fairly overlong. There are some good things in Clone - Green's performance and the majority of the cinematography however an odd plot and too much naval-gazing means this is one to miss even if you're a big Matt Smith fan.

Verdict: A silly plot about nature and nurture coupled with too many quiet moments makes Clone a fairly skipable film all be it one with a great performance from its leading actress.