CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Andariel Halo Indeed this movie looks and feels low budget, no matter how they try to cover it in a thick veneer of gray and darkness, but that is not this movie's biggest flaw. The clinical tone of the film drew me in instantly, with the implication that the "first ever successfully cloned human", Elizabeth, may have some problems before it can be presented to the public. Unfortunately, this is about as far as the movie goes with its actual plot. The entire rest of the film consists of swarms of ugly Christian fanatics crying and whining about how the doctor is EVIL and the child is EVIL because GOD and JESUS. This takes up about 70% of the entire movie. Whether you agree with their idiotic views or not, the way it's strawmanned and put on display here is done with a clear sense of repugnance towards these people, allowing them to swallow up the full scope of the topic at hand while allowing for pretty much nothing else. Arguably it may be a realistic depiction of an ignorant, paranoid, anti-science bunch of people reacting with ugly violence to the unknown, but not only is this done to the detriment of the movie's pacing and overall storytelling, but it also doesn't advance beyond that. We see the anti-cloning Christian protestors, and they're anti-cloning and Christian, and that's literally it. They play no further role other than to be front and center for more than half the movie, while contributing nothing except being a nuisance to the doctor. Meanwhile, an even more interesting story is unfolding inside the doctor's house, with the subtle, never once explicitly stated implication that Elizabeth may not be the "first" cloned human. This branch of the film's story is completely smothered by the Ugly Americans Christian Protest footage that sucks the oxygen out of everything else in the film. Literally every aspect of this film suffers because so much time and attention is devoted to showing these Christian protestors and showing them in as ugly, vulgar, and violent a way as possible, with one bald idiot in particular breaking down sobbing incessantly while squealing "SHE DOESNT HAVE A SOUL! YOU DONT HAVE A SOUL!" in front of the doctor's house, before trying to attack a police officer. The main character of the doctor is one who comes across as being somewhat flat and affect-less, yet as the other plot gradually unfolds, he suddenly becomes highly intriguing as we see him show actual emotion and lose self control at one point towards the end. He gets very little else in terms of character development beyond that. The wife's story, with their kids, and the odd (nonsexual) homelife they have with two other people is one which doesn't need any further elaboration or exploration, but would at least warrant some additional time to see things through the wife's eyes more, rather than having her be just a token housewife who complains about the doctor working too much. There was a solid core of a good, suspenseful sci-fi thriller, with a near perfect tone of clinical detachment and a lack of explaining every little detail to the audience that could've put this in the same type of genre as "Primer", but more than half this film was devoted to being some sort of "Two Minute Hate" spiel against anti-science Christians that ends up swallowing up the whole movie.

Metra Ton The indie feeling, the old-school acting, the moral conflict - really gives the movie some depth. Unfortunately, the movie hardly fits the description. When I read it, I expected anything, but this. Cheap slasher, perhaps, or something demonic or some mutation.The idea of cloning is well-established, but it's so diluted by everything going on that it sort of disappears by the time the movie climaxes.Here you have a baby, a science marvel, extremely valuable. But... there you allow second-hand people next to her. There you start getting attached or treating her like a baby. At first, the focus was on her, and that's what the movie was about. From her weird eyes to that needle to whatever else.Then the story of the caretakers, moving the baby to the house... classic cliché of such movies: when a scientist does something on his own - it ends badly.But this secret... The way it was presented at first, it was disturbing. It was suggesting. Hinting at possibilities. But of all the possibilities, I assumed it would be genetic, it would be relevant to the subject.But no... Of all the possibilities, of all the indie flair, even stained with his irritating family, the movie just had to end as a monster slasher. And not just monster slasher, but incredibly stupid at that.A brilliant doctor, who gives enough pity to keep his "secret" alive, but doesn't ever once check up on it? Caretakers, who, against all sense, just don't quit or press the matter? And... with tons of security at the gates - the only resolution ever is to go alone armed with a freaking syringe? The movie starts by actually thrilling you. You feel like it's something unique, it has potential. To discuss the idea of cloning, the reactions, the consequences, even unreal ones.But the bottom line is that cloning is only a background, moral is about as much as religion in The Mist, and the center plot is a monster slasher hidden as a "payback for past sins" of the doctor.It's not a bad movie, it can deliver unease and more... thoughtfulness than modern "indie horrors", but unfortunately it just doesn't end well. Perhaps the movie deserves more, but if there's one thing I, personally, can't stand - is when all the buildup is ruined in the end. Few movies can accomplish that, and this is one of them.

Heather Archuleta I'm writing this to say that i enjoyed watching this film, up until the end . In my own opinion I would have rather seen the baby Elizabeth live than be killed it made me upset to my stomach , I really wish there were a better ending. It seemed to me that the little boy Ethan new that the baby was also a clone and thought of her as a better made clone than he was so it made him crazy .... in the beginning it showed flash backs of him as a baby clone and with defects I get that the scientist couldn't harm the poor thing but he could of at least kept an eye on him he maybe could of then prevented everything bad from happening to him he new how to comfort him in the end when it was already too late that's what he should of done in the first place at least go and see him when the lady asked him to but he kept blowing it off and for that the ending came out very upsetting

Lowbacca1977 Closer to God is a modern revamp of Frankenstein, and it somewhat straddles the genres of science-fiction and horror, or at least tries to. While there's a large attempt of things that seem scientific, I really feel like that area was so underdeveloped that I just didn't find that at all convincing, even for suspending disbelief for the purposes of a film. It's what comes of a film trying to make some pretty broad claims about science without really exploring or addressing them. The horror film aspect of it has its moments, and while I think it did a very good job of building up tension, it really seemed to fall apart when it came time to cash in on that by being a bit blunt about it, after doing a fairly good job of building up the unease and mystery.There certainly are some other interesting questions that are at least mentioned about what represents humanity and how cloning factors in, and it acknowledges a lot of issues with the ethics, philosophy, and spirituality of cloning, but it doesn't really explore or discuss those issues much. It opens the door to them, and I do give it some credit for not pushing a particular answer to those questions, but I feel like more could have been fleshed out with them.An overall slow pacing, I think it could've been made up for with stronger points, both conceptually and thematically, instead it fizzles out a bit at the end.