Have you ever noticed how past Mad Science we are? There was a time in human culture in which reviving the dead was considered a bit of a faux pas. Now? Well hey, “Science?” “Mad Science?” What’s the dif?
It’s got “Lazarus” in the title; what did you think it was gonna be about?
Frank (Mark Duplass) and Zoe (Olivia Wilde) are engaged Berkeley scientists concerned with extending brain activity to prolong infirm life (until it can be firmed again or something). Naturally, they practice on the dead. Seriously, you want to discover if your serum can prolong life, so you use it on dead animals. I don’t want to tell you how to do science or anything, but, um, that doesn’t seem like sound methodology. “Patient #1 was the Control. He was dead. We used the serum on him. He remained dead.” “Day 2. Patient #1 still dead … woohoo! The thesis held!” (High fives in the round) “Ok, boys, we’re on our way!”
The Lazarus Effect actually opens mid-pig awakening. It’s only after that point at which Frank, Zoe and the flunkees (Sarah Bolger, Evan Peters, Donald Glover) wonder if there are moral implications. Wondering doesn’t make them stop, of course. It just makes them wonder. But after this Dr. Frankensteinian hydra brings a dog back, they get called on it. Oh, and the dog comes back … creepy.
Turns out bringing the dead back to life wasn’t in the grant proposal, so the university wants them gone. Let me state this clearly – A team of scientists figured out how to reanimate the dead and their employer is concerned first and foremost with that being a violation of contract. My, we Americans are a funny lot, aren’t we?
In rapid succession (like the very same day), the university closes the lab and sells their research. The action actually happens too fast to let anybody question the wisdom of anything – Frank assumes the private buyer has stolen all their research for evil purposes (how could they be any more evil than your purposes?), but why would they take the research without even consulting the scientist? “Oh, yeah, this serum revives the dead – that seems pretty intuitive, right?” This is all one big Rube Goldberg-ian set-up so that the we get the lab team to sneak into the lab late. And, get this, Zoe dies in the effort to replay the dog experiment. [Deadpan]Oh, I can’t see what is going to happen here.[/Deadpan]
Mark Duplass demonstrates once again that he’s better behind the camera than in front of it. To be fair, I don’t think the animated corpse of Sir Laurence Olivier could have done much with the given material, but I was pretty darn put off how quickly the flunkees went from “this is wrong” to “meh, ok, let’s see if we can revive Zoe.” If you were already inclined, that’s one thing,
but don’t half-ass this moment. Some unconvincing words from Frank, maybe a commitment to pull a lever or two and Niko shrugs and gives us a “oh, all right. Let’s go play God some more.”
So, for all you Mad Scientists and future Mad Scientists out there – do your homework, be honest about your findings, and for goodness sake, let the Dean know specifically what mad science you’re attempting. Then you won’t have to revive your dead partner in the wee hours with limited resources and hope she doesn’t come back evil, ok?
Accidentally his partner did Frank slay
“Let’s revive the dead,” he would say
She’s your fiancée, son
If you want Wilde fun,
You’re going about it entirely the wrong way
Rated PG-13, 83 Minutes
D: David Gelb
W: Luke Dawson, Jeremy Slater
Genre: Weird Mad Science
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Zombies
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Fundamentalists
