Ethan Hawke stars as Vincent Freeman, a child born in a future where genetic enhancements are the norm. Out of idealistic notions of love, his parents choose to not have him genetically improved. At the moment of his birth, he's diagnosed with an almost certain chance of heart failure by the time he's in his 30's. Disappointed in how their unaltered son turned out, Vincent's parents have another child, and Vincent is always being told how inferior he is. Vincent has one dream: To go into space. But with his heart condition, no one will ever let him. And with an unaltered genome, no one will even hire him for a decent jobs. He becomes part of a new underclass, but never gives up on his dreams. When it becomes clear that the only way he's going to get ahead is through illicit means, he steals the identity of Eugene Morrow (Jude Law), a genetically superior man crippled for life in a car accident. Now the pair have to work together to fool everyone around them into thinking that Vincent is one of the genetic elite.

For many, the common conception of science fiction is men in jumpsuits with laser guns, or a Jedi with a lightsaber. And while these pulp creations certainly have littered the sci-fi landscape for decades, real fans of the genre know that the best work is done in a more realistic and contemplative vein. Usually these stories use the trappings of future times, places, and technology to make a comment on our society as it is today. These tales are classified separately from the Star Wars style adventures as speculative fiction (as opposed to space opera) by enthusiasts. Gattaca is a film firmly in the speculative fiction camp, depicting a world that could very well be our own if we're not careful.

Writer/director Andrew Niccol (who sadly has not been able to replicate the critical success he garnered with this film) uses a few design touches to suggest a future world. By rebranding retro designs, and using buildings with distinct architecture, Niccol was able to make Gattaca look unique and futuristic without blowing the budget, and most importantly, without filling each frame with CGI. This allows him to focus on the story, which is told with confidence and grace.

Ethan Hawke is astounding as Vincent. You can feel the depth of his passion, his determination, and his will to succeed against all odds. There's a palpable difference between Vincent as a young man, awkward, nervous, and frustrated, and his turn at Eugene. The confidence he projects when he's playing his alter ego is thoroughly convincing, and you understand how he was able to fool his superiors and contemporaries. Hawke is well known for sensitive and complex portrayals, and Gattaca offers one of his best.

Gattaca introduced the world to Jude Law, and you can tell right from the start that he was going to be a star. He's brilliant as the real Eugene, a superman torn from the sky and brought crashing down to earth. He spends his days drowning his sorrow in drink, but as Vincent inches closer to his goal, his fire becomes infectious, and Eugene can't help but be caught up in it. Law plays Eugene with his sorrow barely contained, but long since turned into bitter anger. And yet, when Vincent falters, it's Eugene who picks him up, forces him to go on and succeed. It's a brave and fearless performance that was only the start of many great things to come.

In truth, Gattaca is a rather simple tale of overcoming adversity. It's just that the obstacle in this case isn't gender, race, or sexual identity, but genetic superiority. Niccol cuts right to the heart of the issue, offering up plenty of scenes of discrimination based on genetic makeup, which serves to make Vincent's close shaves even more harrowing and suspenseful. It helps to have a solid talent like Alan Arkin as the police investigator on Vincent's tail. But the murder mystery is a red herring, just a way to get the audience involved with Vincent's struggle. It's all part of Gattaca's tight construction, one of the many elements that makes it a modern science fiction classic.

The Blu-ray Disc:

The Image:
Sony presents Gattaca in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 in this AVC-encoded 1080p transfer. Sony has shown a strong commitment to their back catalogue, with titles as diverse as 20 Million Miles to Earth and Run Lola Run, all with very good transfers, but even knowing that, I was still impressed with the image on Gattaca. Niccol's tight visuals are given new depth here, with all kinds of details visible. The colors are vibrant, showing off the palette beautifully. Gattaca has never looked this good on home video, and I'll bet at times it didn't even look this good in the theater.

The Audio:
Sony offers three lossless tracks on Gattaca, a Dolby True HD 5.1 mix in English, French, and Portuguese. Gattaca's mix isn't as active as most films have today, so there isn't as much to work with on this track. Michael Nyman's excellent soundtrack is almost the only sound on the rears, with only a few directional effects breaking through. The dialogue is clean and clear, though, which is essential for a title like this.

The Supplements:

• Welcome To Gattaca: A brand new retrospective, presented in HD. New interviews with Jude Law, Ethan Hawke, and many members of the crew talk about various aspects of the picture. Strangely, Niccol is not present on the feature. It's great to see Hawke and Law look back, though.
• Deleted Scenes: About ten minutes' worth of scenes with awful video quality. However, the content is pretty good, although I'm glad they kept out the alternate ending, which was simply unnecessary and would have ruined the grace of the theatrical conclusion.
• Substance Test Outtake: Just a quick, cute, outtake.
• Do Not Alter: An interesting documentary on the history and potential applications of genetic research and manipulation. Could have been longer, but there's a lot of information packed into its fifteen minute run time.
• Original Featurette: A fluff piece from when the film was shot, this extra is made completely superfluous by the new material.

The Conclusion:
Gattaca is a modern science fiction classic and one of the best films of the 90's. Sony has done the film great justice with this Blu-ray release, offering incredible picture and a selection of new extras to enhance the experience. If you haven't seen Gattaca, this is the perfect introduction. And if you have, this is the best way to get reacquainted. Highly Recommended.

Daniel Hirshleifer is the High Definition Editor for DVD Talk.