Ray Bradbury's Chrysalis

I have always said I'd like some more real science fiction in the movies.  Oh we get space ships and such galore, but often as not they are serving other genres more than science fiction.  Nothing wrong with that, I'd just like to see more thoughtful films from time to time.  Ray Bradbury is often associated with science fiction which is interesting.  Yes he has done a lot of novels on mars and in the future, but really his stories generally are about as truly science fictional as the above mentioned films.  He tends to use the tropes of science fiction more than the over all guiding philosophies of the genre.  This is not knocking him, on the contrary.  Bradbury is such an original writer that he really isn't contained in any genre.

"Chrysalis" is certainly an example of this.  It is a very thoughtful film.  Certainly it is set in the future.  Also a lot of science is slung around with abandoned.  "Go measure that," is the mantra of one of the scientists present.  Yet, in the end.  I don't get the feel of science fiction, but rather of something more sublimely spiritual.  I don't think Ray knows exactly what he's reaching for either.  Is it God?  The Universe?  Everything?  But the story is more about the reach than the grasp. 

Storywise its a little slow, in fact it would be a lot slow if the director didn't pepper the preceedings with super fast, hallucinatory montages alternating with Faux news on how bad the world has gotten.  Nice tricks, but still this is a slow film about a guy that turned into something, what no one is sure, and now they wonder if he is still who he was or not and what does it all mean.  This isn't bad mind you, but if you are out for something lighter or more actiony best give it a pass.