Gattaca is a new sci-fi thriller from first-time New Zealand director Andrew Niccol. If you're looking for something that's loud, special effects-crazed and filled with lots of super-charged spaceship chases across the galaxies, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you're like me, you'll be quite pleased and surprised by this unexpected re-emergence of an all but forgotten genre: serious, adult science fiction. For Gattaca is refreshingly down to Earth, intelligent, remarkably literate (Niccol wrote the screenplay himself) and just plain interesting, bringing to mind the best of Bradbury. In addition to all that, Gattaca's look, belying its relatively small budget, is appropriately striking — not in the least surprising, given that Production Designer Jan Roelfs is a long-time collaborator of Peter Greenaway. (Curiously enough, there is yet another Greenaway connection — the haunting score is by Michael Nyman.)

The film posits a not-too-distant future where genetic engineering has totally restructured society. Parents design their children, with the help of some lab specialist, for looks, intelligence, longevity, career, whatever. And, woe to those few sorry individuals who were the result of natural births. Such "In-Valids" (or "de-gene-erates" as the film also calls them) have long since become a shameful underclass in society, discriminated against in all ways.

Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is one such young man. Always pitied by his parents and in competition with his younger, genetically-perfect brother, Vincent is determined to prove something to himself and the world — he will somehow find a way to fulfill his career dreams of being a space traveler, and he'll do it with the less-than-perfect genes he's got. Vincent enlists the help of a DNA broker who puts him in partnership with one Jerome Eugene Morrow (Jude Law), formerly a superior genetic specimen who now leads a reclusive life, paralyzed in a wheel chair due to an accident. For no small amount of cash, Eugene keeps Vincent in constant supply of his own blood, urine, skin and hair samples. (These are precisely the things that Government and Security authorities constantly monitor electronically for everyone in the course of any normal day.) And, to complete the elaborate identity switch, Vincent must also undergo some extensive surgery to match Jerome's height.

The complicated ruse seems to work and Vincent gradually rises to the upper levels of the space program with his secret identity intact. But just as he is about to embark on his first space mission, the director of the space program is mysteriously murdered and some In-Valid's eyelash is found at the scene of the crime — Vincent's. Instantly, the place is swarming with cops, headed by Detective Hugo (Alan Arkin), testing everyone's every conceivable body fluid or part. Things are further complicated by Vincent's love affair with a beautiful co-worker named Irene (Uma Thurman) who may or may not have guessed that Vincent is an impostor.

On paper, it may sound a bit over the top. But in fact, it's not. The script is subtle, intelligent and, believe it or not, literary. Pertinent and poignant metaphors and allusions abound. Important philosophical issues are touched on without becoming the slightest bit didactic. And it's all very well acted, in a no-nonsense, low-key way: Mr. Hawke and Ms. Thurman, both wonderful actors in general, down-play it admirably. Jude Law, an excellent British stage actor, brings cynical charm and a certain theatrical elan, without over-doing it. Alan Arkin is, as always, a pleasure to watch, and the surprising presence of Gore Vidal as Vincent's somewhat icky boss rounds out the cast nicely. Smaller roles well played by Tony Shalhoub, Ernest Borgnine and Loren Dean should not go without mention.

But the real star of the show is the script and direction of Andrew Niccol. His smart, mature and artful unifying vision are what make Gattaca a real find in the otherwise Star Wars-bloated universe of sci-fi films.