Subject: Review: Species II (1998)

From: James Sanford <[email-masked]>
Date: 12 May 2000 23:48:42 GMT

Sex equals death. That's the cardinal rule of slasher movies,
and it's in full effect in ``Species II,'' a worthless follow-up to
the 1995 hit, which was notable primarily for the presence of the
decidedly uninhibited Natasha Henstridge as an alien preying on the
men of Earth.
        Like the similarly ill-advised ``Grease 2,'' ``Species II''
uses the old sex-role reversal ploy to get its plot going. This time,
the monster is male, an airheaded astronaut named Patrick Ross (Justin
Lazard) who ends up infected with extraterrestrial DNA after strolling
around on Mars. When Patrick whines about not feeling well, his
politico father (James Cromwell, slumming) grouches, ``You think a
trip to Mars was rough - try a Senate campaign!''
        So what's Patrick to do but pick up scores of easy ladies and
attempt to impregnate them with his otherworldly essence? Though
considered a real looker by most of the females in his circle, Pat
turns out to be considerably less attractive when he sprouts long,
slimy gray tentacles during love-making.
        Meanwhile back at the lab, crusading Dr. Laura Baker (Marg
Helgenberger) has managed to create a docile knockout she calls Eve
(Henstridge) from the genes of Sil, the troublemaker from the first
film. Why Baker bothered to do this is never made clear, but
eventually Eve picks up on Patrick's scent, goes into heat and escapes
to find him. Wedding bells do not follow.  Henstridge fans will be
disappointed to learn her part in ``Species II'' is minimal and
requires her to remain fully dressed almost all of the time.
        Since most of the film's running time is taken up with scenes
of exploding stomachs and splattering heads, we never find out how
Patrick manages to dress and feed his scores of humanoid offspring,
why a smart actor like Mykelti Williamson took the demeaning role of
Patrick's sex-crazed buddy, or why, despite his enormous celebrity,
only one woman in the entire vicinity of the Washington, D.C., area
seems to recognize Patrick.
        It's disappointing to see a skilled director like Peter Medak
- who made ``The Krays'' and ``Let Him Have It,'' two of the best
British films of the decade - wasting his time on this kind of tripe,
although it should be noted he does give it some semblance of
professionalism. The digital soundtrack is also highly effective, with
each squish and crunch coming through loud and clear.
        But what can be said about a movie that focuses largely on the
struggle of government agents to keep ex-astronauts from having sex?
Leave it to Dr.  Baker: ``It's awful,'' she moans, prior to the
slime-drenched finale.  ``Just awful!''

James Sanford