Subject: Review: Species II (1998)

From: Jamie Peck <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Apr 1998 16:01:56 GMT

SPECIES II
Reviewed by Jamie Peck
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Rating: ** (out of ****) 
MGM / 1:33 / 1998 / R 
Cast: Marg Helgenberger; Justin Lazard; Michael Madsen; Natasha 
Henstridge; Mykelti Williamson; George Dzundza;
James Cromwell; Peter Boyle 
Director: Peter Medak 
Screenplay:Chris Brancato
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"Species II" is a creaky creature feature that pretty much fails to 
build upon the furiously far-out premise of 1995's surprise summer hit 
"Species." Not that the original could never be surpassed or anything, 
but there was an arguably good time to be had watching Natasha 
Henstridge's evil female extraterrestrial peruse the L.A. nightclub 
scene looking for a suitable suitor. "Species" was fun in a brain-dead 
sort of way, but the same can't quite be said for its follow-up. 
"Species II" isn't so much an actual movie as a succession of violent 
scenes that eventually contrive a way for Henstridge, back for this 
go-around, to remove her top. At least the studio pitch meeting must've 
been a riot. 

The story, such as it is, casts Henstridge as a good guy, a docile clone 
of her "Species" character that helps out fellow original cast members 
Marg Helgenberger, as a brainy biologist, and Michael Madsen, a stoic 
hitman. They're pitted against a heroic astronaut (Justin Lazard) that 
returns from America's first Mars mission with a little something extra 
in the bloodstream. When the mood strikes him -- and the mood strikes 
him often, considering his alien urge to procreate -- he turns into a 
sex-crazed, slimy monster whose demon semen produce instant toddlers 
that cause his bedmates' bellies to graphically swell and pop right open 
post-coitus. So much for the afterglow, I guess. 

There's little imagination or creativity at work here, but those things 
aren't what "Species II"'s core audience will be looking for anyway; 
presumably, nobody's going to see this movie expecting anything more 
than gore, sex and special effects, so the character and story holes and 
lack of coherent plotting aren't really going to be enjoyment 
roadblocks. "Species II" is at least competently assembled, with slick 
production design, a few interesting moments and a couple of 
particularly puzzling celeb cameos (Richard Belzer as the president?). 
Take away the antagonist gender-reversal and this is essentially the 
very same movie as "Species." It even ends, not unlike its prequel, with 
the promise of another installment. Any takers? 

Recurring attempts to lend the film some emotional weight, as the 
antagonist is fully aware and occasionally horrified of the bloodshed 
he's causing, distract from the rest of the mostly campy proceedings, 
and even render certain scenes somewhat distasteful. Patches of "Species 
II" are genuinely, pleasantly goofy (particularly a scene where Lazard's 
brood demonstrates an inventive use for snot), but the film as a whole 
is highly inconsistent, and bouts of hilarity -- be they intentional or 
not -- don't justify a slight, needless sequel. The makers of "Species 
II" should have left the alien resurrections (and alien franchise 
resurrections) to Sigourney Weaver.
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© 1998 Jamie Peck
E-mail: [email-masked]
Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
"Suggestions, please, for the fourth movie in the series. How about 
'Look Who's Talking Back,' in which the audience gets its turn?" -- 
Roger Ebert on "Look Who's Talking Now"