Subject: Review: Species II (1998)

From: Matt Williams <[email-masked]>
Date: 16 Apr 1998 23:36:53 GMT

SPECIES II
A film review by Matt Williams

RATING: 1/2* out of * * * *

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movie theater,
there, lurking in the corners, leaps out a stupefyingly horrid sequel to
1995's sci-fi misfire, Species.

Those rascally scientists, not having learned their lesson from the
first movie, have recreated Sil...now called Eve (Natasha Henstridge).
Under the supervision of Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger), this new
Eve is calmer and more sedate, but is used as a lab rat to research
weapons against future Species-alien attacks.

That disaster scenario is coming true sooner than some have anticipated.
The first manned mission to Mars is underway, with a crew including
Justin Lazard and Mykelti Williamson.  The Martian soil samples they
retrieve contain more than dirt...they contain Species DNA samples. When
the crew returns, all three may have been infected and are potentially
hazardous to their mates.  Luckily, NASA has established a 10-day sexual
quarantine for interplanetary flights (no, really!).

>From there, it all goes downhill (which, since it is one of the opening
scenes, is no small trick).  Soon, multiple alien sexual predators are
on the loose again, each trying to mate to produce the "perfect"
offspring.  Now that's one thing that I just don't quite understand
about this movie.  Why would this creature, which now has the ability to
assimilate people with merely a few strands of its DNA, need to bother
with creating a "perfect" offspring. (Disregarding the fact that the
offspring of two hybrids wouldn't necessarily be "pure").  One would
think that the creature should just wander around the countryside
bleeding.  Its pools of blood are apparently sentient, and if they can't
kill humanity...they should be able to merge with it in no time.

But that would assume the movie was trying to make sense.  No, this is
the movie that has people thinking things like, "Hmm...a crawling pool
of blood...I think I'll walk over and touch it..."  The film touts its
own stupidity and scientific ignorance as if it were a badge of honor
(even though I don't think the film's even smart enough to know what a
badge is.)

No...the heart of Species and its sequel is: alien sex.  Rather than
present us with the ultimate femme fatale, as in the original, the
sequel instead delivers a series of literally explosive pregnancies.  (A
strange thing though:  all the resulting offspring mysteriously acquire
identical grey shirts as their only form of clothing.  Maybe it's
another mutation...but then, I'm thinking again.  Bad reviewer!  Bad
reviewer!).  The film is chock full of  nudity (both human and alien),
sex and gore.  Heck, if that turns you on...more power to ya.

But don't go in expecting any great sci-fi action scenes.  (Or even
tepid ones like the original).  No, the brainless attitude of the film
destroys any sense of suspense even quicker than your credulity
evaporates.

One thing we can, unfortunately, expect is yet another sequel.  Like
most horror films, this one leaves the door wide open.  In fact, it
fails to resolve a central point to do so.  Gone are the days of the
faint rasp of facehuggers crawling after the credits in Aliens...these
days the filmmakers don't care about subtlety, or even resolving the
plot... At least they didn't stoop as low as the mutant rat in the first
film (a thread which, thankfully, is never followed upon).

As Marg Helgenberger utters after witnessing a spectacularly gory
corpse:  "This is awful...just awful."  I couldn't have said it better.

Copyright 1998 Matt Williams

- Matt Williams ([email-masked])
Reviewer for Cinematter: http://www.cinematter.com
Home of over 500 reviews, and information on over 600 upcoming releases