Species II (1998)
Rating: 2.0 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Peter Medak
Written by: Chris Brancato
Ingredients: Blood, gore, breasts, astronaut infected with alien DNA
Starring: Natasha Henstridge, Justin Lazard, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Mykelti Williamson, James Cromwell
Synopsis: Since SPECIES II is a sequel, let's recap SPECIES before discussing SPECIES II. In the original SPECIES film scientists receive a radio signal from space with instructions for how alien DNA can be combined with human DNA. They do the experiment, and presto! Out pops Sil (the beautiful Natasha Henstridge), a sexy half alien half human woman who goes on a mating rampage which morphs her into an invincible slimy, terrifying alien. A government assassin named Press Lennox (Michael Madsen) and a biologist named Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) work to track down and destroy the out-of-control human/alien Sil. But mostly we get to see Sil strut and have sex with guys who don't know what they've got coming to them.
In SPECIES II, astronaut Patrick Ross, and two pals go on a manned mission to Mars to take some back Martian soil samples, but unknowingly they get infected with Species DNA from a soil sample. The only astronaut unaffected is Dennis Gamble (Mykelti Williamson), who is a sickle cell anemia carrier. When the team returns to earth, astronaut hero Patrick goes on a mating rampage which morphs him into an invincible slimy, terrifying alien.
Patrick picks up a lot of hookers and kidnaps a woman from the grocery store, and mates with them (killing them in the process) to produce offspring who spin cocoons and hang on the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Natasha Henstridge, who played the original Sil in SPECIES, now plays Eve, a friendlier, more docile human/alien whom scientists have cloned from the DNA of the original Sil. Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger from SPECIES) is heading the high security science lab that studies Eve.
When Patrick the alien goes on the mating rampage, Dr. Baker and freelance security man Press Lennox (Michael Madsen) - - both from the first SPECIES film - - are reunited to track down the slimy creature. They hope to use Eve to help them find the alien, but the mating urge is so strong that Eve escapes from the lab.
Opinion: There's not much you can really do with a movie whose main premise is: "Oh no! We must stop him from mating." Except make sure it's not too serious, and have at it.
Natasha Henstridge as Eve is gorgeous, and the cameraman takes advantage of that, but her lines are limited; Henstridge has to do her best putting character into a role that serves no function but to put sex on screen. Similarly, Mykelti Williamson as astronaut Dennis Gamble has to adlib and squeeze comedy out of his cardboard character. Kudos to those two.
The other cast members don't bother to try very hard, and in fact deliver forgettable lines with wooden performances. For example, after all this blood, death, and destruction, Dr. Baker (Marg Helgenberger) exclaims the understatement of the year: "My. This is awful." Or how about Press Lennox explaining the alien mating urge to an unbelieving military general? He says something like, "Do you want them to f--ck us into oblivion?"
Or the scene where the camera focuses carefully on a corpse as a mini buzz saw blade cuts through the dead woman's grotesque and bloody head during an autopsy. The doctor nonchalantly says, "Let me move this ear aside, now..."
Given sharp and witty dialogue, they probably could have turned this movie into the alien version of SCREAM. But SPECIES II sticks straight to the gore genre. Basically SPECIES II is a tongue-in-cheek B-grade gore flick, and is satisfying as such. It's all blood, bodies, breasts, corny lines, and alien tentacles, but don't expect more.
Reviewed by David Sunga April 10, 1998
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