SPECIES II
Release Date: April 10, 1998 Starring: Justin Lazard, Natasha Henstridge, Marg Helgenberger, Michael Madsen, Mykelti Williamson, James Cromwell Directed by: Peter Medak Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MPAA Rating: R (strong sexuality, sci-fi violence/gore, language) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/species2.htm
Hollywood is increasingly feeling the need to produce big-budget films that contain gratuitous sex and violence. The second such film in less than a month (after WILD THINGS), SPECIES II has given movie goers another reason to fear studio-produced films. In movies such as this, there is no such thing as depth, no one has an alterior motive, duplicity is unlikely, and dynamism is impossible. Every single element is laid out for the viewer to see, and anything approaching complexity is hammered home; everyone in the audience is forced to watch the movie on the level of the lowest common denominator.
This might be expected from Director Peter Medak, who is a veteran director from the hit television series HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS. Confined to a span of forty-two minutes, it's no wonder a film that runs ninety-five minutes in length is hard for him to design. There's not much to expect from the screenwriting department, either, because the only other major feature that Chris Brancato has penned was 1997's Laurence Fishburne starrer, HOODLUM. So the only thing left to turn to is, in this order: sex, special effects, and violence.
Justin Lazard plays Patrick Ross, an astronaut who is the first man to walk on Mars. After some melodramatic screentime, he becomes infected with alien DNA that renders him in a precarious condition: any woman he has sex with will grotesquely perish moments after intercourse. This becomes a problem for the increasingly sexually active Ross, who receives no help from his father (James Cromwell). Only Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) and a team of scientists, who've recreated a friendly version Sil (the female alien from the original SPECIES) - now named Eve - know how to stop him. So they call in Press Lenox (Michael Madsen, who reprises the role) to hunt down Ross. Unfortunately, there's a telekinetic bond between Eve and Ross, and their peaking levels of estrogen and testosterone, respectively, give them a strong desire to mate.
The movie might actually have a chance of thrilling the audience if there wasn't so much gratuitous sex. The theme of the movie distracts the audience's attention from what's going on: rather thangetting scared by any of the several tense scenes, the focus is on how long it will be until somebody takes their clothes off. Thus there is no reason to comment on the acting, for nobody save Mykelti Williamson has any degree of emotion. Cromwell's decreased screen time means he can't lend the gravity here that he did in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, and as the movie progresses towards the end, everything loses any degree of seriousness. This is another movie that's saved only by special effects and the merest murmurings of a plot; definitely missable by anyone's standards.
FINAL AWARD FOR "SPECIES II": 1.5 stars - a below average movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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