SPECIES II Reviewed by Jamie Peck
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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