SPECIES
A film review by Choo Eng Aun
Copyright 1995 Choo Eng Aun
Wide Screen, DTS
Starring : Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Natasha Kentsridge Produced by : Frank Mancuso Jr., Dennis Feldman Music by : Christopher Young Directed by : Roger Donaldson `Sil' created by H.R.Giger Running time : 1hr 40mins (approx) A United International Pictures Release
For fans of the ALIEN trilogy, SPECIES would have to do, at least for now. It is a good `alternative' ALIEN movie. The creature, SIL, was designed by world-renowned artist H. R. Giger who also incidentally designed the original creature in ALIEN and also the variant in ALIEN 3. If you simply can't get enough of the ferocious Xenomorph from the ALIEN trilogy, well, SIL will definitely live up to your expectation, except its much sleeker and not to mention smarter too.
The movie does not wait. SIL, a product of human embryo and alien DNA is to be terminated due to some complications to the secret alien research project. What seems to be a normal young female, escapes the facility, thanks to her superhuman abilities due to the alien genes in her veins. A trail of blood and gore follows from then on, with a group of researchers, led by Kingsley hot on her trail. There are a lot of suspenseful situations (things jumping out etc.), sometimes, a bit too much for comfort, your truly here did jump a bit on several occasions so those with pacemakers, keep a backup just in case. SPECIES also showcases some really good special effects, with Sil transforming from human to alien and also all those tendrils which explodes out from inside of her (yech!).
The characters though, are as two dimensional as they can get but hey, it is not as if those looking for some action and entertainment even care. Ben Kingsley gives his worst performance yet, in this film (Maybe he's trying to break into the mainstream market in the likes of DUSTIN HOFFMAN in OUTBREAK). The star of the show without a doubt is Sil herself. The young girl who played her when she was a child was quite memorable, thought short in duration but it is newcomer NATASHA KENTSRIDGE who fared the best. Granted that her role was not exactly a tough one but she did manage to potray the-beautiful-woman-with-that-deadly-secret very well. Her Sil will make men think twice before making out with a beautiful women, watch and see! She looked a bit like Schiffer if you ask me. I would have liked it even more if only they dealt more into the human-alien conflict within Sil.
Sad to say, the Singaporean version of SPECIES is about ten minutes shorter, no thanks to the censorship board here. The PG rating has really taken its toll on the film. Much of the explicit killing scenes were butchered and Sil, who was practically topless 50% of the time, was 100% clothed in this version. Damn, should have given it an R(A) rating; it isn't exactly a movie kids should watch anyway. Nevertheless, I still found the movie enjoyable and is definitely one of the better entertainment-film for this summer.
Action : ****- Suspense : ****- Drama : *----
Overall : 7.0 out of 10
-- CHOO ENG AUN EMAIL : ENG20172@LEONIS.NUS.SG National University of Singapore
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