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DVD Species (Special Edition)
There's a kind of perverse marketing genius at work in this cheesy sci-fi hit from 1995 in which scientists create a half-human, half-alien woman named Sil (Natasha Henstridge) who's capable of morphing from a slimy, tentacled creature into a blonde babe with the body of a Playboy centerfold. This makes it easy for Sil to lure gullible guys who are only too willing to indulge her voracious mating urge, realizing too late that sex with Sil is anything but safe. As the body count rises, a handpicked team of specialists tracks the alien's killing spree, but their diverse expertise is barely a match for the ever-morphing Sil. Borrowing elements of the Alien movies (including bizarre alien designs by Swedish artist H.R. Giger) and spicing them up with some tantalizing nudity, Species is a wet dream for creature-feature fans--kind of like watching a sci-fi vampire fantasy while browsing through the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. --Jeff Shannon
I commented recently in my review for The Italian Job: "But then, how bad can a movie be when your cast list includes...." Species is one of the films that provides my answer.
Species takes a four-time Academy Award nominee (with one win), a five-time Emmy nominee (with one win), a BAFTA nominee (who should have been nominated for more than one Academy Award over the years), and Michael Madsen, one of the most brilliant underrated actors of his generation, combines them with a creature designed by another Academy Award winner, and turns them loose on a script that would have been laughed out of studios in the fifties when horror movies were made with villains who were things like big plants or fifty-foot-long praying mantises. It would've been at least worthwhile if it had been meant as a send-up of bad "combine things with radiation and get a sci-fi film" fifties Z-grade movies, but it's unfortunately obvious that Donaldson, who's been responsible for other such cinematic classics as Cadillac Man and Cocktail (though, in his defense, he was also responsible for a really fun indie flick in the early eighties called Smash Palace seen by far too few Americans), took his subject matter all too seriously.
In case you need a description of the rail-thin plot, thus: a scientist (Kingsley, Oscar winner for Gandhi) receives a message from outer space that gives mankind the necessary knowledge to alter human DNA for reasons unknown. Of course, he decides on an experiment, named Sil (played as an adult by Natasha Henstridge in her first feature film) which gets out of hand. When that happens, he hand-picks a team of specialists in various fields to come in, find, and neutralize Sil: Preston Lennox (Kill Bill's Madsen), Stephen Arden (Frida's Alfred Molina), Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker of Good Morning Vietnam and Bird fame), and Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger of CSI). Together with the scientist, they go looking for Sil. Which takes the rest of the movie, more or less, and results in a lot of gore, stuff blowing up, and really, really stupid remarks from the cast.
The movie is horrifying, but certainly not in the way its director seems to have intended. * ½
Make A Cheese Sandwich Out Of This One
This movie just rips off other movies so blatantly that the unoriginality creates a stentch that resembles stinky cheese. This movie had to throw in a bunch of boob shots and sex just so someone would actually watch it. As for someone looking to find a quailty sci-fi flick go elsewhere. Lame story, crummy acting, and the creature looks like a leftover from an Alien movie. Bottom feeder junk.
A remarkable and original proposal!
The most remarkable science fiction movies in the nineties were undeniable Gataca, 12 monkeys, Species, Contact, Jurassic Park, The machine (an original French movie), The crow, Armagedon and The dark city. About Water world and Godzila is better not talk.
In this new century the cloning has meant a true twist of paradigm, and once more despite there were spread efforts on screen, certainly didn't leave notable traces.
Species' concerns turn around the remote but possible circumstance about a meteor that crashes against the Pole, from a very distant galaxy.
But it seems thousand years back a collision in Mars, determined the absolute collapse of living. After an expedition to the Red Planet three cosmonauts are invaded for a aliening way of live, being therefore the vector once they get back to the Earth
Even there are grotesque sequences and brutal bloody murders, a brilliant scientists command will become the implacable chasers to stop the impressive easiness of reproduction.
The cast is outstanding: Ben Kingsley, Forrest Whitaker, Michael Madsen, the attractive Marc Herlenberger and the ultra sensual Natasha Hensridge conform an interesting and entertained picture. Some double sense jokes and good cinematography.
"They could f**k the human race out of existence!" warns Michael Madsen in this inevitable--and inevitably contrived--sequel to 1995's surprise sci-fi hit. He's referring to a celebrated astronaut (Justin Lazard) infected with alien DNA from his history-making Mars landing, and the half-alien Eve (Natasha Henstridge), who was created from alien-human embryo splicing by biochemist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) in an effort to discover the alien species's vulnerabilities on Earth. While the astronaut sows his gruesomely wild oats with doomed women (resulting in a bevy of creepy kids in alien cocoons), Eve goes into heat until she and the astronaut can consummate their procreative lust. Sex and death are served up like money-shots in a porno flick, with an emphasis on gory... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michael Madsen - Natasha Henstridge Director(s): Peter Medak DVD Release Date: Released the 14 August 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If Species 3 lacks the star power of its previous incarnations – mostly notably Natasha Henstridge, whose participation here is relegated to a cameo – the movie succeeds in delivering lean, mean B-movie thrills by paring down the franchise's premise to its most exploitable elements – copious nudity and gore. Henstridge's voracious alien/human hybrid Eve dies gruesomely in the film's opening moments, but not before giving birth to an infant, who is rescued by a college professor (Robert Knepper) and grows into the pulchritudinous form of Sunny Mabrey. Unfortunately, she proves to be her mother's daughter in every way by setting out to mate with--and kill--any male unlucky enough to cross her path. While a definite step down in terms of plot and performance quality,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Brad Turner DVD Release Date: Released the 07 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In delivering PG-13-rated excitement, Alien vs. Predator is an acceptably average science-fiction action thriller with some noteworthy highlights, even if it squanders its opportunity to intelligently combine two popular and R-rated franchises. Rabid fans can justifiably ask "Is that all there is?" after a decade of development hell and eager anticipation, but we're compensated by reasonably logical connections to the Alien legacy and the still-kicking Predator franchise (which hinted at AVP rivalry at the end of Predator 2); some cleverly claustrophobic sets, tense atmosphere and impressive digital effects; and a climactic AVP smackdown that's not half bad. This disposable junk should've been better, but nobody who's seen Mortal Kombat or... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sanaa Lathan - Raoul Bova - Lance Henriksen - Ewen Bremner Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Even skeptical fans of the Blade franchise will enjoy sinking their teeth into Blade: Trinity. The law of diminishing returns is in full effect here, and the franchise is wearing out its welcome, but let's face it: any movie that features Jessica Biel as an ass-kicking vampire slayer and Parker Posey--yes, Parker Posey!--as a vamping vampire villainess can't be all bad, right? Those lovely ladies bring equal measures of relief and grief to Blade, the half-human, half-vampire once again played, with tongue more firmly in stone-cold cheek, by Wesley Snipes. With series writer David S. Goyer in the director's chair, the film is calculated for mainstream appeal, trading suspenseful horror for campy humor and choppy, nonsensical action. The franchise still offers some intriguing... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Wesley Snipes - Kris Kristofferson - Dominic Purcell - Jessica Biel - Ryan Reynolds Director(s): David S. Goyer DVD Release Date: Released the 26 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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2002's popular video-game-derived hit Resident Evil didn't inspire confidence in a sequel, but Resident Evil: Apocalypse defies odds and surpasses expectations. It's a bigger, better, action-packed zombie thriller, and this time Milla Jovovich (as the first film's no-nonsense heroine) is joined by more characters from the popular Capcom video games, including Jill Valentine (played by British hottie Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr, from 1999's The Mummy). They're armed and ready for a high-caliber encounter with devil dogs, mutant "Lickers," lurching zombies, and the leather-clad monster known only as Nemesis, unleashed by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation responsible for creating the cannibalistic undead horde. Having gained valuable experience as a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Milla Jovovich - Sienna Guillory - Oded Fehr Director(s): Alexander Witt DVD Release Date: Released the 28 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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