From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jul 14 10:31:23 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.kth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: paul@techno.discordia.org (Paul) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03810 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Paul Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: paul@techno.discordia.org (Paul) Organization: Discordia Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 19:45:42 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 35 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3172 rec.arts.sf.reviews:798 SPECIES A film review by Paul Copyright 1995 paul@techno.discordia.org Back in the 70s, a message was sent into space specifying Earth's location, and its DNA pattern. In the 90s, a reply was received from an alien source. One of the reply was to a technique to graft alien DNA to human DNA. The result is a cute blond hair girl Sil. When the director of the project decided to terminate Sil. Sil escaped, demonstrating inhuman abilities. Now Sil is on the run, seeking to escape her captors, and to breed. SPECIES is similar to those old sci-fi movies like the Humanoid, where the alien or monster seeks to breed with humankind. The twist in SPECIES is that the alien monster is female, and seeks to be inseminated. Due to Sil's lack of social training, Sil's attempts to breed are humorous, rather than exploitive. The pacing of the movie is pretty good. There was enough action to keep the story going. The acting on most part were credible, though I feel that most of the characters were a little dead. The story is the weakest part of the movie. So Earth finally gets a message from an alien civilization. Since communication and transport over light years are unfeasible, one logical solution is to grow an ambassador. In SPECIES, the "ambassador" turns out to be nothing more than a very cunning predator. There is nothing more provocative, just another hunt down the alien before it destroy the human race. BORING! Overall, species is an okay action film that's worth a look. It's not very good science fiction though. Paul upsiu@mcs.drexel.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jul 17 10:55:52 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Null) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03812 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Null Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Null) Organization: Null Publishing Co. Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 19:46:23 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 62 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3174 rec.arts.sf.reviews:800 SPECIES A film review by Christopher Null Copyright 1995 Christopher Null On the surface, SPECIES is something like a new version of ALIEN taking place on Earth. Once you look *really* closely, though, you realize it's a movie about one woman getting naked. The woman is newcomer Natasha Henstridge, who spends most of the film in her birthday suit--or her alternative alien suit when the need arises. In case you haven't seen the previews, my friend pretty much summed up his impression of Henstridge by asking me during the film, "Did you write down 'babe-a-licious?'" My response: "One 's' or two?" SPECIES starts out with an interesting idea: that an alien civilization would radio us a plan to genetically engineer a new (and far superior) race, which would inevitably destroy us all. Henstridge is "Sil," the code name of the first of these creatures, which escapes from captivity much too easily and begins marauding Los Angeles in an attempt to mate. Sil is a femme fatale in the purest sense of the word. Believe me, when she says "no," she *means* it, as one guy who tries to take advantage of her quickly finds out. The first half of the film is pretty good. Here, Sil is unsure of her identity, and she struggles with her half-human, half-lizard, half-cockroach existence, metamorphosing from one form to another when duty calls. Sil is on the run, but she doesn't know why; as a youth, her instinct hasn't yet kicked in, and because she's had no "upbringing," she survives on the street with only raw emotion. When the inevitable band of four scientists and hunter Michael Madsen come after her, Sil panics and must kill kill kill. Needless to say, a somewhat thoughtful film was not what I was expecting out of SPECIES, and sure enough, by the time the second hour rolls around, the film degenerates into a formulaic search and destroy movie. It's never scary. Even the [insert favorite non-threatening creature] suddenly jumping at one of the good guys doesn't cause much of a stir in the crowd. The Giger-designed creature is okay, but it's just like the one in ALIEN. The main effects problem is the ending, where crummy digital animation is used in place of models and makeup, effectively negating any suspense, and making the finale look kind of funny. Even Marg Helgenberger, as Madsen's love interest, starts off as pretty cool, but she ends up as goofy as her compatriots (including much-better-than-this-film actors Ben Kingsley and Forest Whitaker) by getting stuck between some rocks. Of course, Henstridge steals the show and makes the film nearly watchable. She looks almost inhuman as it is ... and some of her transformation sequences are almost too real. In fact, I once dated a girl who ... well, but that's another story. RATING: **1/2 +-------------------------------+ |* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection | +-------------------------------+ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jul 17 10:57:20 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: JBERARDINELL@delphi.com (James Berardinelli) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03813 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Berardinelli Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: JBERARDINELL@delphi.com (James Berardinelli) Organization: - Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 19:46:38 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 89 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3175 rec.arts.sf.reviews:801 SPECIES A film review by James Berardinelli Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli RATING (0 TO 10): 6.3 United States, 1995 U.S. Availability: wide release 7/7/95 Running Length: 1:48 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, gore, nudity, sex, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cast: Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker, Alfred Molina, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge Director: Roger Donaldson Producers: Frank Mancuso Jr. and Dennis Feldman Screenplay: Dennis Feldman Cinematography: Adrzej Bartkowiak Music: Christopher Young U.S. Distributor: MGM The villain of SPECIES -- a new science fiction/action/thriller/ gorefest from director Roger Donaldson -- is a sexy young alien named Sil (Natasha Henstridge). For most of the film, her primary problem is a massive case of sexual frustration. Every time she starts to get intimate with a man, there's some sort of interruption -- like someone showing up shooting off a gun or threatening to kick in the door. There's only so much of this anyone can take. No wonder she's in a bad mood. As for the men she chooses... well, let's just say that Sil bears a remarkable resemblance to the Praying Mantis. Sil's need to mate is fueled by maternal instincts, but it's bad news for humanity if she carries a child to term. Given the fast growth cycle of her race, it wouldn't take long before the indigenous populations of this planet topped the endangered species list. Sil is actually an alien/human hybrid. In 1971, Earth sent a message into space, hoping for an answer; when, some twenty years later, a response arrived that gave a recipe for "enhancing" human DNA, the scientists involved in the project didn't know that by acting on it, they were possibly engineering their own extinction. Now, Sil has escaped her protective cage in Utah and is on her way to the City of Angels, where she's likely to blend in with all the other weirdos -- at least when she retains her alluring human shape. Her alternative form, a monstrosity straight out of the imagination of ALIEN creator H.R. Giger, would likely provoke at least a few stares. Hot on her trail is a small team of specialists put together by government scientist Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley): an empath (Forrest Whitaker) who acts like Counselor Troi from STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION; a pair of scientists (Alfred Molina and Marg Helgenberger) with all the answers, and a hunter (Michael Madsen) whose specialty is killing. Their job is clear: destroy Sil, regardless of the cost in dollars and lives. There are two ways to look at this motion picture. If you compare it to a sci-fi action thriller like ALIENS, it comes up short. James Cameron's picture was masterful at building tension and suspense before bringing everything together in a satisfying climax. SPECIES sticks with basic scare tactics -- things jumping out of the shadows to the accompaniment of a surge of music. There are moments of high energy, but the pace is basically one of ebb and flow, and there's not much atmosphere to speak of. On the other hand, as a tongue-in-cheek homage to body snatching pictures, it isn't half bad. As long as you don't stop to think about what's going on, SPECIES is capable of offering its share of cheap thrills, with a laugh or two thrown in as well. The plot is patently ridiculous, but that's where a temporary suspension of disbelief is mandatory. Don't bring logic into the mix. As a high-tech, campy action movie, this one beats JUDGE DREDD, hands down. The characters are all types, but this is intentional. There's the strong, silent Preston, played by a laconic Michael Madsen. Marg Helgenberger is the self-assured woman who falls for him, Alfred Molina is the smart guy who strikes out with the women, and Forest Whitaker plays a truly annoying psychic who is constantly whining that things don't "feel right." Cast somewhat against type, Ben Kingsley is a sleazy scientist with no concept of ethics but a great love of procedure. Director Roger Donaldson has a lot of fun with his premise. The top-notch special effects, which use a lot of seamless computer animation, make the climax look very nice. The rest of the film is essentially one long chase sequence with a couple of nude scenes and maulings added to liven up the proceedings. No matter what genre you identify SPECIES as, it's not top of the line, but there's also quite a bit of room beneath it. - James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com) From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:34:24 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jul 14 10:30:57 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.kth.se!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!Germany.EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: paul@techno.discordia.org (Paul) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03810 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Paul Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: paul@techno.discordia.org (Paul) Organization: Discordia Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 19:45:42 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 35 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3172 rec.arts.sf.reviews:798 SPECIES A film review by Paul Copyright 1995 paul@techno.discordia.org Back in the 70s, a message was sent into space specifying Earth's location, and its DNA pattern. In the 90s, a reply was received from an alien source. One of the reply was to a technique to graft alien DNA to human DNA. The result is a cute blond hair girl Sil. When the director of the project decided to terminate Sil. Sil escaped, demonstrating inhuman abilities. Now Sil is on the run, seeking to escape her captors, and to breed. SPECIES is similar to those old sci-fi movies like the Humanoid, where the alien or monster seeks to breed with humankind. The twist in SPECIES is that the alien monster is female, and seeks to be inseminated. Due to Sil's lack of social training, Sil's attempts to breed are humorous, rather than exploitive. The pacing of the movie is pretty good. There was enough action to keep the story going. The acting on most part were credible, though I feel that most of the characters were a little dead. The story is the weakest part of the movie. So Earth finally gets a message from an alien civilization. Since communication and transport over light years are unfeasible, one logical solution is to grow an ambassador. In SPECIES, the "ambassador" turns out to be nothing more than a very cunning predator. There is nothing more provocative, just another hunt down the alien before it destroy the human race. BORING! Overall, species is an okay action film that's worth a look. It's not very good science fiction though. Paul upsiu@mcs.drexel.edu From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:34:27 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jul 24 14:51:46 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!gw2.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: gharlane@ccshp1.ccs.csus.edu (Gharlane of Eddore) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03832 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Gharlane Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: gharlane@ccshp1.ccs.csus.edu (Gharlane of Eddore) Organization: ? Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 14:34:41 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 125 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3200 rec.arts.sf.reviews:806 SPECIES A film review by Gharlane of Eddore Copyright 1995 Gharlane of Eddore Extinct upon release, but * * * out of * * * * John Von Neumann, progenitor of the computer age and critically important mathematician on the Manhattan Project, pointed out long ago that there is a great way to explore the cosmos, even without recourse to faster-than light travel. You send out self-replicating robot ships which explore and radio back information. It may take decades, centuries, or millennia, but it can be done with achievable technology, and doesn't require a magical faster-than-light drive. In the Fifties, British astronomer Fred Hoyle improved on this plan by suggesting that it would be better to radio plans for a complex computer and a program for it; any civilization capable of receiving the transmission could build the computer, which would then engage in a real-time dialog with the aliens, exchanging information and technologies, and hopefully arranging to send back what it had learned. About thirty-five years ago, the BBC contracted with astronomer/writer Fred Hoyle and writer Frank Elliot to create the scripts for a mini-series called A FOR ANDROMEDA. AFA concerned the reception of a Hoyle transmission, the construction of a huge computer, the computer's analysis of life on Earth, and its creation of an apparently human intermediary to facilitate communication. She was played with ethereally inhuman perfection by the then-unknown Julie Christie. Audience response was so strong that the BBC contracted for a sequel, ANDROMEDA BREAKTHROUGH, which played to equally high ratings. Dennis Feldman, whose previous credits include THE GOLDEN CHILD, has never been noted for coherent, well-structured movie scripts; they start out great, and then disintegrate into a morass of chase and action, mitigated only by the presence of the obligatory Beautiful Girl. Feldman writes good scenes, but has no idea how to tell a story or write a movie, even with a previous version to use as a model. Now, in SPECIES, we have a mundane retread of the ANDROMEDA plotline, derailed by a preoccupation with removing the clothes from the leading lady and further ruined by a mediocre attempt to emulate several recent horror films in terms of splatter, gore, and chases. SPECIES features Ben Kingsley, who is completely wasted in a badly-written portrayal of a feebly amoral scientist. Forest Whitaker and Alfred Molina are also served poorly by the script. The SPECIES story is relatively simple; we have been radioing information about ourselves and our DNA out into space since 1971, and have been receiving answers for two years. (Note that, in the 1970's, we really didn't know diddly about the human genome structure, and were hardly in a position to radio out a set of blueprints for human beings. Even today, all we can do is give information about DNA and how it works, not a copy of human DNA, because we don't have it analyzed YET.) The answers we get from the unknown alien source are plans for recreating a member of the alien race, and Doctor Xavier Finch, played by Ben Kingsley, is placed in charge of the attempt. The script begins to go off the deep end at this point, when the result is a beautiful young girl who can shape-shift into any of several ugly alien life forms. The first half of the film has something to offer, as "Sil," the alien girl, struggles with her multi-form existence, changing from Beauty to Lizard to Giant Cockroach and back again, all while trying to understand her own place in the cosmos. She seems oddly knowledgeable about human society, with glaring gaps where her social skills should be. Her instincts are to mate and procreate, and some of the best scenes deal with her attempts in this area. Escaping from her birth laboratory in Utah, Sil is pursued by a team of drafted civilians with orders to find her and kill her. She goes on an eating binge, spins herself a cocoon, and emerges as an adult, played by Natasha Henstridge, who goes a long way toward re-creating the sheerly inhuman beauty Julie Christie achieved in 1960. The pursuers: Michael Madsen is an assassin/exterminator; Forrest Whitaker is a convenient empath/psychic, just as though the U.S. government actually had such people on call. Neither is able to do much with the writing and directing provided. Whitaker's role seems to be aimed at making Whitaker a male copy of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION's "Counselor Cleavage." The other members of the strike team are played by Marg Helgenberger and Alfred Molina. Kingsley and Whitaker are both consummate professionals, too good to not work to the best of their abilities; but the performances Donaldson elicited from the rest of the cast are disappointing and bland, and it is apparent that the direction was a bit weak. H.R. Giger's design for the main form of the alien creature is actually a bit boring when we finally get to see it, although previous digital effects were done quite smoothly. The main fault of SPECIES is lack of originality; it starts out with a wonderful, albeit borrowed, premise, and then doesn't live up to it. All we get are chase scenes and a few nice sex scenes, with a few monsters tossed in. There is no buildup of tension and suspense, no climax worthy of the name; SPECIES is just a sequence of "scare" scenes stuck together. The movie is carried by its chase and sex scenes, but not rescued by them. On the other hand, as an exercise in Sci-Fi action/ adventure, it certainly beats the ichor out of JUDGE DREDD. SPECIES earns an extra rating point or two for having Ben Kingsley and Natasha Henstridge on board, but by and large, it's fun only for those of us who really like this sort of thing. My personal rating is three stars, but knock one or two of those off if you don't enjoy pretty unclothed ladies and bloodthirsty alien monsters. Rating: * * * out of * * * * MPAA Classification: R (Violence, gore, nudity, sex, language) Stars: Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker, Alfred Molina, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge Directed by: Roger Donaldson Produced by: Frank Mancuso Jr. and Dennis Feldman Typed by: Dennis Feldman Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak Music: Christopher Young Run Time: 108 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 from MGM, opens 7 July 1995 From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:34:29 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jul 24 14:51:46 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!gw2.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: bfrazer@panix.com (Bryant Frazer) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03833 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Frazer Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: bfrazer@panix.com (Bryant Frazer) Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 14:37:18 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 97 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3201 rec.arts.sf.reviews:807 SPECIES A film review by Bryant Frazer Copyright 1995 Bryant Frazer Directed by Roger Donaldson Starring Natasha Henstridge, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forest Whitaker 'Sil' and Ghost Train Design by H.R. Giger U.S.A., 1995 Contrary to what you may have heard on the net and elsewhere, the first half of SPECIES is actually a charming little B-movie. It's not so much that the film's troubles begin halfway through, but that it makes a string of bad decisions that forfeit both our goodwill and our willing suspension of disbelief. Still, if it wasn't MGM's flagship release for the summer movie season -- say, if Roger Corman had produced a low-budget version of the same script for his movie series on Showtime -- I can't imagine it would have taken near the critical drubbing it seems to have garnered. The premise is delicious, if a little incredible: aliens have responded to our search for extraterrestrial life by solicitously beaming back a DNA code. Humans being what we are, we decide to experiment with the stuff, fabricating a syringeful of the otherworldly stuff and then injecting it into a human ovum and growing a small army of human/alien crossbreeds. Silly us. A few die, others are frozen for future study, and one darling little girl, known as Sil, is kept in an isolation chamber for study (she has grown to an apparent 12 years old over the course of a few months). This gives her a lot of sublimated anger, and when the team of scientists led by Ben Kingsley finally decides to gas the child, she breaks through the chamber's glass and escapes. And since this little kid soon grows to womanly proportions and sets out to fulfill her biological imperative to breed (conceivable killing off the human race as she makes tiny monsters), Kingsley sets out after her. The early scenes seem to cement our identification with Sil (Michelle Williams). Her wide eyes establish her as the loneliest little girl on the planet, and she projects a palpable sense of betrayal when the cyanide gas is turned on and Kingsley mouths down at her: "I'm sorry." Even when she kills a transient, she seems blameless, like a wild animal escaped from captivity. Before she grows a cocoon and morphs into an adult, we watch her months-old mind cope with adolescence. The artist H.R. Giger, who designed the Aliens in the original Alien, worked on Sil, too. The "Ghost Train" that chases Sil in her dreams is all his creation (funded, in fact, by the artist's own money), and symbolizes menstruation, which is actually a mild foreshadowing of the transformation to come. Along with the grisly cocooning sequence, these are the only potentially disturbing scenes in the film. Just a little later, Sil is full-grown and played by model Natasha Henstridge, who is undeniably gorgeous and makes the whole movie look just a little too much like a cosmetics commercial. Her exploits from then on are episodic (in much the same way as producer Frank Mancuso Jr's films in the seminal Friday the 13th series), as she seduces and dispatches men in a guileless search for one suitable for breeding. That's the fun part. Unfortunately, it's intercut with the comparably tedious exploits of Kingsley's posse. Forest Whitaker is an empath who has the fortuitous skill of sharing other people's feelings over videotape. Michael Madsen gets the requisite Michael Madsen role. And so on, with Alfred Molina and Marg Helgenberger (both perfectly adequate in undemanding roles) rounding out the team. You'd think that one night in L.A. would be long enough for a sex object of Henstridge's caliber to try mating with about a dozen men, but the script is too clunky and methodical to let her really have at it (though she does go shirtless in at least four, maybe five scenes). A little more development of Sil's character would have gone a long way toward adding a little bit of weight to the same situations, since the audience is predisposed to identify with her early on (she's half human, after all). The less said about the dialogue, the better, I suppose, though these actors struggle mightily with it. The special effects, which consist mainly of Sil's varying transformations into alien form, range from the wickedly effective (early on) to the ho-hum (the last 20 minutes or so, when less really would have been more). And the direction is by Roger Donaldson, a competent thriller maker (NO WAY OUT, THE GETAWAY) who either lacked the clout or was uninterested in making a more substantial horror story from this material. I saw SPECIES at the end of a week which also included screenings of BELLE DE JOUR, THE LAST SEDUCTION, and the original ALIEN. I think ALIEN is the best of that lot, and it's a good example of the kind of movie SPECIES billed itself as (Giger worked on both). But the thing about all these films is that they are meditations on the female by male filmmakers, and all of them dwell conspicuously on the bizarre: BELLE DE JOUR's casual masochism, THE LAST SEDUCTION's trenchant moneylust, and ALIEN's horrified look at the reproductive system. SPECIES exhibits a similar morbid fascination with issues of pregnancy and the female body. It's fitting that Henstridge's body is on display during much of the movie, since her body, with its capacity to morph and transform, is the really terrifying object that the film revolves around. -- DEEP FOCUS: Movie Reviews by Bryant Frazer http://www.panix.com/~bfrazer/flicker/ bfrazer@panix.com From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:34:31 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jul 24 14:51:46 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!gw2.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: ram@mbisgi.umd.edu (Ram Samudrala) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03846 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Samudrala Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: ram@mbisgi.umd.edu (Ram Samudrala) Organization: The Centre for Advanced Research in Biotechnology Date: Wed, 19 Jul 1995 15:30:32 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 37 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3216 rec.arts.sf.reviews:809 SPECIES A film review by Ram Samudrala Copyright 1995 Ram Samudrala SPECIES begins with the premise that the information contained in Human DNA is packageable in a few kilobytes, transmittable as a radio signal, and "reprogrammable" by an alien civilisation. The "reprogrammed" DNA sequence is injected into an egg which develops into a twelve-year-old girl before the project director, Xavier Fitch, decides to terminate the project. However, the girl, code-named SIL, endowed with superior strength, manages to escape from confinement and head out in a train to L.A. After spending a brief period in a cocoon, she emerges all adult and sexy, having consumed the train conductor for breakfast. But underneath her good looks lies a predatory monster. Its only goal is to go through her life cycle, without hindrance from humans. This, the screenwriters decided, would involve finding a mate by scouring all the bars in downtown L.A. to have a baby with. Meanwhile Fitch has assembled a team consisting of a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, an empath, and a hit-man in order to track down this creature. Most of the movie then degenerates into them following the trail of blood left behind by the alien as it goes on a killing spree. This makes for some incredibly amusing moments. I do believe this was intentionally funny, and well-done at times. You're more likely to enjoy the movie if you treat SPECIES as horror comedy. If it does well in the box office, chances are that we'll see a sequel. Some of the visual effects are cool, and the movie has its moments. But I think Ben Kingsley, playing Fitch, has managed to astound me most with his metamorphoses than the H.R. Giger creation. -- Ram Samudrala ram@elan1.carb.nist.gov From ../rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 14 14:34:33 1995 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Oct 11 13:44:04 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!news10.sunet.se!news00.sunet.se!sunic!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!chi-news.cic.net!news.midplains.net!gw2.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: eng20172@leonis.nus.sg (Choo Eng Aun) Subject: REVIEW: SPECIES Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #04108 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Aun Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: eng20172@leonis.nus.sg (Choo Eng Aun) Organization: National University of Singapore Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 19:24:11 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 71 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3416 rec.arts.sf.reviews:845 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 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed May 13 15:11:38 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!masternews.telia.net!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!bofh.vszbr.cz!howland.erols.net!wn3feed!worldnet.att.net!140.142.64.3!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Jason Overbeck Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Species (1995) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 13 May 1998 02:54:51 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Lines: 48 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <6jb21r$kn8$1@nntp5.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer39.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp5.u.washington.edu 895028091 21224 (None) 140.142.64.7 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #12415 Keywords: author=overbeck X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer39.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:11561 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1902 SPECIES *** OF **** grade is B SPECIES writer Dennis Feldman is some kind of genius. He does the most obvious thing with Species, adding T&A to an alien sci-fi flick. Now the 11-25 year old males can have a ball, on the edge of their seats and saliva drooling from their collective mouths. Species is good entertainment that has originality and eroticism to spare. A signal from the stars told us to mix alien DNA with ours to create an offspring. They make the offspring female and name her Sil. She ages rapidly and might grow out of control, they decide to terminate the project with cyanide gas. Sil escapes with a fury and is unleashed on the public. As she caches a train a group of "hunters" are formed to track and eliminate her. The "hunters" are a mixed bag of specialists, either scientists or mercenaries, and have surprisingly well developed personalities. The alien, Sil (Natasha Henstridge), looks fresh out of the pages of PLAYBOY. She comes to the conclusion that she must find a man and mate, her looks are definitely not a handicap, but the specialists seem just one step behind her. This movie does a fair job of building suspense, especially during an exciting climax, yet has it's share of cats jumping from trees and false scares - good only for a shallow jump. Species doesn't seem too interested in suspense but instead with gore and nudity, and both are offered up throughout. Overall, Species is a fun film that offers some cheap joys and little brain. I have a certain loathing for films in which aliens are disgusting, saliva soaked things with no brains, yet are supposed to be smarter than us. After Aliens there have been many copycats and none have come close. This isn't the best copycat and doesn't try to be, we get an original take on the old idea and a certain amount of fun. There is energy and flare to this film that seems unusual for a sci-fi film (most of which just go through the motions). We get a wonderful climax and some interesting scenes and acting in between. We also get a lot of nudity from Natasha Henstridge. She seems to take it off with every scene of this film as she tries to seduce men so she can become pregnant. I heard one kid say that if human life - as we know it - depended on him NOT having sex with Natasha Henstridge, we better get ready for change. I guess that is part Species is trying to make: Would you rather watch a living male fantasy, quasi-human, horny as hell, naked as hell, forever stripping and spilling out of outfit, babe seduce men or Judge Dredd shout "I am the Law!" Tough choice.