Species

Admittedly you would either need to be 50 plus with a good memory, or to be a well-versed student of older sci-fi but in 1961 Miss Julie Christie made her screen debut in the British TV Sci-fi serial A FOR ANDROMEDA. The plot? Signals are received from deep-space seemingly the blue-print for the creation of human life. Scientists of course find the opportunity way too tempting and before you can say "Told you that was a dumb move!" we have a genetically engineered, rather stunning young blonde walking around the lab, causing all sorts of political and scientific unrest.....sound familiar?

Yep, SPECIES was a total conceptual rip-off and to my knowledge, either no-one has ever noticed the fact OR has failed to put such view into print. Certainly not a solitary film critic worldwide that I read at the time was aware of the fact! That said, SPECIES wasn't a total flopperoo although Ben Kingsley looked majorly uncomfortable, if not stunned for the greater part of the flick, as the head science honcho really wanting his creation (the delectable and statuesque Miss Henstridge) dead on sight....a task he bequeathes to Mr Madsen who always enjoys work of this sort!

Never really scales the heights. Neither a major gore-fest or a jaw-dropping ALIEN-wannabe. It labors on beneath its own mediocrity and when it finally finishes, about the only emotion left to the viewer is.."Hmmmmm, OK, now I've seen SPECIES....what's for dinner?" Compared to its sequel however, it remains a rare masterpiece!

For thirty years, powerful telescopes have been scanning the space searching from signal of alien civilization. In 1974, the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) team sends a message to the space with the human DNA, map of our solar system and other information. In return, they receive two messages: the first one, with a catalyst for methane; the second, a detailed alien DNA together with instructions to join it with human DNA. The result of the experiment is the deadly creature Sil. When Dr. Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley), who is leading the research, decides to terminate the experiment, the girl Sil (Michelle Williams) escapes to Los Angeles. Dr. Fitch joins the mercenary Preston Lennox (Michael Madsen); the anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina); the scientist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger); and the empathic Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker) to chase Sil (Natasha Henstridge). Sooner they discover that the predator Sil has grown-up and became a beautiful woman, trying to copulate to generate an offspring.

"Species" is one of the best sci-fis of the 90's. Full of action, sexy and with a great cast, this film introduces the stunning Natasha Henstridge, one of the most gorgeous and sexy actresses of Hollywood ever. Her debut could not be better, and together with the cult Michael Madsen, they make this pleasant movie work. The story recalls those B-movies from the 50's, but spiced with erotic and very sexy scenes. I have just watched this movie for the fourth time, and I do not get tired to this attractive story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Experiência" ("The Experience")

"Species" has a hopelessly derivative premise that makes it a completely unnecessary view for anyone who has ever seen "Alien" or "The Predator" (or their sequels), but it does have some things going for it. To be short and specific: Natasha Henstridge is dreamily, extraordinarily beautiful; the rest of the cast is distinguished, with a very cool Michael Madsen stealing the show; the special effects are convincingly yucky; and the pacing is fast and unrelenting, with the "search-and-destroy" team being always only one step behind the pursued alien "monster". A forgettable film, but not nearly as bad as many reviews have suggested. (**)

Dennis Feldman's 'Species' is a severely underrated science fiction film from the 90s. The film touches on many themes, including the meaning of life, human desires, specifically procreation, human interaction, kindness/empathy, selfishness, fear, manipulation, intuition, following orders. It does so in a way that is mostly sublime enough that it comes across as genuine. For example there is a fairly believable romance buried in there underneath layers of alien slime. The dialog is mostly well written and to the point, the actors are great and there's lots of attention to detail. Combine that with some great and grotesque visuals, courtesy of the late Hans Ruedi Giger and some Cronenbergian body horror and you're in for a fascinating ride through Los Angeles.

The dialog doesn't always work, like when they're trying to track her down and are quickly jumping to conclusions about things that the audience already knows. Scenes vary in quality, some feel a bit rushed. While the effects are mostly excellent there are some subpar ones, too.

Overall I highly recommend it if you can get something out of sci-fi horror.

Not all movies have to be intense and hard to figure out. Sometimes they can just be fun, and this one is.

You have to suspend disbelief on a few technical scientific things, such as sending a message from SETI into outer space, remember that radio waves travel at the speed of light, and the nearest star to use is 4.3 light years away. So at BEST it would take 8 years to send/receive a message, but most stars in our galaxy are 50,000 light years away or so, so the message to one of those would take 100,000 years to send/receive.

Then we can't create DNA of a human, how are we going to create the DNA of an Alien species from scratch given just the data about it? But don't worry about those details, just have fun with it, watch the pretty little half-alien girl kill with much gore.. And the team of experts they send to catch the now fully-grown woman/alien is kind of fun too. Very cliché characters, but still fun.

I like the deep, hard-to-understand movies as well, but this one kept me entertained all the way through. Not the greatest movie ever made but not boring either. A fun B-movie type science fiction/horror movie, but with good actors.

I'm giving it an 8, which to me means, "liked it", whereas a 6 to me would mean "it was OK". It was more than OK so I give it an 8.