Species

Starring: Natasha Henstridge, Ben Kingsley, Forest Whittaker, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Marg Helgenberger, Michelle Williams
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
1995

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A scientist (Ben Kingsley) creates a human/alien hybrid (Natasha Henstridge), who escapes captivity and travels to find a mate in order to procreate. A team of specialists (Forest Whittaker, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Marg Helgenberger) is assembled to track the alien and destroy her before she can mate and give birth.

Review:

Tim: You have to at least be somewhat impressed by the idea behind this movie- a stunningly sexy alien girl tries to find people to have sex with in order to create a alien baby, and ends up killing most of her would-be daddies. I generally shake my head at such a silly idea, but it doesn't take much effort to figure out who this movie is targeted towards. As a science fiction film, this movie works to an extent, but it ultimately descends into a forgettable creature feature. This movie had the potential to be quite good, but instead, it is quite ordinary.

The film's strongest aspect is the cast. How such a great cast was assembled for this, I may never know. Natasha Henstridge is actually pretty good in the lead role, at least in considering this was her acting debut. She has the looks to make it believable, but her curious, confused performance makes us reason that she very well could be an alien (I am overlooking the fact that her ability to learn and interact with humans is a bit of a plot hole). Henstridge actually had a pretty easy task- most of the movie requires her to look blankly ahead, or kiss someone while naked. She indeed spends much of the movie without any clothes.

The rest of the cast is very good. Ben Kingsley felt like he was slumming it a bit in this film, but he does bring a touch of respectability to the cast. Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger worked well together, and I enjoyed both performances. I really liked seeing Forest Whittaker- his performance might be my favorite of the film. I also enjoyed seeing Alfred Molina in the film. Some of the best scenes involve Kingsley, Madsen, Helgenberger, Whittaker, and Molina interacting. They are quite interesting together. Finally, I just wanted to mention the small role of Michelle Williams as the young Sil. It was good to see her in this film.

Much of the movie isn't actually all that bad. However dubious the intentions, it is pretty interesting to watch a group of scientists desperately hunting a beautiful alien/human hybrid determined to mate with a human and create further hybrid monsters. This starts out quite entertaining, but as the movie goes on, it takes on some typical manhunt movie qualities, before descending into a silly monster movie at the end. You had to figure there would be a man v. monster moment, and this film's conclusion isn't much different from the countless other films that finally pit these two forces against each other at the end. By the movie's climax, I just stopped caring. Species ends with a bit of a whimper, because it is unable to be memorable in the least. It squanders the impressive start.

Species works on some level because it is a very different science fiction film that we are used to. It also is helped by a truly impressive cast. However, the script's flaws eventually catch up to this movie and collapse it ontop of itself. This is a film that had potential, but ends up just being a another disappointment.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Species II, Species III, A Sound of Thunder, Maximum Risk