THE AISLE SEAT - "SPECIES II"
by Mike McGranaghan
I thought they stopped making pictures like Species II back in the 50's. Here is a movie that features: an alien invader from Mars, a crooked senator, a military officer with a milky eye, and a woman who fires a weapon at an alien and yells "Die!" I grew up watching this kind of cheesy science-fiction fare on Sunday afternoon TV. It's not much better now than it was then - it's just a lot more violent.
The original Species was released in 1995 and it was a surprise hit. The story dealt with Sil (Natasha Henstridge), a female being created when human DNA was combined with a DNA pattern sent from space. Sil had a voracious sexual appetite; she needed to procreate so that her offspring could take over Earth. She also killed any guy who wasn't up to the task. When Sil escaped and went on a rampage, a team of experts was brought in to find her before some poor man impregnated her.
Species II begins several years later. Sil is dead, but an exact replica named Eve has been created for the purposes of study. She's kept in a glass confinement chamber and - in an effort to control her hormones - has never been allowed in the presence of a male (although she is inexplicably allowed to watch "The Dukes of Hazzard" reruns on TV). It's worth noting that Henstridge was one of the prime draws for young male moviegoers in the original because she shed her clothes in virtually every scene. The sequel keeps her in that glass booth for almost the entire movie. It's strange that the filmmakers didn't utilize her more this time around. Even the studio's official website knows better; it allows surfers to by-pass all the usual production-related information and jump right to pictures of the actress. At least the web designers know how to appeal to horny teenage boys.
For some unknown reason, the sexual predator in this movie has been made the first astronaut ever to set foot on Mars, who also happens to be the son of a corrupt senator (played by Babe's James Cromwell). While on the red planet, the astronaut is contaminated by an alien virus. When he gets back to Earth, the alien takes over his body and he begins sleeping with any woman who will have him. This repeatedly leads to one of the most disgusting special effects I have ever seen in a movie (and I have seen them all). It's kind of a variation on the scene in Alien where the creature pops out of a man's chest but much more graphic - if you can believe that.
Investigating the new alien are the two remaining characters from the original: Michael Madsen as the creepy government guy who gets called when something needs to be killed, and Marg Helgenberger as the scientist who created Eve. Joining them is that military officer with the milky eye. He has a very strange scene in which he tells Madsen, "you know how I got this eye." Maybe he does, but we don't - and it is never explained.
Actually a lot isn't explained in Species II. It feels like whole chunks of exposition have been ripped out of the unusually short film. Sure, there's the occasional bit of incomprehensible scientific techno-babble, but you never really understand why Eve was cloned from Sil, what kind of alien virus is in the astronaut, or what Eve hopes to achieve when she (finally!) breaks out of the chamber and heeds the mating call of the other alien. And I won't even try to explain those spooky-looking kids who pop up every time the astronaut kills a woman. Everything in this movie has been sloppily jammed together by director Peter Medak (Romeo is Bleeding) without much concern for logic. I have a feeling that a lot of scenes were eventually left out of the final cut - scenes that would have made the plot much more clear.
The original Species was fun for several reasons. There was something undeniably witty about a vicious alien taking the form of an impossibly sexy statuesque blonde who shamelessly begs men to fornicate. Sil's utter babe-age was her most dangerous weapon. On a slightly deeper level, the film dared to suggest that - in a day when sex can be deadly - a woman's biological clock may tick louder than ever. Species II hasn't a shred of wit and not even the beginning of a provocative sci-fi premise. It's just a poor excuse to have a lot of women remove their clothing before being brutally murdered. And there's no excuse for that.
(
1/2 out of four)
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