Species II


Dir: Peter Medak
Star: Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, George Dzunda

Lifeforce meets The Thing, in this under-rated sequel to a film notable only for two things. And, yes, Henstridge is back, but as a good alien, and now being a serious actress, keeps her clothes on for, oh, 75 minutes or so. No matter: plenty of less serious actresses drop theirs, only to be tentacled by an alien-infected astronaut who Must Be Stopped. By Madsen, to be specific. The first hour or so is great -- sure, the last half an hour does tend to freewheel towards the obvious final confrontation, but by then you've seen enough gratuitous strippers, hookers, and shotgun-destroyed heads which grow back to fuel many a B-movie. That large chunks of it make no sense whatsoever is strangely irrelevant, and indeed it's somewhat laudable that things like plot are not allowed to get in the way of the copious exploitation. "This is not the fucking X Files", says military type Dzunda at one stage -- and, thankfully, he's right. Mulder + Scully never had so much tits 'n' gore. File under "unexpectedly pleasant surprises".

B+


Second helpings
See also... [Index] [Next] [Previous] [TC Home Page]