Review of Species (1995) by Carole B — 07 Mar 2010

"No one ever asked me to find anything they didn't want dead.".

Reminiscent of Alien and Predator, Species is a movie about an alien race infiltrating Earth in an attempt to take over the humans which live there. Unlike the two other science fiction series, however, Species is a whole new ballgame in a sense that it is an alien-human hybrid that threatens the survival of humans. Ironically, it is the humans who create this hybrid, led by a scientist, Fitch, who assumed that because they were able to get an alternative supply of energy from the mysterious alien source, that alien species is friendly towards humans.

How very wrong he was.

The DNA strand produced a perfect creature: a beautiful human whose growth spurt was insanely faster than that of a normal human, but who had immense strength and sharp senses. But they say that looks are only skin deep, and in Sil's case (they named the alien-human hybrid Sil) what lies beneath the surface of her skin is very deadly. Being blessed with an alien persona, Sil (Natasha Henstridge) has this natural instinct to kill anyone who threatens her, including an innocent ticket woman who came upon her cocoon while she was still in the chrysalis stage. She also has an estrogen gland which makes her hungry for mating, and she does all she can to mate with a human male. It's funny to see how an alien who looks like Sigourney Weaver's nemesis run after a man while barely repressing her eagerness to have a "banging" good time.

In the end, she ends up with Alfred Molina, and she finally gets pregnant. I guess the movie is more comical than serious, but I have to admire the way Henstridge effectively portrays Sil as being a cold, emotionless male PREDATOR, while repressing the ALIEN within. Hmmm. I guess they couldn't really take out the two series from this move, eh? :)))) Big names, yes, and they certainly liven up what would have been an otherwise draggy movie. Nah, keedin. :DDD.