"Species II" is the kind of movie that makes you wonder what is going on out there in Hollywood. First, who are the people that create such trash? Second, who gave them the millions of dollars to put this trash on movie screens across America?
"Species II" is that rare creature: a movie with no redeeming qualities. The first "Species" was an entertaining gore-nudity-fest with some decent sci-fi thrown in. The concept: mankind finally makes contact and the message is a DNA strand. We mix the DNA code with human DNA and she turns out to be the ultimate alien weapon: Sil (surprise, surprise).
The actual surprise was that the first movie was entertaining. With Michael Madsen as the alien-hunting soldier-type and Ben Kingsley as her mad scientist creator, "Species" provided some thrills and chills while dishing up enough T&A to keep its (mostly male) audience interested.
"Species II" takes this winning formula and overdoes all the worse parts while ruining what made "Species" decent: good sci-fi and cool characters.
A brief "plot" summary: mankind heads for Mars and finds the same alien life there. Some of the astronauts are infected by the alien DNA in a tremendously comical scene involving the attack of an evil dirt sample. Upon their return to Earth, typical havoc ensues.
After a few deaths, the crack team from the original is reassembled -- minus the smarter actors who declined MGM's offer (missed most is Ben Kingsley) -- and once again must hunt an alien/human hybrid -- the wooden Justin Lazard -- out to breed mankind to death.
One twist is that the original alien has been cloned -- now called Eve. We are meant to be horrified by the possibility of the two hybrids mating because a pure alien would be produced, biology aside. Like the other attempts to strike fear in the audience, it produces a yawn. The real scare here is the possibility of a "Species III."
One of the serious weaknesses in "Species II" is the lack of urgency the actors bring to the project. First, the resources used against the menace are scant. Even the uninfected astronaut, Dennis Gamble (Mykelti Williamson) is pressed into service. Second, the characters approach their task as if its a joke. The nightmare scenario of the first movie, a male alien, has come true yet no one seems to think it's a big deal.
Madsen sleepwalks through his reprise of Preston Lennox, the government hired killer. Mykelti Williamson ("Heat", "Forrest Gump") is constantly demeaned by the script. He is depicted as a sex-obsessed black man. About half his lines include the word "booty."
Perhaps the most offensive moment comes when the team is gearing up for the final showdown. Williamson picks up a machete and proclaims he will be "going back to Africa on they ass!"
However, the racist character depictions come nowhere near to matching the offensiveness of the extreme gore in "Species II." It is possibly the bloodiest movie I have ever seen. Even the most die-hard gore-lover will be shocked by the level of graphic, unnecessary and generally idiotic violence.
We see approximately seven womb explosions, three exploded skulls, and two or three disembowelings. Past a certain point, the audience just wants to leave. Instead of the humorous "romantic" encounters of the first movie -- like Sil's famous French-kiss scene -- we have the astronaut picking up whores and raping innocent women, all of whom die horrible disgusting deaths.
Almost as off-putting as the useless gore is the inane script of "Species II." It has the mark of a document that has passed through many hands. Characters are not developed in the slightest. Explanations are never given for many aspects of the story. Hints are made in various directions, such as military conspiracy theories behind the infection of the astronauts.
Of course, idiotic lines abound. At one point the team is chasing the alien into a supermarket, following Eve's telepathic messages. Madsen urgently asks, "Where is he?!" Eve responds, "Aisle 1: Fruits and Vegetables!"
Most of the appeal of this movie can be summed up in two words: Natasha Henstridge. She is still as beautiful and cold as ever, reprising her alien/human hybrid character from the original, re-cloned for study.
But, she is given little screen time, and virtually all of it is spent in a glass cage in a supposedly maximum-security military base -- which anyone can break out of. There is little opportunity for her to recreate the heat of her performance in the original.
Also, male viewers will be extremely disappointed by Natasha's newfound modesty in this sequel. Still, all Natasha can really do is sit there and look beautiful. That is far from enough to sustain this unbelievable bomb.
