Species

1995

SF elements

alien-human hybrid predator

Review

We have received a reply to our transmissions to the stars, and it's instructions for a DNA sequence. Scientists inject this into a human egg cell, and watch what happens. What happens is Sil [Natasha Henstridge], a human-looking girl who grows extremely rapidly, then escapes when it is decided to 'terminate' the experiment. So an odd-ball team of biochemist, anthropologist, empath and assassin, under the leadership of the head scientist, go hunting her in LA, before she can procreate.

I liked the way the four, who had never met before, worked together as a team without the usual cliched egotism and doubting of each other's skills. But that was about all I liked. The (totally unbelievable) SFnal content was partly used to exhibit the occasional gross out H.R.Giger scenes (all ribs and teeth and slime, writhing about in black and white), but was mainly, as far as I could tell, used to give Sil lots of opportunities to get her kit off. Essentially Species is just a not very exciting chase movie.

Rating: 5

[ unmissable | worth watching | passes the time | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]