Species II . Tucson Weekly . 04-27-98

Species II

DIRECTED BY: Peter Medak

REVIEWED: 04-27-98

According to this movie, we shouldn't send astronauts to Mars, because apparently they'll be infected with alien DNA, come home, have dimly-lit sex with lots of large-breasted women, impregnate them, and then produce alien offspring that burst forth from the poor women's stomachs with the force of a massive, right-wing conspiracy. Then there'll be more nudity and violence and more nudity and violence and more nudity and violence, until sensitive parents are forced to remove their youngsters from the theater (oddly, the parents who did this when I saw Species II did it during the sex, and not the violence). In fact, this film has more naked people bumping in bed together than most HBO After Dark movies. Plus, the dialogue is so abysmal that normally astute character actor Michael Madsen just grunts all his embarrassing lines at Marg Helgenberger, who just shouts all her lines back. The weirdest part is that this abomination was directed by Peter Medak, who made such critically acclaimed films as The Ruling Class, Romeo is Bleeding, The Krays and the extremely dark and intelligent A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. That one is about a couple who must care for their severely brain damaged daughter. They pretend to speak for her, make odd little jokes in her uncomprehending presence, and debate whether or not it would be better to kill her. Not exactly the normal precursor for a space-porno-horror flick that features alien sex fiends and the highly naked "acting" of supermodel Natasha Henstridge.

--DiGiovanna

Capsule Reviews
Species II
Species II
Species II

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