Species
The pain and isolation of being superior on an evolutionary scale is something thatâs rarely explored properly in the sci-fi genre, but this 1995 release (when itâs not trying to rip off Ridley Scottâs Alien, complete with an H.R. Giger designed creature) does a fairly nice job of that, telling the story of Sil (Natasha Henstridge in her film debut) a being created from a genetic DNA code sent to us by extraterrestrial life forms, kept isolated during the formative period of her life in a plexiglass prison, and when the inevitable decision is made by the government higher-ups to terminate her, she uses her extraordinary strength to escape the government complex she was kept in and goes on the run, all the while a crack science team is brought together to hunt her down. Henstridge, despite her obvious lack of acting experience at the time, does a great job of getting the viewer to side with her throughout the film, as even though she kills people during the course of the story, itâs mostly seen as the character acting on feelings of being threatened and / or her own insecurity, bringing a charming naivetĂ© to the role that refuses the audience to neither hate her or fear her, as we would some otherworldly predator like Schwarzeneggerâs Terminator, plus the fact that she engages in some gratuitous nudity as her Sil feels a strong need to mate and reproduce makes her that much more appealing to at least the male viewers. The problem arises with the government team assembled to hunt her down, which includes Ben Kingsley being hammy (by his standards) as the scientist overseeing the project, Alfred Molina slightly less swarthy than we remember as an horny anthropologist, Michael Madsen bringing his stereotypical tough guy act to the fore as the trained government killer brought in, Marg Helgenberger as the molecular biologist who develops a schoolgirl crush on Madsen, and worse of all Forest Whitaker as an empath with a latent ability for CONSTANTLY stating the obvious (âSomething bad happened here.â). Good actors all, but thereâs little they can do with the corny dialogue and clichĂ© interactions they have amongst each other, from the forced romance between Madsen and Helgenberger, to the way Kingsley manfully tries to keep from going over the top with his characterâs almost constant shit fits. Unfortunately, this motley crew shares almost half of the screen time as their search continues, with the other half being Sil eluding them and continuing her quest of self discovery. Later, when it becomes obvious that she has developed a âthingâ for Madsen and stalks the gang at their hotel, one starts to hope that she succeeds at wiping them out (especially a clod like Molina), and escape to fight another day, but alas, the script then proceeds to turn her into Gigerâs reptilian design (and eliminate Henstridge herself from the equation) so that we can have one last stalk and kill sequence in the sewer system underneath the hotel. Overall, what we have is half of a very good science fiction movie, and the other half just being an annoying messâŠ
7/10