redrobin62-321-207311
I really don't like giving moves such low ratings. It makes me feel...dirty, after all, I am a scriptwriter and hope to get one of my movies made into a film someday. Still, the reason I gave Species IV at least a 4 was for the cinematography and makeup. Ben Cross was okay, as usual, just out of his element in this film. Otherwise, the movie was nothing more than H.R. Giger Meets Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. The flick started off well, too, before it turned into Caligula. Then, it was cliché after cliché, unnecessary nude scene after nude scene. I get it. Fanboys enjoy naked chicks in oil, but it does not for a good story make. Anyway, it is what it is. The Species franchise ended on a low point. That's okay, though. With the continued proliferation of recycling old horror films these days, a reboot can be foreseen.
kunovacnermin
I'm gonna touch on what the 4 movies were about. Minor spoiler warning.1. Species-World building. We are introduced to what it's about, who Sil is, how the Alien came to exist on Earth. Most people agree that this is the best movie in the franchise.2. Species II-Main theme is spreading the alien DNA, and creating a stronger version of it. Still great movie, good acting, good directing.3. Species III-Main theme is survival of the alien DNA. Change of actress who portrays the alien. While it is explained that Sara (the Alien) has no feelings and that is acted perfectly, she becomes a side character and rather boring in her own movie, until the third act. At this point, the movie is not a "horror" movie anymore, but it adds more to the depth of the world of Species.4. Species The Awakening-The main theme is survival, again, but this time not the survival of the alien DNA, but the human side of the alien. While characters are more fleshed out, and acting is not bad at all, the story is just so plain and boring, the alien costume looks much cheaper than the ones from the 3 previous movies, especially noticeable on the face, and the movie ignores a big part of how the aliens were introduced in the previous movies, more on that later.SPOILERS AHEAD: 10 minutes in you learn who the characters are, how they fit the Species universe, and what their goal is. Miranda (main alien) is sick, save it, go to Mexico.This is where the established principles about aliens changed. 1. In the first 3 movies, aliens killed mainly when threatened, or out of necessity. In this one, they kill out of boredom I guess, as the main 2 aliens kill multiple people just for the heck of it.2. In the first 3 movies, the aliens killed away from witnesses and tried to blend in. In this movie, both aliens not only kill for no reason, they kill and transform (showing off their alien eyes) in public. This was for me blasphemy and lowered the movie rating a lot.3. The first 3 movies had maybe 1 jump scare moment in each. This one has multiple, which do scare, but using a cheap trick.4. In the first 3 movies, all aliens had a strong urge to get pregnant. In this movie, it's kinda forcefully tacked in, just at the end of the movie and again, used very badly. Miranda gets pregnant, she is in pain from the baby, lying on a medical bed. 2 minutes later she is transformed fighting Azura with no pain, and the baby is never mentioned again.Now the inconsistency problem.The enemy alien, Azura, is boring and is introduced as inferior to the main alien Miranda, even called outright stupid in the movie, and given a super bad accent which sounds Russian, not Mexican. But then later on that is ignored and suddenly that stupid alien has the same ability as the main alien to absorb whole books of knowledge just by holding them for a few seconds. This ability was introduced in the 3rd movie, it's stupid and impossible to explain scientifically, and even then it was not used logically-there was potential that was never tapped into. So an alien can read books and memorize everything by holding the book, but they don't go to a library to hold all the books in one day and be capable of outsmarting any potential foe? She is inferior, but in alien form she has abilities that Miranda does not possess.Azura is sometimes good, sometimes bad. It's never explained why. She seems to be making her own decisions, and she is never seen being given orders.Azura neither got her accent from the man who bred her, nor from her environment, which would be the first two logical places to get an accent.The movie establishes rivalry between Azura and Miranda, but Azura helps save Miranda from certain death.Overall, it is good that this movie is not called Species IV as it was at one point, so it can be cut out as non-canon. Every movie had a different director and it is time to settle that and find someone who knows how to do it, or return one of the first 2.
GL84
Realizing that his bio-engineered daughter is turning into her fully-alien counterpart, a doctor takes her to Mexico for help in controlling the change, only instead unleashing a far more vicious side to her than he imagined.A lot more enjoyable than imagined, due mainly to the fact that the warring nature of her transformation is almost always present, resulting in the changes that force out more action and science fiction elements as well as the occasional jolt of horror with some bloody killings spread throughout that give off some good points every so often. Again with the added element of a lot of extra nudity, a far more ferocious pace and some minor bioengineering babble thrown into the mix, this one comes out far better than expected and actually has some fun, especially once the rebirth takes place and there's actually a confrontation between two alien mutations that is a lot of fun in a cheesy manner. Has a few minor issues to deal with, but surprisingly nothing too serious as this is a lot of fun.Rated R: Full Nudity, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and several Sex Scenes
Michael_Elliott
Species: The Awakening (2007) * 1/2 (out of 4) The fourth and so far final film in the SPECIES series has college professor Miranda Hollander (Helena Mattsson) going on a killing spree, which is something she doesn't understand. Her "uncle" (Ben Cross) takes her to Mexico where he informs her that he, along with another man, created her in a lab using DNA from an alien and this is why she's starting to act out. The uncle wants to save her life so he visits his old friend who has been creating all sorts of half-woman, half-alien creatures. SPECIES: THE AWAKENING is pretty much what you'd expect out of a direct-to-DVD release and that's a film with a few good moments but not enough to make it worth your while. As you'd expect, all you really need to make a SPECIES sequel is a good looking blonde willing to take her clothes off and the producers were able to find another one in Mattsson. As with the previous women, she too turns in a good performance as I found her quite convincing early on as the college lady but she's also very believable when she turns into the sex pot looking for a mate. As needed, she's certainly got a great looking body and knows how to use her sexuality. Cross is also pretty good in his role but the screenplay does him very little in terms of good writing. Dominic Keating plays the other scientist and is pretty good as well. The unrated version of this film features quite a bit of violent footage with a lot of deaths by the creatures tongue including one rather good shot of it going through a woman's skull and coming out of her eye. The actual CGI effect isn't all that believable but at least the money shot is worth watching. There's other bloody footage throughout the film as most of the deaths are rather gory and we even get another cocoon sequence where the beautiful lady gets to be born (nude of course). The biggest problem with the film is that the pacing is just so slow and we've seen this same story so many times that it's really hard to care about what's going on or how it's all going to end. There's also a cheap feel that hangs over the movie so this here is clearly for die hard fans only.
