[Species 4:The Awakening]
Plot:Involves a young University professor named Miranda Hollander who's mortified when her uncle reveals to her she isn't human, but rather an alien hybrid created in a lab. When Miranda's alien side becomes too much to handle, her uncle spirits her away to Mexico, hoping his former partner Forbes McGuire can cure her. However..soon after curing Miranda, they discover that the cure is far more deadly than the disease.

Cast:Ben Cross, Dominic Keating, and Helena Mattsson.

My Thoughts:Same ole, same ole.

Review:After watching "Species 3" long ago, and most recently watching "Species 4"...I ask myself, why do they keep making these films? Usually when a series continues there's some effort to further the story or reveal something new, or add in something new. Well, that aspect of the series died after "Species 2" came and went. "Species 4:The Awakening" follows another young hottie who isn't quite fully aware yet of her "extraterrestrial" origins. As per usual with every new sequel in this series, she's watched over by someone who hasn't clued her in on that pasrt of her genetic makeup, and has kept it a secret for his entire life.

The guy in this case being her uncle. Everything's fine for the two, that is until Miranda (Helena Mattsson) goes all "alien" at the hospital and kills a couple-a-20 people. At that point, her uncle and her go on the run. And whereelse would a guy and his psychotic, and hot yet deadly alien niece go to escape the authorities other than...Mexico?! That's right, if you're looking for a vacation, or if you're a professional bank robber, or even if you're a half human half alien hybrid on the run for murder, Mexico is always the destination of choice.

To mask how ridiculous this film gets in it's early 20 minutes or so, writer Ben Ripley tries to add in some intelligence to the movie by making Mexico the current hideout of the one man who can allegedly cure Miranda, Forbes McGuire, played by Dominic Keating. Problem is Forbes doesn't really care about Tom's problems, and is much more interested in his new girltoy who is also half alien half human like Miranda. Only she's bad to the bone, unlike Miranda who despite her sometimes deadly nature, we're led to believe is a good-hearted woman.

It also doesn't help matters much when early on, after arriving in Mexico...Miranda's uncle continually runs into some of Forbes alien/human experiments who are for some reason hellbent on keeping him from reaching Forbes. About the only thing good this film has to offer up is the usual eye candy which we got in the first two movies with Natasha Hendstridge, and then in part three with Sunny Mabrey. You've gotta love how the producers of these films think they can just continuously churn out bad sequel after bad sequel, but use "hey, there's a hot alien babe in it"...as an excuse to keep making them, and as a selling point for the dvd and pay-per-view buys.

But seeing as how I'm not a total prick, I will give this film a slight bit of credit for the dark, seedy, and shady sceneries of Mexican nightlife that are present all over the place during the films second and third act. They gave the movie a decently eerie feel. Also there's an interesting turn of events at the end of the film which result in a pretty cool showdown between a few non-human characters. "Species 4" also does a modest job of upping the quality of the story from the third movie, which had a below lousy story. Although I'm not really sure I should give "Awakening" any credit for that because to be honest, raising the bar from part 3 to part 4 wouldn't really be an exactly "difficult" thing to do.

Part three was "that bad". But if you're a blood and gore fiend, "Species 4" won't whet your appetite the same way 1 and 2 did. Once again, this film forgets one of the key elements which made 1 pretty cool, and part 2 a decent viewing experience. It skimps on the blood and gore, and does alot of cut away stuff when it comes to any significant kills. 'Species 4:The Awakening" is a tired entry into an even more tired overall series. I pray this is the last movie because this series of films deserves to go out with atleast a shred of dignity.

Positives:A few eerie set pieces here and there, good looking women, decent final fight at the end.

Negatives:Poor script, lack of blood and gore, no real story arc or new wrinkles are tossed into the films overall design.

Overall:Only worth watching if you're a diehard fan of this series of films.





( Talk about it in the Forums!)



( Back to the main page)