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  Average Rating for Species 4 - The Awakening [2007] - 4 out of 5

  
  (based on 1 user reviews)
• Species 4 - The Awakening [2007]

  Kashif Ahmed 13 June 2008

  

  
  In 1995, Australian director Roger Donaldson ('Cocktail') was hired by 'Warner' to helm some non-descript, B-style psychosexual sci-fi: A movie whose premise involved a team of diverse personalities trying to stop the violent reproductive cycle of escaped GM alien-in-the-body-of-a-supermodel; Sil (played to the hilt by an often nude Natasha Henstridge). 'Species' didn't have the most promising of storylines, and were it not gifted an exceptionally good cast, would've been synonymous with the words straight-to-DVD, or as it was back then; straight-to-video. And yet there's something about the presence of Michael Madsen as smirking bounty hunter Preston Lennox, Ben Kingsley's dodgy government scientist Xavier Finch, the inimitable Alfred Molina & pre 'CSI' Marg Hellenberger on board as medics, Muslim hat wearing Empath Dan Smithson played by none other than Forrest Whittaker and, of course, Natasha Henstridge's ultra aggressive, bathykolpian nymphomaniac Sil. Couple that with some decent SFX and H.R. Giger's genuinely menacing, cymboceplhalic creature, and you've got a movie that's far more entertaining than it has any right to be. 'Species' makes no bones about its trashy, comic book origins, but stands tits and tentacles above its increasingly inferior sequels, and should appeal to alien aficionados or those who grew up watching the likes of Ripley, Hicks and Vasquez battling reptilian, acid blooded monsters in outer space. 'Species II' begins with a welcome dose of 'Robocop'-esque corporate satire, though the humour is short lived, as director Peter Medak inexplicably abandons its predecessor's sequel set up and begins anew. Astronauts Mykelti Williamson (always a good choice) and Justin Lazard return to Earth as heroes of the first manned mission to Mars, unbeknown to them however, is that they've contracted the same strain of DNA that helped create Sil. Lazard soon turns into an insatiable alien fiend; leaving a litter of offspring and many a dead sexual partner in his wake, fortunately (or not, as the case may be), Natasha Henstridge is back: only this time she's Eve (subtlety isn't the film's greatest strength) cloned by those meddlesome scientists to help combat any extra terrestrial threats. Michael Madsen and Marg Hellenberger also reprise their roles, though Madsen appears to be doing prep work for his Mr Chapel character in classic, short lived TV series 'Vengeance Unlimited'. 'Species II' trades suspense for cheap thrills & gore; its reasonably well constructed by the once innovative British-Hungarian Medak, who some will remember also directed 'The Krays', 'Let Him Have It' and cult Gary Oldman noir 'Romeo Is Bleeding'. Natasha Henstridge, though she's no great shakes in the acting department, does well to put a slightly different spin on her original character, though by the time she's filmed running topless in super slo-mo, Natasha's career path clearly defines itself as a flat line riding headlong into an abyss of dead-end sleaze and sexploitation. It could've been an alien allegory for the creation of a new master race, with man as the architect of his own demise...but its not, though super cool stand-up / future 'Law & Order' star Richard Belzer makes a cameo, which was nice. 'Species III' (yep, its not over yet) sees the budget take a noticeable nose dive; as Eve; Natasha Henstridge being a good sport for even turning up in such a thankless cameo, gives birth before being promptly dispatched in a somewhat muddled and confusing manner. Now from what I could gather, Eve & Lazarus's numerous offspring from Part II are still out there, and I liked the idea of how these creatures are, in many ways, the new kind of vampire; designed in the stars and spawned on Earth (mini-series, anyone?). 'Species III' focuses on Eve's daughter Sara (Sunny Mabrey) rescued from the powers that be and taken in by a mad scientist, though its only a matter of time before things go bad, needless to say, the presence of a military death squad sent to kill her doesn't help matters much. A pretty poor effort by anyone's standards, though it may prove marginally divertive at 3:00 A.M. in the morning, but to paraphrase Grandpa Fred from 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch': people who watch TV at 3 A.M. aren't unnerved by monsters, vampires or aliens. Sunny Mabery does as much as can be expected with this role; one shot where they cut between her and the creature inside is particularly effective, whilst the presence of an actual monster (albeit a man in a suit) works better than the usual, ill fated attempts at low budget CGI. This is 'Species' meets 'Saved By The Bell' saddled with lazy, but thankfully limited, SFX, acting of a cue card soap opera standard and marred by an often incomprehensible storyline; loaded with gratuitous nudity employed to keep its audience awake. Good clean fun. Sleaze, sex and wanton acts of bare-breasted ultra violence? No, it's not an after-dinner soirée at the Conservative party conference, but yet another dose of our favourite fertile alien killing machine. Hollywood hacks take another bite out of the budget to ruthlessly roll out 'Species 4: The Awakening'. Completely ignoring the previous three movies, Part IV sees Swedish born starlet Helena Mattsson as Miranda; an attractive, well adjusted twenty-something whose life is thrown into disarray when her uncle (RADA's Ben Cross) lets on that she's actually an alien, and a parasitic sex mad alien at that; not the best of news. Still, Miranda takes it on the chin as the pair set off to find a cure in Mexico. And that's when it all goes tentacles up, for the buxom beauty turns brutal nympho and embarks upon a cross border rampage that can only end in carnage, and take place in the buff. I can now announce that 'Species V & VI' will be filmed in my mate's back garden with a no star cast of Eastern European labourers, some blonde American prostitutes and a sock puppet (operated by yours truly). And its with that exciting bit of news that I can tell you 'Species 4: The Awakening' is utter nonsense, though no better or worse than the sequels that came before it. Mattson is OK, and some of the action sequences are similar in direction to Alberto Sciamma's 'Killer Tongue'. 'Species' is your mother-movie here, its children, in spite of shared lineage, simply can't compare. Alien lite.
  

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Fourth installment of the successful &39;Species&39; franchise Waking up from a blackout surrounded by mutilated bodies college professor Miranda Hollander (Helena Mattsson) realises something is wrong Seeking an explanation from her uncle she learns the horrifying truth that she is in fact the result of a cloning of human and alien DNA Travelling to Mexico to confront the scientist responsible she soon becomes the target of a stream of ravenous mutants But with her biological clock ticking Miranda&39;s alien instincts are about to raise their ugly head resulting in a battle the type of which the earth has never seen

Fourth installment of the successful 'Species' franchise. Waking up from a blackout surrounded by mutilated bodies, college professor Miranda Hollander (Helena Mattsson) realises something is wrong. Seeking an explanation from her uncle, she learns the horrifying truth that she is in fact the result of a cloning of human and alien DNA. Travelling to Mexico to confront the scientist responsible, she soon becomes the target of a stream of ravenous mutants. But with her biological clock ticking, Miranda's alien instincts are about to raise their ugly head, resulting in a battle, the type of which, the earth has never seen.