Species Review

When was the last time that you dreamt of making it out with a chick from across the seas? Well, this fantasy takes it a couple of steps further out. Right out of the planet. It seems that there's this alien-female out there 'hunting' for a mate, literally.

"Species" begins with the premise that the information contained in Human DNA is packageable in a few kilobytes, transmittable as a radio signal and "reprogrammable" by an alien civilization. The "reprogrammed" DNA sequence is injected into an egg, which develops into a 12-year-old girl (Michelle Williams) before the project director, Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley), decides to terminate the project.

However, the girl, codenamed SIL, endowed with superior strength, manages to escape from confinement and head out in a train to LA. After spending a brief period in a cocoon, she emerges all adult and sexy (Natasha Henstridge), having consumed the train conductor for breakfast. But underneath her good looks lies a predatory monster. Its only goal is to go through her life cycle without hindrance from humans. This, the screenwriters decided, would involve finding a mate by scouring all the bars in downtown LA to have a baby with.

Meanwhile Fitch has assembled a team consisting of a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, an empath and a hit man in order to track down this creature. Most of the movie then degenerates into them following the trail of blood left behind by the alien as it goes on a killing spree. Which, of course, is brought to an end with a fire-belching gun wielded by our hit-man hero.

Trust Hollywood to sneak in a little underlying romance, which keeps you distracted from the blotched storyline. Some of the visual effects are cool and the movie has its moments, at times actually scary. Unfortunately, the climax is stretched way out of its limits, and therefore disappoints.

But Kingsley, playing Fitch, has manages to astound you more with his metamorphoses, than the alien. Save yourself the effort and watch it at home, if you absolutely must. But try not to think of it as a horror flick, if you don't want to be too disappointed.