| Product: |
Species II (DVD) |
| Date: |
03/09/01 (136 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Good quality anamorphic print, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, acceptable range of extras including full audio commentary.
Disadvantages: A rather poor film, poor picture quality on the Additional Scenes, rather perfunctory production notes in 8-page booklet.
After the original ‘Species’ film proved itself a qualified success with an unpretentious — and unambitious — formula of standard action tropes against a fairly generic and very recognisable present-day science fiction backdrop, it was inevitable that a sequel would occur. Whilst the original Species had made is very clichéd backdrop acceptable (and even marginally interesting) by a use of a varied cast of characters and a couple of nasty plot twists, ‘Species II’ proved to be a huge disaster, being panned by most critics and generally ignored by audiences and hence bringing to a comparatively early and very ignominious end what MGM were obviously hoping would be a popular and durable film franchise. Surprisingly enough, after all this, MGM seem to have decided to give the film a DVD release which, if not exactly spilling over with extras, is at least rather respectable and even decidedly better than their release of the original Species film.
THE FILM
During the first manned mission to Mars, astronaut Patrick Ross is infected with alien DNA. Upon his return to Earth he begins to impregnate human women at a quick rate, killing the women whilst producing from them children of extraterrestrial descent.
Meanwhile, Doctor Laura Baker, the biologist involved in hunting down the original Sil, has created a new half-alien, half-human cloned from Sil whom she has named Eve. When the authorities discover what has happened on the Mars mission, they team Baker with Press Lennox, also involved in the original Sil incident, and order the pair to track down and kill Patrick Ross before it is too late.
Eve, it transpires, has a telepathic contact with Ross, and Baker believes that this could be useful in tracking him down. But Eve is also strongly driven by her alien hormones and instincts, and if she and Ross were to mate the result would be a pure-strain alien which could prove to be unstoppable…
Now, as I pointed out recently when looking at the DVD release of the original Species, although in general I like films to make me think and to contain something original or at least some element handled in a novel manner, occasionally I can sit back and enjoy a film purely on the basis of it value as eye candy. The first Species was one such film, something whose very nature screamed “bog-standard” but which was interesting as a piece of pulp sci-fi anyway and which passed the time amicably enough.
Species II, however, is pushing it a bit. The entire film is, quite frankly, an excuse to see women getting shagged and then having their torsos ripped apart as the alien babies escape their wombs. The entire plot (if I can use such a word in this context without provoking sly sniggers at the back) seems to be something that someone sledgehammered together while half-asleep and half-p/ssed, the characters are absolutely paper-thin and, to cap it all off, for a film with so much sex and gore in, Species II was unbelievably unerotic and actually rather dull. Even the very obvious ploy of having Natasha Henstridge, whose physical charms were very probably the major reason for the previous film’s success, strapped down for the most of the film wearing virtually nothing and SWEATING a lot absolutely fails to work, and what we are left with is a film which I honestly believe could not be enjoyed whilst sober (actually, of course, watching whilst inebriated might be a rather good idea, especially if one already owns the DVD anyway and doesn’t want to see their investment go completely to waste).
In general, Species II can easily be shoved under the classification heading Turkey. Its major redeeming feature is that films DO exist which are a lot worse (‘Alien: Resurrection’ and ‘Hellraiser: Bloodlines’ being two examples which immediately spring to mind). But that may not be much help if you have an afternoon
to waste, only one DVD in the house left unwatched and no cans of lager to hand.
THE DISC
· Distributor: MGM DVD [D057036 Z1].
MGM DVD releases often very widely from each other in terms of quality. Surprisingly, after a very sparsely populated Species DVD, MGM seem to have [comparatively] pushed the boat out with this sequel disc, despite the obvious inferiority of the film around which it all hangs.
· Rating: 18.
An obvious rating choice, this. The film is essentially composed of sex, sex, sex followed by splatter, splatter, splatter. The fact that relatively little of this is actually well achieved would probably not mean that this film is suitable for viewing by minors, although in this case one can have the satisfaction of telling them that they’re not actually missing all that much.
· Region: 2 (PAL encoding).
Region 2 is intended for Europe (including the UK) and Japan, whilst PAL is a system used by the UK and Australia, among others. Essentially, this disc will play on any region 2, multi-region or region-free player which is compatible with PAL playback — if you bought your player in the UK there should be no worries whatsoever.
· Type and case: DVD5 with black Amaray keepcase.
DVD5s are the lowest capacity DVD disc of 12cm diameter, and feature a single data layer on one side of the disc which can store 4.37 gig of data approximately. The black Amaray keepcase seems to be the standard and, indeed, predominant DVD presentation format these days; included in the package is an 8-page booklet discussing the making of the film which focuses mainly on the film producers’ attempts to reinvent the saga for a new film, the special effects (including two paragraphs on the work of H.R. Giger) and the locations.
· Running time: feature 89 minutes approx.
The print contained herein is that of the theatrical release.
· Picture format: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen.
The film is here presented in its original theatrical exhibition ratio of 1.85:1 (why director Peter Mendak chose to use this aspect ratio after the first film had been presented in scope is anybody’s guess, but then again why the director chose to do half the stuff he ended up doing in the film as a whole is likewise), the anamorphic PAL transfer ensuring maximum screen resolution which will be best appreciated on a widescreen TV. The actual picture quality is excellent. No print scratches are present, and the colours are vibrant and convincingly reproduced, with excellent blacks and fleshtones and a suitable level of contrast. Basically, the visual quality of the film here could not have been done much better, and I would award it virtually full marks.
· Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 in English only.
The audio is the one aspect of the disc where the buyer is actually offered less than they were on the Species DVD release, since here there is no soundtrack in German or Spanish. The English 5.1 soundtrack, however, is still very well realised with the sound balance spot on. Another technical job well done by MGM DVD.
· Subtitles: English and English HOH.
Obviously this disc was intended purely for the UK since there is no facility for non-English speakers whatsoever. Both the standard and Hard of Hearing English subtitles are, however, rather well done, with a particularly nice touch being that the subtitle accompaniment to the opening audio narration is done in such a way that it does not overlap the actual onscreen credits — something I have often though rather poor when I have seen it on other releases.
· Extras: Audio Commentary featuring director Peter Mendak, Additional Unseen Footage, US Theatrical Trailer.
The audio commentary by director Peter Mendak is surprisingly interesting and Mendak speaks with what appears to be genuine enthusiasm for his subject. Early on, he states that he likes to do a commer
cial studio feature every five years or so and this, combined with the fact that Mendak sounds French, makes me think that he usually directs projects aimed considerably more at the arthouse than this brain-dead action flick. Talking about the reasons for choosing the actors who appear in the film, and about the gradual learning curve he faced when coming to terms with the computer effects and prosthetics used in the film, which he had not really encountered before, Mendak comes across as a knowledgeable yet unpretentious individual and provides us with 90 minutes of endearing entertainment. A shame he did not manage to accomplish the same with the film itself!
Four pieces of Additional Unseen Footage are included here: ‘The Debutantes’, featuring a version of the scene in which Ross has sex with two women at once which is only slightly extended when compared with that actually included in the film, ‘The Strip Club’, featuring imagery of a pole-dancer, ‘The Transvestite’, featuring Ross having picked up a woman from the strip club who turns out to be somewhat more than she seemed, and ‘Extended Tongue’, which is a longer version of the scene in which Ross extends a huge tongue down into Dr. Laura Baker’s throat in the laboratory after attempting to free Eve from the glass case. This footage is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, but it is anamorphically enhanced with black sidebars automatically inserted rather than stored on the disc as 4:3 standard full-frame. The quality is rather poor, and on my DVD player these scenes featured heavy pixellation, probably due to poor data compression which is understandable when the quality of the source material is taken into account. Time codes run along the bottom of the screen throughout, and so this is obviously not material remastered in any meaningful sense — it is, however, a welcome addition and more than one gets on many DVDs of average-to-poor horror film
s.
The Theatrical Trailer is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, is in very good condition and has a duration of slightly less than two minutes. This is the same trailer that was included as an ‘extra’ on the Species DVD, but here I actually regard it as a worthwhile addition to the disc rather than as a blatant advertisement and hence welcome its addition.
· Menus: the menus are attractively designed if a little on the basic side. Only the main menu is animated, whilst the others are static but designed according to the same theme and template.
CONCLUSION
Very often as a regular buyer of DVDs I am left very disappointed by poor DVD releases given to films which are easily deserving of better. In this case, however, what we have is almost an inverse situation, with a slightly above par DVD release, containing an excellent print with good quality sound and an acceptable range of extras, awarded to a film which is quite frankly not very good. Because of this, and even though the film itself would probably warrant a two-star rating at most, I would choose to congratulate MGM on a release well accomplished, and would stand by my decision to award four stars in this case. If anyone out there actually likes the film, then I would actually recommend this DVD as a good purchase to those individuals.
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