Whenever a movie franchise reaches it's fourth entry, it is commonly seen as a red flag. This is especially true for the horror or sci-fi genres. When looking at the history of Species, it becomes very apparent as to why this is the norm. The sleeper hit that was the first one was followed by a horrendous excuse for a movie in part 2 and a ho hum, boring part 3. I am happy to report that "The Awakening" is easily the best sequel of the three.
The movie takes a completely different direction than it's predecessors while still focusing on the alien DNA message received from space. We first learn that college professor Miranda Hollander, while appearing to be a very beautiful woman, is in fact a hybrid that was created by her "uncle" Tom and his former student Forbes. Miranda had lived a normal human life until she is found one morning lying naked in the woods. She is taken to a hospital, where she soon transforms and slaughters the staff. Tom finds her unconscious and rushes her to Mexico to find Forbes, who may be able to cure her illness. They find Forbes in a small town and discover that he has been creating more hybrids that, like Miranda, appear completely normal (and are also sterile). Forbes, along with his alien play-toy Azura, inform Tom that Miranda is at the end of her life cycle and will die without a stem cell transfusion. Tom initially balks at the idea, as it will kill the cell "donor" but finally agrees when Miranda's condition worsens. The procedure appears to work, until Miranda awakens as a more sultry, vulgar version of herself. The procedure also undid her sterility and she begins looking for a mate. Tom knows he must stop her, but is torn due to feeling that she is almost his daughter. She succeeds in mating with Forbes, killing him after. But Tom again finds her unconscious shortly after, with the the baby already kicking inside her. Tom takes her back to the lab to discover that her human side is dying as the baby grows. Azura returns with the intent to kill Tom, only to end up fighting Miranda in alien form. She stabs Miranda twice through the stomach, killing her and the baby but Tom is able to kill Azura with a hydrochloric acid-laced shotgun shell. Tom watches Miranda pass away before turning on all the gas in the building and lighting a fire. He walks out as the entire building erupts into flames.
While this is in no way a masterpiece, the movie has the most feeling of any of the four. You actually feel for Miranda as she slowly wilts away before she is reborn as a sexy vixen. Helena Mattsson does a mighty fine job in the role and brings a dimension to one of the alien creatures that was only glimpsed when Michelle Willaims played the young Sil in the first film. Ben Cross's Tom, on the other hand, is always teetering between being a bit too over the top and too distraught. Some of his scenes make you want to laugh at the cheese but he is serviceable. Forbes, played by Dominic Keating, is your atypical movie asshole scientist that doesn't care about the mess he makes, as long as he comes out on top. And Marlena Favela as Azura is .... well... she's very hot. That's about it. Her few lines were often delivered very over the top, which can be entertaining. But as a hot alien chick, she works.
Some people have complained that a Species movie without Natasha Henstridge is just not right. However, this movie is easily better than the two previous installments. I would even go so far to say that it's in the same realm as the original, which is no small feat for a made-for-DVD sequel. And fortunately, they did not leave us with some stupid cliffhanger to set up a sequel. It was an open and shut case, which is probably what the first one should have been 12 years ago but I digress. While the budget for this movie was a fraction of 1 & 2, the settings are all very nice and the effects are pretty solid. The new look alien is quite welcome after the monstrosity that was Sarah's alien form in 3.
All in all, one of the better direct-to-DVD movies I've ever seen. It breathed some air into a way past dead franchise and even though it didn't bring it back from the dead, it was a great entry to the Speices mythos. 6/10
The movie takes a completely different direction than it's predecessors while still focusing on the alien DNA message received from space. We first learn that college professor Miranda Hollander, while appearing to be a very beautiful woman, is in fact a hybrid that was created by her "uncle" Tom and his former student Forbes. Miranda had lived a normal human life until she is found one morning lying naked in the woods. She is taken to a hospital, where she soon transforms and slaughters the staff. Tom finds her unconscious and rushes her to Mexico to find Forbes, who may be able to cure her illness. They find Forbes in a small town and discover that he has been creating more hybrids that, like Miranda, appear completely normal (and are also sterile). Forbes, along with his alien play-toy Azura, inform Tom that Miranda is at the end of her life cycle and will die without a stem cell transfusion. Tom initially balks at the idea, as it will kill the cell "donor" but finally agrees when Miranda's condition worsens. The procedure appears to work, until Miranda awakens as a more sultry, vulgar version of herself. The procedure also undid her sterility and she begins looking for a mate. Tom knows he must stop her, but is torn due to feeling that she is almost his daughter. She succeeds in mating with Forbes, killing him after. But Tom again finds her unconscious shortly after, with the the baby already kicking inside her. Tom takes her back to the lab to discover that her human side is dying as the baby grows. Azura returns with the intent to kill Tom, only to end up fighting Miranda in alien form. She stabs Miranda twice through the stomach, killing her and the baby but Tom is able to kill Azura with a hydrochloric acid-laced shotgun shell. Tom watches Miranda pass away before turning on all the gas in the building and lighting a fire. He walks out as the entire building erupts into flames.
While this is in no way a masterpiece, the movie has the most feeling of any of the four. You actually feel for Miranda as she slowly wilts away before she is reborn as a sexy vixen. Helena Mattsson does a mighty fine job in the role and brings a dimension to one of the alien creatures that was only glimpsed when Michelle Willaims played the young Sil in the first film. Ben Cross's Tom, on the other hand, is always teetering between being a bit too over the top and too distraught. Some of his scenes make you want to laugh at the cheese but he is serviceable. Forbes, played by Dominic Keating, is your atypical movie asshole scientist that doesn't care about the mess he makes, as long as he comes out on top. And Marlena Favela as Azura is .... well... she's very hot. That's about it. Her few lines were often delivered very over the top, which can be entertaining. But as a hot alien chick, she works.
Some people have complained that a Species movie without Natasha Henstridge is just not right. However, this movie is easily better than the two previous installments. I would even go so far to say that it's in the same realm as the original, which is no small feat for a made-for-DVD sequel. And fortunately, they did not leave us with some stupid cliffhanger to set up a sequel. It was an open and shut case, which is probably what the first one should have been 12 years ago but I digress. While the budget for this movie was a fraction of 1 & 2, the settings are all very nice and the effects are pretty solid. The new look alien is quite welcome after the monstrosity that was Sarah's alien form in 3.
All in all, one of the better direct-to-DVD movies I've ever seen. It breathed some air into a way past dead franchise and even though it didn't bring it back from the dead, it was a great entry to the Speices mythos. 6/10