Species (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

"Species" gets sillier as it goes along. For instance, the team decides to grow another creature to learn more about the one that got away. But this experiment also goes ridiculously awry, with corny, contrived things happening like a TV camera breaking down at the last second and a lost bolt, for heavens' sake, endangering all their lives. At this point, the movie begins looking a lot like an old Flash Gordon serial. A squirrel and later a rat got the biggest responses from me, unintentional laughs.

I'm convinced the only reasons "Species" fared as well as it did at the box office and on video, plus engendered a sequel, are Ms. Henstridge's stunning body and her elaborately grotesque monster costume, both of which are on ample display. Beyond these two admittedly formidable and persuasive assets, the film offers little in the way of excitement, tension, or frights.

Video:
The picture quality is fairly unexceptional for a recent DVD release. The image size measures a ratio approximately 2.13:1 across my standard-screen HD television, with colors that are good, if slightly light in tone. There is also a very slight veil of grain over the proceedings and a few minor moiré-effect issues, but nothing to be concerned about. Darker areas of the screen are a touch murky, and overall definition is only fair.

Audio:
The audio is available in DTS 5.1 and in the format I listened to, Dolby Digital 5.1. The DD 5.1 audio appeared to me derived from a two-channel stereo mix, but I could not be certain. There is nothing about it that is either good or bad; it simply does its job. The front-channel spread is neither overly wide nor excessively narrow. The deep bass performs well in some scenes and then disappears in others. Dynamics can be sharp and clear and vibrant at times and almost nonexistent at other times. Ditto with the rear channels, which don't exactly light up the room with their presence, but when they are active, as in a car chase late in the movie, they perform well. Even the several helicopter flyovers vary in their amount of dynamics and surround information. So, while it's not a bad soundtrack, it's not a very consistent one, either.

Extras:
MGM's first edition of "Species" was a no-frills affair. This new edition takes basically the same audio-video transfer and adds a pair of audio commentaries to it. The first commentary is with director Roger Donaldson and actors Michael Madsen and Natasha Henstridge; and the second one is with director Donaldson, producer Frank Mancuso, Jr., visual-effects supervisor Richard Elund, and creature and special makeup-effects creator Steve Johnson. Beyond these commentaries, there still isn't much that's different. There's a five-minute Sneak Peek at "Species III," again starring Ms. Henstridge, basically a promo for the upcoming picture; there's a widescreen theatrical trailer for "Species"; and there are some trailers and ads for various other MGM products. Including only sixteen scene selections continues to strike me as more than a bit stingy. English, French, and Spanish remain as the spoken language choices, with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Shots:
In the promo for the upcoming "Species III," Ms. Henstridge says that they're making the third movie because people seem to enjoy them. Of course, she's right. The audience for horror films is made up mostly of males, and when you combine a good-looking monster with a beautiful, often naked woman, the target audience is going to sit up and take notice. That still doesn't make for a good film, though.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---