In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[EX Q]: note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
i was incredulous when i first heard that mgm was planning a sequel to their 1995 science - fiction flick species .
squandering an intriguing premise , the original film turned out to be a dreadful mess , widely disliked by both audiences and critics alike -- and nonetheless still somehow succeeded in becoming a financial success , raking in over $ 60 million domestic during the competitive summer season despite a distinct lack of star power in its cast ( ben kingsley 's a splendid actor , but
a marquee name he ai n't ) .
miraculously dodging the bullet with the first film , i doubted that they 'd dare tempt fate and go for another round .
so here comes species ii , with a new creative team ( director peter medak and screenwriter chris brancato step in for roger donaldson and dennis feldman , respectively ) that fails to improve the series one iota -- like its predecessor , species ii fails to capitalize on a potentially promising kernel and instead runs the gamut from ridiculously silly to unmitigatedly stupid .
the film follows the exploits of a young man , patrick ross ( justin lazard ) , whose sole focus is on cruising along the streets in order to pick up women , loitering in strip clubs , and generally trying to bed as many different ladies as he possibly can .
in other words , patrick is like a lot of guys ; these activities could describe the everyday routines of a huge percentage of men his age , but there 's a catch -- he 's an astronaut who recently returned from a seemingly successful mission to mars , and who 's now infected with alien dna .
patrick 's overriding compulsion : to mate and sire countless numbers of gooey little alien offspring .
and when he becomes aware of eve ( natasha henstridge ) , a half - human , half - alien clone of the monster from the first film being studied in a government lab , patrick 's primary focus turns to her -- " if these two were to mate , the resulting pure strain of offspring would be unstoppable " warns dr .
laura baker ( marg helgenberger , gamely reprising her role ) with admirable conviction .
species ii opens with the mars mission , and the space scenes are remarkably unconvincing and hokey - looking , even splicing back to dated , grainy footage of actual spacecraft activities -- they really skimped on production values this time around .
however , this all looks positively inspired when compared to the first appearance of the evil alien goo which ultimately infests patrick ; watching as it slinks around the command module of the spaceship , any question as to whether or not this is a cheesy b - movie is quickly answered .
mr .
brancato 's original screenplay is filled with outrageous lines which often leaves the audience in stitches .
like the first film ( and perhaps in homage to it ) , there 's a real penchant for dialogue which underlines the obvious .
last time around featured the hootworthy line uttered by forest whitaker 's psychic empath character upon entering a bloodsoaked room -- " something bad happened here .
"
this time , laura gets to stand over a fresh , shredded corpse with its entails ripped out and mutter " this is awful .
"
and she 's not even empathic !
and when a psychotically horny patrick accosts a supermarket shopper and drags her kicking and screaming behind the building in a woefully - paced suspense sequence , eve , who 's telepathically linked to her alien / human - hybrid counterpart
( whatever ) , helpfully tells our alien - hunting protagonists , " he 's going to rape her .
" while species ii is often unintentionally hilarious , at least it occasionally demonstrates a sense of humour of its own .
there 's an amusing , tongue - in - cheek bit of product placement ( which does n't really make much sense , but i appreciated the sentiment ) , as well as some supermarket - related hijinx ( " he 's in aisle 1 !
" informs eve ) .
if the film maintained this sort of light - hearted tone , it would have been much more charming and enjoyable to watch , but , to its detriment , it instead takes its silly plot far too seriously and barrels along to a bloody , effects - ladened anticlimactic conclusion .
much of the film fails to make a whole lot of sense , and there are such gaping plot holes that it 's terribly difficult to contain any suspension of disbelief .
the implausibilities are endless : what about the toxic bomb in eve 's brain ?
why are the guards armed with guns when they already know firearms are ineffectual ?
my favourite was the slow - motion sequence in the film where eve , sporting superhuman strength , is shown tossing aside guards who are attempting to contain her with what look like body blocks .
this is the sort of movie which leaves you holding your head in amazed disbelief , incredulous that it 's being foisted upon the public .
returning headlines michael madsen ( who reprises tough guy press lennox ) and ms .
helgenberger do what they can with this goofy screenplay ,
but there 's realistically only so much one can do with this script as a basis .
mykelti williamson ( portraying astronaut dennis gamble )
churns out an all - too - familiar spin on a generic brash - mouthed character , and fine character actors george dzundza ( playing colonel burgess and looking ridiculous in the process ) and james cromwell ( patrick 's neglectful father , senator ross ) are utterly wasted in the film .
mr .
lazard gives his character an appropriately shifty - eyed look , while returning vixen ms .
henstridge is actually given the opportunity to act in one scene ( and acquits herself nicely ) , but is mostly relegated to reprising her familiar role of parading about in skimpy clothing ( or none at all ) .
ms .
henstridge recently commented on how some female audiences have expressed appreciation for her character in the first entry of the species series , claiming that " she 's so empowered .
"
a lethal half - alien in heat who dispatches of her sexual partners in grotesque fashion
-- now * that 's
* what i call empowerment .
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: seen august 8 , 1998 at 6 p .
m .
at rotterdam square cinemas ( rotterdam , ny ) , theater # 6 , by myself for free using my sony / loews critic 's pass .
[ theater rating :
*
*
* : good seats , sound , and picture ] war is a topic that ca n't help but be glorified any way it is portrayed by the media .
movies , documentaries , and even history books have a way of making the darker side of humanity exciting since the most general aspects are focused on , such as strategy , politics , and victory .
it 's easy to forget war , in its most basic form , is a battle of armies out to slaughter each other .
forgotten more easily is the fact that each soldier , no matter what his rank or importance , is a real flesh - and - blood person and not just a number . " saving private ryan " is one of the few films that dares play up this aspect , especially in its unapologetic , realistic delivery .
it proves there 's a huge difference between battling and killing .
the film opens with one of the most graphic , disturbing scenes in recent memory .
it 's world war
ii , d - day to be exact , and the u . s .
military is invading omaha beach where the nazis are more than ready for them .
spielberg uses many techniques to create for a total sense of reality . instead of positioned cameras , the footage here seems to have been shot by camera operators running alongside soldiers as if they were just as scared .
there is no sense of stability , but of constant , anxious , and confusing motion , giving us the feeling of being in the middle of the battle , and just a vulnerable as the poor troops .
" poor " is a proper word to describe how pathetic and yet innocent the men fighting are .
there is little to no dialogue throughout the loud battle and no prologue to define any characters .
we do n't get the feeling these are handsome actors playing heroic roles , but that these are men about to kill and be killed for reasons beyond their understanding .
the nazis are not portrayed as enemies to be hated , but as people that must be destroyed because they 're there .
in the movies , the good guys can run through a firestorm of bullets and bombs and not get a scratch , but in reality that would n't happen .
the men have nothing to shield or protect them besides some metal flanks and dead bodies .
they are sitting ducks and we realize this through the perspective of the well - secured germans who can actually see who , what , and where they 're shooting , unlike the americans who must fire in a general direction to avoid getting their heads blown off .
perhaps the film is flawed by not providing any backstory on the war itself and who the men really are , but that seems to be part of the theme .
the film seems to rely on the audience 's sense of patriotism , that the american military is " right " and good and that the nazis are " inherently evil .
"
the battle scene eventually focuses on a group of men who have miraculously survived and made their way close to the enemy stronghold ( a whole 50-foot progression ) , and begin to inflict some damage .
i have to admit that once the first glimpse of victory over the nazis sprang up , i could n't help but feel some sense of joy and relief .
to triumph against all odds is a cliche to be sure , but there 's nothing cliche about the graphic , detailed , atmosphere here because it really happened .
one of the most surprising aspects of the film is how little story construction there is , and yet the events that take place make sense and are interesting
.
the plot is practically irrelevant since the film is more concerned with the reality of the war and the soldiers we meet .
tom hanks stars as captain miller , a relatively average man who happens to be the leader of a platoon .
he 's never obsessive or any such generic , cartoonish characteristic that might dominate a character like this .
he does n't want to be there any more than his men , but when he is given a mission he intends to carry it out .
the mission the film is concerned with is , as the title states , saving private ryan .
through a series of command started by an ordinary clerical worker , it is brought to a general 's attention that three brothers from iowa have been killed in action and their mother will receive notices of each 's death simultaneously .
when they learn a fourth brother is stationed somewhere in europe , they make it a top priority to have him returned safely to his mother .
it 's easy to sympathize with this situation , after all , no one should have to lose all their children at once .
but finding one man in this war is , as miller puts it , " like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles .
"
the saving of private ryan is n't just a dramatic device , but a thematic one .
his salvation represents the sense of innocence the country , the world even , was trying to convince itself it still had .
when miller 's company hears of the mission , they scoff at the idea assuming he is dead , but miller is n't so quick to shrug it off .
he knows the only thing that can really save soldiers from death is hope , and now he has the opportunity to make someone 's sense of hope a reality .
the mission to find ryan gives miller 's group a destination , but not direction .
along the way many things happen to them , both good and bad .
a few battles are fought , not to be major accomplishments for the war , but because they encounter german soldiers and have no other choice .
the act of killing itself becomes one of the film 's major philosophical metaphors .
the soldiers do n't mind killing other soldiers in blind battle , but when they come across a lone survivor who begs them to let him go , they can barely stop themselves from killing him in cold blood as some kind of vengeance for their losses .
unfortunately , death is a fact of war , and most films try to avoid it when it comes to the main characters , but here spielberg does n't want us to think these men are invincible .
in fact , only a small amount of color and personality is sketched into each man , and the performances are good enough to make this method work .
although the characters are somewhat typical , the actors maintain control over the material at all time . whether they 're arguing with each other , telling stories of back home , or fighting the germans ,
they never go overboard and always seem believable
.
sure , there 's a zinger here and there , but war does n't change the fact boys will be boys .
if and when one dies we too can feel the loss , even though we hardly knew them .
the final act brings the story full circle with another tremendous , violent battle sequence .
private ryan has been found , but facing four to one odds , can the americans defeat the germans and keep ryan alive ?
that 's not a premise for thrills , it 's symbolic of everything the film has worked for .
it would be wrong to say the film has either a happy or sad ending , it ends the way it must end .
i remember reading a " calvin & hobbes " comic strip where calvin asked his dad something like , " dad , how do armies of men killing each other solve problems ? "
" saving private ryan " is the adult version of that question .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: the " submarine " genre of movies seems to be one of the most intriguing and compelling types of storytelling there is .
think about it .
. .
these films are completely based in reality , yet only a handful of people have ever been on one , making them fascinating to the general public .
they are n't like movies that take place on a plane or a train , as anybody can get on one of those .
and they are n't like movies that happen in outer space either , because no one 's done any of that stuff yet .
when a new one comes out , you do n't hear anyone say " ugh , another submarine movie " like people tend to say " ugh , another boxing movie " .
look at modern movies that involve submarines : das boot , the abyss , the hunt for red october , crimson tide . . .
all are well regarded as top - notch entertainment .
gladly joining that bunch
is u-571 , which stars matthew mcconaughey as the executive officer of a u . s .
naval submarine during world war
ii .
we learn he has been denied a recommendation for his own command by his superior ( bill paxton ) .
mcconaughey 's crew then receives orders that they will be boarding a disabled german submarine to steal the enigma , a german communications encoding device that has stumped allied intelligence .
the mission goes horribly wrong however , and as a result , mcconaughey and only a handful of his crew ( as well as a captured german ) become trapped aboard the u-571 in enemy waters .
the first great thing about u-571 is the film 's opening sequence .
the german crew of u-571 are under attack , which sets the events of the rest of the film into motion .
it 's tense , exciting and fascinating .
and i applaud the filmmakers for not copping out and instead keeping the entire sequence in german with english subtitles .
most movies with a scene this long would have panicked and had the german crew speaking english right away .
once the plot gets moving , u-571 gives us action sequence after action sequence , making the audience wonder " ok , now how do they get out of this ? " .
the stakes keep raising ( much like in executive decision , an excellent action - thriller ) , and even though the audience knows how the film will end , it 's a lot of fun getting there .
i only have two minor complaints about the entire film .
the first comes from the scenes which follow the opening sequence .
while their purpose is to introduce us to the characters and to get the story going ( which they do ) , i feel as though it could have been done much quicker , and less conventionally .
i mean , did we really have to see the ship 's crew at a wedding ?
because of that , you now know exactly what 's going to happen to the groom !
my other gripe would be during the film 's finale .
there 's an explosion which ends the film that is one of the weakest looking cgi effects since the president 's plane crashed into the ocean at the end of air force one .
i can not stress this enough . . . until a cgi effect can be made to look like a model effect , stick with using models .
yes , u-571 is historically incorrect and there are surely some specifics in the plot that people who have been onboard a submarine will tell you " that could n't happen " , but the overall point of this film is entertainment .
it succeeds fantastically .
[ pg-13 ]
[EX A]:
P