john von neumann , progenitor of the computer age and critically important mathematician on the manhattan project , pointed out long ago that there is a great way to explore the cosmos , even without recourse to faster - than light travel .
you send out self - replicating robot ships which explore and radio back information .
it may take decades , centuries , or millennia , but it can be done with achievable technology , and does n't require a magical faster - than - light drive . in the fifties , british astronomer fred hoyle improved on this plan by suggesting that it would be better to radio plans for a complex computer and a program for it ; any civilization capable of receiving the transmission could build the computer , which would then engage in a real - time dialog with the aliens , exchanging information and technologies , and hopefully arranging to send back what it had learned .
about thirty - five years ago , the bbc contracted with astronomer / writer fred hoyle and writer frank elliot to create the scripts for a mini - series called a for andromeda .
afa concerned the reception of a hoyle transmission , the construction of a huge computer , the computer 's analysis of life on earth , and its creation of an apparently human intermediary to facilitate communication .
she was played with ethereally inhuman perfection by the then - unknown julie christie .
audience response was so strong that the bbc contracted for a sequel , andromeda breakthrough , which played to equally high ratings .
dennis feldman , whose previous credits include the golden child , has never been noted for coherent , well - structured movie scripts ; they start out great , and then disintegrate into a morass of chase and action , mitigated only by the presence of the obligatory beautiful girl .
feldman writes good scenes , but has no idea how to tell a story or write a movie , even with a previous version to use as a model .
now , in species , we have a mundane retread of the andromeda plotline , derailed by a preoccupation with removing the clothes from the leading lady and further ruined by a mediocre attempt to emulate several recent horror films in terms of splatter , gore , and chases .
species features ben kingsley , who is completely wasted in a badly - written portrayal of a feebly amoral scientist .
forest whitaker and alfred molina are also served poorly by the script .
the species story is relatively simple ; we have been radioing information about ourselves and our dna out into space since 1971 , and have been receiving answers for two years .
( note that , in the 1970 's , we really did n't know diddly about the human genome structure , and were hardly in a position to radio out a set of blueprints for human beings .
even today , all we can do is give information about dna and how it works , not a copy of human dna , because we do n't have it analyzed yet . )
the answers we get from the unknown alien source are plans for recreating a member of the alien race , and doctor xavier finch , played by ben kingsley , is placed in charge of the attempt .
the script begins to go off the deep end at this point , when the result is a beautiful young girl who can shape - shift into any of several ugly alien life forms .
the first half of the film has something to offer , as " sil , " the alien girl , struggles with her multi - form existence , changing from beauty to lizard to giant cockroach and back again , all while trying to understand her own place in the cosmos .
she seems oddly knowledgeable about human society , with glaring gaps where her social skills should be .
her instincts are to mate and procreate , and some of the best scenes deal with her attempts in this area .
escaping from her birth laboratory in utah , sil is pursued by a team of drafted civilians with orders to find her and kill her .
she goes on an eating binge , spins herself a cocoon , and emerges as an adult , played by natasha henstridge , who goes a long way toward re - creating the sheerly inhuman beauty julie christie achieved in 1960 .
the pursuers : michael madsen is an assassin / exterminator ; forrest whitaker is a convenient empath / psychic , just as though the u . s .
government actually had such people on call .
neither is able to do much with the writing and directing provided .
whitaker 's role seems to be aimed at making whitaker a male copy of star trek : the next generation 's " counselor cleavage .
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the other members of the strike team are played by marg helgenberger and alfred molina .
kingsley and whitaker are both consummate professionals , too good to not work to the best of their abilities ; but the performances donaldson elicited from the rest of the cast are disappointing and bland , and it is apparent that the direction was a bit weak .
h .
r .
giger 's design for the main form of the alien creature is actually a bit boring when we finally get to see it , although previous digital effects were done quite smoothly .
the main fault of species is lack of originality ; it starts out with a wonderful , albeit borrowed , premise , and then does n't live up to it .
all we get are chase scenes and a few nice sex scenes , with a few monsters tossed in .
there is no buildup of tension and suspense , no climax worthy of the name ; species is just a sequence of " scare " scenes stuck together .
the movie is carried by its chase and sex scenes , but not rescued by them .
on the other hand , as an exercise in sci - fi action/ adventure , it certainly beats the ichor out of judge dredd .
species earns an extra rating point or two for having ben kingsley and natasha henstridge on board , but by and large , it 's fun only for those of us who really like this sort of thing .
my personal rating is three stars , but knock one or two of those off if you do n't enjoy pretty unclothed ladies and bloodthirsty alien monsters .
mpaa classification :
r
( violence , gore , nudity , sex , language ) stars : ben kingsley , michael madsen , forest whitaker , alfred molina , marg helgenberger , natasha henstridge directed by : roger donaldson produced by : frank mancuso jr .
and dennis feldman typed by :
dennis feldman cinematography : andrzej bartkowiak music : christopher young run time : 108 minutes aspect ratio : 2 .
35 : 1 from mgm , opens 7 july 1995
Output: P