It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's a rare and notable feat when a film can do so much wrong... and yet still hold your interest and keep you entertained throughout. But so goes the story of "Species II," a weird little conundrum of a film from director Peter Medak. A sequel to the mildly entertaining 1995 original, "Species II" has always been a bit of a sore spot for both audiences and for its own cast. Heck, even lead star Michael Madsen once infamously referred to the film as a "crock of (you know what)" in an interview. Its storyline is contrived. Its handling of characters suspect at best. And its sense of pacing and resolution underwhelming to say the least.And yet... I kind of enjoy it. Yeah. I'll admit it.It's not even a case of being one of those delightful "so bad, it's good" kinda movies. It's just sort-of fun to watch despite its faults. It's a glorified Saturday morning cartoon for grown-ups, filled with gooey gore and plenty of bared breasts and bottoms, designed to appeal almost exclusively to our inner teenager. It's pure kitschy exploitation junk-food. It's bad... but it's what you'd call "fun bad."Three years after the escaped alien-human hybrid Sil was destroyed, astronaut Patrick Ross (Justin Lazard) returns from a mission to Mars a changed man... Little does the world know, however, that he's been infected with an alien toxin that begins to take over his body and transform him into a fiendish monster. Attempting to build an army of offspring, Ross begins to impregnate woman after woman with his deadly spawn. And it's up to some returning heroes (Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger), along with a clone of the original Sil called "Eve" (Natasha Henstridge) to stop his deadly scheme!Director Medak, best known for the swashbuckling comedy "Zorro, The Gay Blade" and the wonderful haunted-house picture "The Changeling", does a fairly admirable job here. It's a well-crafted film, with some top-notch design work and a fantastic sense of visual execution. Medak creates plenty of moody sequences and does well with the script he's working off of, with a strong sense of flow and composition. And of course, as was the case with the original, the creature effects and gory deaths are just as mind-blowing as ever, especially thanks to the contributions of H.R. Giger. Say what you want about the film, but the aliens are just awe-inspiring and absolutely gorgeous.And indeed, it's this execution, combined with the charming talents of the returning cast that manages to salvage the experience. Even if he hated the finished product, Madsen is great in his returning role as former mercenary Press Lennox. It's a fun character archetype, and Madsen plays the part to perfection. Helgenberger is given some more intrigue and adventure to work with here, and she improves on her already very solid turn from the original. And I thought Henstridge was even better here than she was in the first film. She's given some more emotion this time around and also a bit more overt action, which was nice to see.Unfortunately the new cast is pretty uniformly terrible. Lazard is a dull villain who fails to inspire dread much of the time, and his wooden performance feels forced and oft-uncomfortable. It's only towards the end when he goes all in that he becomes any sort-of credible threat. Mykelti Williamson, whose usually a pretty solid actor, unfortunately falls flat on his face as the shoehorned comic relief- a catchphrase-spewing African American who punctuates every other sentence with contrived slang. And even James Cromwell and Peter Boyle- two classy and classic actors whom play minor characters- don't do well at all with their respective roles. They seem confused and lost as they fumble over their lines.The film's structure and writing are the film's biggest downfall, though. Writer Chris Brancato's script is trite and silly, with a lot of head-scratching moments that don't add up, and weird sequences that seemingly contradict the prior film This isn't helped by the oddly nonsensical tone, which bounces back and forth between horror and comedy so often, you occasionally find yourself laughing at the scares and wincing at the jokes. I also took issue with the fact that this is a film where characters often behave stupidly just to contrive scares- including one unintentionally hilarious scene where a man actually touches infected blood with his bare hands for no reason whatsoever. And the pace is just nonsensical at times, with the film speeding up and slowing down at random intervals to the point it becomes distracting.And yet... I don't hate this movie. The returning cast is just too good, the visual direction is just too strong and the exploitative sex and violence is just too fun for me to wholly dismiss the finished film. It's bad. Oh, it's very bad. But it's the sort-of bad where you can sit back, pop open a beer, and have a good time watching the insanity before you unfold. Especially with some friends to riff alongside you while you crack fun at its silly moments. "Species II" earns a below average but watchable 4 out of 10 from me. It's one of those sequels that's objectively a total failure... but is still enjoyable despite its faults.

OK its not trash its where the first film had some sexy scenes this one is down right adult with a twist of red. Peter Medal is an accomplished director just see the Krays or David Copperfield and given what I'm certain was a tight budget an even tighter shooting schedule he makes the best of it, bringing back cast members was a good thing and to be honest the actor playing Patrick was perfect he has that all American guy good looks to match Natasha Henstridge. Putting the somewhat weak space fx aside this movie goes for the guts blood and gore shock value in a big way. They also try not to rehash to much but move on from the previous film. Yes it could use some improvement yet I still enjoyed it, get not one but two aliens ready for mating season the creature FX are good final encounter worth the wait. I got the box set for Christmas so having a marathon onto part 3.

This sequel was completely unneeded, because the first one was fine for what it was.The plot here is that the same alien DNA that was in the first movie (which again, was transmitted via radio signal) has been just laying around Mars, waiting for some hapless astronauts to bring it back to Earth.Meanwhile, the project that made the original SIL, awesome killing machine, decided to make another because, hey, that worked out so well the first time. Really.The most unpleasant part of this film is the copious monster rape. A lot more blood, a lot more gore, a lot more nudity, a lot less anything you care about.Michael Madsen and Marg Helenburger are back, but they aren't nearly as much fun as they were in the first film.Worth watching? Not really.

I just saw this, and I was amazed at how poor it is. Some scenes were OK, but overall it just did not hang together. When the fantasy genre has descended into this it is not a good sign. Basically these movies are just an excuse for showing sex and violence and other distressing scenes on-screen. For example, the attempted rape by Patrick was distressing to watch. There is no story anyway so why not just focus on the monsters and the effects but naturally in these movies there is a lot of stupid dialogue and superfluous scenes. If you are a fan of the series this entry is probably OK, but in the overall fantasy genre it does not rate very highly.