Apparently, someone out there really wanted to see another entry in the Species franchise, surely one of the most poorly conceived series ever. But here we go: Miranda (Helen Mattsson) is a college professor (yeah, right) who suddenly experiences a mysterious blackout, during which she transforms into monster in a rubber suit and slaughters the hospital staff. Her uncle, Ben Cross (no doubt dreaming sadly of the days when he starred in the likes of Chariots of Fire), reveals to her that the is in fact an alien/human hybrid, and the two set off to Mexico to find an ex-colleague of Cross’ who might be able to help. This unsavory sort has been making even more hybrids, which leads, in a roundabout way, to all kinds of trouble.
I say “roundabout” because this flick has one of the most infuriatingly meandering plots I’ve encountered in a quite some time. If you’re going to be a DTV B-picture, the least you could do is get to the point and stick with it, seeing things out in 90 minutes or less. But Species: The Awakening plods along for 103, first appearing to go in one direction, then another, but never mounting anything that resembles a head of steam. The inherent misogyny of the concept hasn’t been improved on, either. Colour this effort dismal, dated, depressing and dull.
Audio
Right, so you’re boring me to tears with the plot. Will you at least give my ears something to be happy about. Ahh, probably not. There isn’t anything wrong with the track, in the sense of egregious flaws. But it is dull as dishwater. The music comes across just fine, but there are very few surround sound FX, and thus almost no effort to create an sense of environment. Feh.
Video
This is better, but not perfect, either. There are scenes with lovely, warm, rich colours, and the blacks are excellent. Other scenes have colours so drab they suck the energy right out of you, but this I blame on the film itself, not the transfer. The fact that the movie is generally a bit on the murky side, however, is blame that might be shared.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
Even assuming you’re a big fan of the series (in which case, my sympathies), you’d be hard-pressed to find much to enjoy here. The “Unrated” label doesn’t amount to much, and even the seekers after T&A (which was a pretty central to the first installment) will be disappointed by what’s on offer here. This isn’t much of an awakening. It’s a snore.
