Species IV - The Awakening (Unrated)

Species IV---The Awakening ( * 1/2)
SPECIES IV is undoubtedly the weakest of the four movies in the SPECIES canon, an unrated direct-to-video release that, like all one-a-half-star movies is both very good and very bad at the same time.

The lovely, luminescent and incredibly blonde Helena Mattsson plays Miranda, the half-human, half-alien creature. Ms. Mattson is far more reminiscent of Nicole Kidman than Natasha Henstridge from the original SPECIES. Her acting is fine, but not arrestingly good.

SPECIES 4 falls down simply because it's essentially a retread.

Miranda, a gifted college professor, is under the watchful eye of her Uncle Tom (Ben Cross), in reality the genetic scientist who created her from a mix of female creature DNA and human female DNA. He has never told her who and what she is. Miranda falls ill. Her illness causes her feral aspects to become dominant. Uncle Tom tries desperately to cure her, resorting to some very questionable tactics to do so. The ethical Miranda is...

Good acting...Script needed work...
The actors were good in this film. I agree with the other reviewer about the 'rest stop" scene being awkward, but even more awkward was the scene where she tries to get her uncle to breed with her. THAT should have been omitted. However, the actors DID save that scene with some dignity in tact, since the producer(s) left it in. It did stick true to the ideal that Tom loved Miranda like a daughter and couldn't conceive of such an act, so she left to find someone else. I liked the plot and such--just not that particular scene. The rest stop scene was awkward, but if the other scene had gone totally left, it would have ruined the entire movie. At least Helena Mattson was not miscast and she did a great job, and so did Ben Cross.

Terrible in every way
While new star Helena Mattsson will most likely take your breath away, there is absolutely nothing else in "Species: The Awakening" to keep your interest for more than five minutes. As a big fan of the original Species and to a lesser degree its first sequel, it's painful to watch these straight to video sequels turn the series in to straight up sci-fi cheese. Every trace of intelligence the series once had has been flushed away with the past two "films". "Species: The Awakening" is simply a boring, poorly acted, poorly scripted piece of garbage with terrible "rubber suit" special effects and laughably bad dialog. Even beautiful women like the aforementioned Helena Mattson can no longer save this series from imploding on itself. Sil would be turning over in her grave.....

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