MovieChat Forums > Species (1995) Discussion > A pretty enjoyable B movie

A pretty enjoyable B movie


This is one of those movies that I very clearly remember being released back in the 90s but I never saw it. From time to time it would come back into my mind and I'd be like, "I really should get around to that movie one day." Well when I ran across it last night I knew it was time.

It's an enjoyable enough B-movie of the kind that they just don't really make anymore. It also features a pretty damn good cast with actors like Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Forrest Whittaker and Alfred Molina.

Apparently Natasha Henstridge was only 20 when she filmed this. That's fucking crazy. I would've guessed mid-to-late 20s.

My biggest complaint is that the ending is pretty shitty--generic, poor CGI and just overall lame. It's a serious blow to the film overall, frankly. Still though, I liked it for the most part and am glad to check it off the list.

I looked up some of the audience reviews on RT. This one is my favorite:

"One of the best movies of the 90s hands down. Anyone that doesn't like it is a hater, a tool and a douchebag."

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You're gay

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"Apparently Natasha Henstridge was only 20 when she filmed this. That's fucking crazy. I would've guessed mid-to-late 20s."

You're a poor judge of age. Mid 20s is a stretch for how she looked, let alone late 20s. Women have already started a rapid decline in their appearance by their late 20s. For example, these are pictures of her in 2004, a few months after she turned 30:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTMwNjM0OTY2MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODk4MDE2._V1_.jpg

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C63HDM/amanda-peet-and-natasha-henstridge-at-the-premiere-of-spanglish-los-C63HDM.jpg

Note that she already has prominent lines in her face, which is typical for a woman of that age. She very much looked 20 years old in Species, give or take a year or two.

I saw Species in the theater when it was new, and not knowing a thing about her, and never even having seen or heard of her at all prior to going to the movies that night, I could tell she was about my age (as it turns out, she's five months older me).

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LOL bro, chill with the ad hominem.

I have known plenty of girls who were 20-years-old and most looked like exactly that -- girls. I mean, 20 is so young that you're not even old enough to legally drink. Some looked older, sure, and when they did I noted that they looked old for their age.

In Species, Natasha appears as a full-grown woman and not a girl who would need a fake ID to get into a bar.

Anyway, do you have anything else to say about the movie?

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"LOL bro, chill with the ad hominem."

There's no "ad hominem" in my post.

"I have known plenty of girls who were 20-years-old and most looked like exactly that -- girls. I mean, 20 is so young that you're not even old enough to legally drink. Some looked older, sure, and when they did I noted that they looked old for their age."

What does the arbitrary legal drinking age in some parts of the world have to do with anything? 20 years old is about 7 years older than the age by which most females have already become a biological adult.

Any female who looks like a girl rather than a woman by the age of 20 looks young for her age, rather than Natasha and most other females who look like a woman by the age of 20 looking old for their age.

"In Species, Natasha appears as a full-grown woman and not a girl who would need a fake ID to get into a bar."

That's because nearly all, if not all, females are full-grown women by the time they are 20 years old. There are some rare cases of females who don't go through puberty until their mid or even late teens, but most of them have already gone through it (meaning they have reached their full height and have their secondary sex characteristics) by the time that they're about 13.

Also, not that an arbitrary legal drinking age matters, but she's Canadian, which means she wouldn't have needed a fake ID to get into a bar in her own country (or most other countries, for that matter). The drinking age there is 18 or 19, depending on the province or territory.

"Anyway, do you have anything else to say about the movie?"

Obviously not, at least not in this thread, else I already would have said it.

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Feel free to come back when you have something interesting to contribute.

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Your non sequitur is dismissed, and since you have no arguments, your tacit concession is noted.

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Well we obviously disagree and I'd say that "how young someone looks" is largely subjective. Clearly we have different ideas of how young Natasha appeared in this movie.

In any case, on the list of things I'd like to do tonight, arguing over something like this is very low on my list, which is why I asked if you had any other points to make about the film. As you don't, I am happy to move on to another conversation.

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"In any case, on the list of things I'd like to do tonight, arguing over something like this is very low on my list"

Then don't reply.

"which is why I asked if you had any other points to make about the film."

After you argued about it.

Your tacit concession remains noted.

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Oh, I get it now. This is, like, a troll job.

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Your non sequitur (which includes your laughable attempt to redefine the term "troll") is dismissed and your tacit concession remains noted.

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Have a good day, bro.

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B-Movie?
I have it as an A!

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Just on looks, I would say Natasha looks more like somewhere between 28 and 34 in the film. It seems like women in the 1990s and in decades earlier looked more mature at younger ages than the current generations of young women. Maybe it’s because the standards for cultural expectations were at younger ages at the time. For example, my parents were 23 years old when they got married, had full-time jobs, and had a baby (me) and were treated with the same level of maturity and independence as someone much older compared to 23 year olds of today and no one thought it was strange or detriment that they were only 23 when they got married and had their first child, even though that seems too young by modern standards.

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It's a great film, aside from a few iffy CGI moments.

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Yeah. The movie's pretty nice despite a few bad reviews (By opinion while) I personally don't think there was a need for sequels, the film in itself in distance from its successors actually is the topmost. Natasha Henstridge (who made her debut with this film) was actually 21 when it released. I only found it a pity that they killed Fitch off but I think that may have been with certain reason due to his careless thinking and little-to-no concern about others which makes him another villain apart from Sil. While he was killed off, I think it might have been good if he at least took some responsibility for his actions when they were tracking down Sil though to some extent that actually shows during the climax of the movie shortly before his death which along with that of Arden is avenged when Dr Baker and Dr Preston kill Sil while succesfully rescuing Smithson

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Still holds up!

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Saw it in 4k last night. It's a fun Friday night movie.

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