4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
cheesy as it gets, January 17, 2008
Alien Species is a really average movie with some of the cheesiest special effects I've ever seen. It's a science fiction movie about these aliens in spaceships that come to visit earth and destroy all humans and buildings. Well, the aliens must have been somewhat unorganized and confused, because more often than not, they'd strike empty dark barns and other deserted places, while the people right next to the homes or buildings were getting in their cars and driving away. Yes somehow, the aliens didn't see them and so the people got away. Strange!
Some of the other scenes were just cliches of other movies, such as the guy who awakens in the middle of the night, hears a strange noise out in his barn, and when he gets out there, an alien is waiting for him (who he mistakens for a little boy). Of course, you know what happens next.
What REALLY bothered me were the special scenes that showed the alien spaceships attacking the city. You'd see explosions when a hoard of spaceships got together to attack, but yet, the buildings weren't exploding or falling down. You'd just see orange explosions with nothing actually falling apart. CHEESY!
Oh, and did I mention the main character? He's a guy who gets out of a prison van to help two women and their father (or grandfather, whatever) escape from the crazy aliens. He has some of the worst lines ever. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore" is one of them. Man, that's just wrong. He actually acted very similar to Leon from the Resident Evil 2 video game, which came out just a couple years after this movies release. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not.
Overall, not really worth watching unless you REALLY need some alien-shooting fun in your life.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, just don't take it too seriously, October 17, 2010
A friend of mine whom I worked with about five years ago was the Director of Photography of "Alien Species", and had given me a copy of the movie. As producer of an independent movie myself (http://www.amazon.com/Muffin-Man-HD-Mike-Short/dp/B00065Y82U) I was very intrigued and wanted to see it, but for some reason the DVD ended up on a shelf and I never got around to watching it until this week.
This isn't the movie genre that I usually go out of my way for, but it was actually quite enjoyable. Sure, it's a low budget production of a story that's been re-hashed a thousand times (aliens come to earth and shoot up the place for no discernable reason), but technically it was very well done. The acting was fine, the dialog was passable, the special effects were actually quite good - especially considering the shoe-string budget that this movie was obviously made on. The biggest issue I had was that the overall plot just didn't really go anywhere.
If you're a connoisseur of alien invasion movies, then definitely check this one out.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
War Of The Worlds On A Shoestring..., August 22, 2006
Global supertars Charles Napier and Hoke Howell headline this tale of aliens in computer-generated ships gone mad! The amazing thing about this movie is it's scope (or lack thereof). We see snipets of cartoon ships blasting city-scapes, while 99.9% of the action takes place in a prison van, a sheriff's office, and a cave! Actually, this works fairly well, although it could have been about 20 minutes shorter without losing much "suspense". So, go ahead and watch, knowing that it could have been far worse...
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