Not a great film by any means (let's face it, how many great sci-fi films have there been?) but its not as bad as many have made it out to be. You can read a lot about current attitudes towards sexuality and gender nowadays by comparing commentary between the first and second films of this series. They are essentially the same film, with the first film having the advantage of overall better acting and, of course, being the first film. The second film actually has better effects, some of the same actors, but suffers from sequel-itis. Of course, its biggest drawback (in the minds of many) is that, unlike the first film, the alien/human predator is male. This means that he spends most of the film raping females, which reverses the situation in the first film. No one made much of a fuss about the sexual violence in the first film, because it was the Henstridge character committing it. But its there (check out Henstridge's attempted forcing sex upon the male in the pool and at the end for examples.) Anyway, if you liked the first and can put current hypocritical and politically driven sexual attitudes aside, you can enjoy this movie. Like I said, its not as good as the first, but its not that much different either.
Review of Species II
