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Species (1995)
23 Plays8 days ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris get seduced by 1995's Species, which came out 30 years ago this week.
When SETI receives a transmission from an alien race with instructions for how to create a human/alien hybrid, an experiment is conducted that creates "Sil" (Natasha Henstridge), who escapes the lab she's contained in and disappears into Los Angeles. The head of the experiment, Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley), assembles a team to hunt her down and destroy her before she can mate and start spreading more alien lifeforms. Zach and Chris discuss the ridiculously talented cast, the great practical effects and terrible CGI, how easily Sil navigates LA since she looks like a supermodel, Forest Whitaker's "empath" abilities, and more.
You can watch Species on Tubi, MGM+, and Philo. Next week, we head back to Southport for I Know What You Did Last Summer, as the legacy sequel hits theaters.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
Please subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. You can also find the podcast on YouTube.
Check us out on Twitter (@evaction), Facebook (www.facebook.com/everything.action), and Instagram (@everything.action).
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Greetings
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, podcast week of July 2025. I'm your host, Zach. And I'm your co-host, Chris.
Looking Back at 'Species'
00:00:28
Speaker
And this week we are getting seduced by Species, which came out 30 years ago was this week um in July 1995.
00:00:37
Speaker
And also, it's also ah unexpectedly a Michael Madsen tribute episode because he passed away since last episode. Sadly. Yes. Unexpectedly, sadly, that was like a big shock right before 4th of July.
00:00:53
Speaker
But i think this is definitely definitely one of his best movies.
Michael Madsen Tribute
00:00:56
Speaker
Or one of his most fun movies. Yeah, a lot of people remember him for the tough guy, bad guy roles and stuff. But I always love his good guy roles where he he plays like almost like a very similar character type.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, like he's yeah she's too he's too cool. He's a too cool hero. like i I'm surprised he doesn't wear sunglasses more in this movie. like cause I think he shows up in sunglasses, but I feel like this is like his character should be constantly wearing sunglasses.
00:01:27
Speaker
It's like, hey, I'm a bounty hunter. or like ah kind He's like a black ah black ops mercenary guy. and think in the sequel, he's more sunglassed up.
00:01:38
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I think yeah if you if you come if you've seen both of them, it's like you combine both of those images. Yeah. I think he said he'd like he really like like loved this movie because like he like you got to be like a hero, but then he hated the second one because the script was worse and it it was just a paycheck, basically.
00:01:56
Speaker
oh yeah. The second movie is just like a retread, but there's like all these other things that you lose the like tension from the first movie. Mm-hmm.
'Species' Cast and Characters
00:02:08
Speaker
And yeah, i think I think the first, the big thing to kick off, is kick off Species with is just the cast of this movie, you know we just just mentioned Michael Madison, but like, this cast is insane for like, what feels like could have been like a Skinamax, like schlocky, like, like, you know, cape, like,
00:02:28
Speaker
softcore movie, but then like it's got like Ben Kingsley, it's got Alfred Molina, it's got Forrest Whitaker, it's got Marge Helzenberger, it's got young Michelle Williams, and then um obviously the debut of Natasha Henstridge.
00:02:48
Speaker
It is weird that like, is Michelle Williams also like her debut movie? It's gotta, I mean, if it isn't, it's gotta be like super, super early, cause she's she's like Yo, like, I think... Twelve? Twelve versus... Yeah.
00:03:04
Speaker
But yo, if you future you multiple Oscar winner... Yeah, this movie has, like, a stacked cast for, like, an alien erotic thriller. Yes. there's There's way more Oscar um winners and nominees than you would expect in this, like, movie where they have to hunt down a sexy alien.
90s Alien Film Tropes
00:03:21
Speaker
Yeah. A sexy newborn alien. sir Well, maybe like a sexy year, like a year old alien or something like that. Like a lot of this movie takes place in the spam of like a weekend, but like the alien itself is very like new.
00:03:43
Speaker
You know, this movie hit is a crazy pacing because you think it's something that, like, based on the cover, it's like an alien crash lands or, like, there's some sort of, like...
00:03:54
Speaker
secret subspecies of humans, but it's like, not. It comes strong with like, hey, we're gonna drop you in this moment and you figure it out. it is It is, like, if you if you didn't know what the premise was, the opening, they don't explain anything until, like, I don't know, 20-30 minutes into the movie when they assemble the team. okay Well, before that, they establish how we're just communicating with space. Like, that's just a real fact.
00:04:18
Speaker
And they show you the GoldenEye satellite? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, hey, SETTA, we just beam community beam communications into space hoping someone hears back for, like, any kind of life form.
00:04:31
Speaker
I feel like there was a big, like, 90s push for SETI. Like, SETI was in, like, so many movies in the 90s.
00:04:38
Speaker
Oh, like and you yeah. Like, you had like Contact, had Independence Day, you had, like, that Charlie Sheen movie, with The Arrival, you had... um yeah you said GoldenEye was in Aliens, but it still features that satellite.
00:04:50
Speaker
But, yeah, so many, like... 90s movies about aliens, it's... oh It always, like, SETI like so kicks usually kicks off whenever it's happening, because they make contact with the aliens through the satellite.
00:05:03
Speaker
And the aliens are just always like, what's up? You called us? We'll kill you. Whatever. It's it's usually bad, yeah. Yeah. They never just like, hey, we're friends.
Plot and Themes of 'Species'
00:05:15
Speaker
Usually, whoever we we we say, hey, we're humans, we're here, they just go, oh, cool, stay right there. We'll be we'll be down. I do love that the the messages we got from these aliens was we got a formula to make like unlimited energy. We got some sort of like hydrogen-based energy or like some sort of like energy source that we could like use to make unlimited fuel.
00:05:39
Speaker
And instructions to fuse our DNA with alien DNA. i love that Ben Kingsley is just like, well... going to do that. Who cares about that fuel thing? We're going to alien human like an alien human hybrid.
00:05:55
Speaker
Well, where did they get that alien cell from?
00:06:00
Speaker
i don't i don't say I don't know if they used an alien cell. I think they used a human like you egg or something. No, a human egg is fine, but they had to impregnate the egg with something. I was like, where was that something?
00:06:17
Speaker
they They got like us they got they got an alien they got a sequence for DNA, like to like make alien DNA is what they get like they got from like the aliens. Oh, like someone... i thought they found, like something came to Earth and it was like a bacteria.
00:06:36
Speaker
No. This was like a, this was like aliens, the aliens sent us two messages. Like someone, yeah, they sent us Morse code for basically, or like a wire on the like, like signal back.
00:06:49
Speaker
And then it's just like, hey, print this like DNA sequence, like whatever order, and then you'll make a cell. And then, well, technically they made a sperm and then they said, put this in a human egg and then
00:07:04
Speaker
For some reason, kind of forgot that because it's like Jurassic Park dino DNA-ing where it's like, we took this, and it's like, where'd you get that from? At least in that movie, they explain the blood from mosquitoes.
00:07:17
Speaker
But in this movie, it's like they did a primitive 3D printing of that whatever signal, and somehow they're able to decrypt it into material we have on Earth. like For all we know, that alien cell is made out of like 1994 Burger King wrappers and like oh like byproduct of like fluoride and stuff. So it's like, what?
00:07:43
Speaker
And I think they mentioned like they they had a they've made a bunch of them. bunch of them died and and only like three were viable and they put two in cold storage and they grew the one into sill. Which, crazy name.
00:07:55
Speaker
Syl's not, like, a common name. So them to just make it and be like, let's give her an alien name. Syl. Well, I think it's, it's it's like, S1L. is like and if that's like I think it's, like, the, like, you know, experiment designation or, like, the, like, tube she's in or something.
00:08:12
Speaker
Ah, I see. So it's not is that they didn't actually call her Syl. That was, like, the name because she was in, like, you know, tube S1L.
00:08:22
Speaker
That makes sense, then. But I just, yeah I just, I just love the fact that they, they just completely ignore the opportunity to, like, give Earth unlimited energy. it's and it's never mentioned again.
00:08:35
Speaker
but he's just like, they give us unlimited energy, who cares?
00:08:40
Speaker
i mean, so, like, the alien, did the alien, it's weird, because, like, It made it seem like the aliens, whoever sent back, they were trying to help humanity. Yeah. like Well, this is how you power your planet so you're not burning fossil fuels.
00:08:55
Speaker
And then here's some cool DNA that, like, maybe it helps your species. But again, that means either the cooks who made this cell messed up or the aliens love a good prank.
00:09:10
Speaker
what's what this but ever like The kind of speculates about that for the rest of the movie, like where they're like, maybe, was this a trick? Was like the fuel a trick? And then they wanted us to do the alien hybrid to like kill us all and take over our planet?
00:09:24
Speaker
Because that's cause it's the whole reason they need to stop Syl, is because if she breeds and, like, and I think it they say especially if she makes, like, a ah male offspring, that male offspring just, like, start, like, you know, impregnating women and, like,
00:09:39
Speaker
creating a new like race of alien-human hybrids that would take over the Earth. I mean, hence for the sequel. yeah and but Yeah. So they got to stop her before the aliens take over.
00:10:00
Speaker
And then, but then they also they also grow that, like, pure pure alien... Because, like, Syl is human-alien hybrid. they They grow that one that's just, like, pure alien.
00:10:11
Speaker
And it's just, like, a horrible, like, tentacle monster.
00:10:17
Speaker
When, like, Michael Madsen and Marge Heligubhry are, like, trapped in the room and Bexley is gonna, like, fry them. Yeah, yeah. that That was interesting that they still had some DNA samples left and, like...
00:10:32
Speaker
it didn't become like a girl like it just I guess that's just like oh it can become a human or it becomes a slug monster yeah the what that that this that that was like pure that was just an alien DNA no human DNA and that's what it turns into it's like just a giant blob of tentacles and teeth
00:10:54
Speaker
and then but yeah Ben Kingsley is like willing to just like burn burn the entire room with them inside of it
00:11:01
Speaker
I get it. I get it. Yeah, I mean, you've seen, like, ah you know, Outbreak. You gotta to yeah contain the Outbreak, I guess. It's a 90s thing. It's like, also, they didn't give him a heads up of what could happen.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yep. Which is a dick move. Ben Kingsley is a pretty big asshole in this movie. Like, he's just, like, not telling him anything. Like, sending him, like, just totally just, like, sending him in, like, no remorse for killing, like, for, like,
00:11:32
Speaker
It's just like, kill her! Kill her get this experiment done!
00:11:38
Speaker
You're all expendable! Yeah, he does say something like that. And it's like, oh! But he like freezes, so maybe there's a moment of hesitation where it's like, oh no, this may not be a good idea.
00:11:50
Speaker
Well, he kind of like sheds a tear the beginning when they're like they're gassing like young Sil with cyanide. He sheds a single tear.
00:12:01
Speaker
But then she's that she breaks out, he's like, alright, well, she broke out now, we have to kill her.
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah, once once it's that's over, it's like, back to business.
00:12:15
Speaker
And that's this really only humane part, and it happens so early in the movie that you think he's gonna be more humane or something, but nope. You figure one of the other, like, suit guys, who isn't dressed in 90s fashion,
00:12:28
Speaker
would be more like burn everything like we have a timeline yeah yeah this was more of a modern day military movie there was someone talking about profits or something oh yeah like banking seems like this would be like a corporation that like was like creating sales it's like we're gonna or like uh yeah it's either a military experiment or like a corporate experiment that like that they're gonna like use it's like fun like pharmaceuticals or so like it's a new drug we're gonna use like We're to kill her and extract her DNA to make a new drug. Yep.
00:13:01
Speaker
I could see it where it's like they were trying to make some sort of fertility product or some sort of like research thing where I get like both sides.
00:13:11
Speaker
It's actually not bad because it's like you can grow human parts from just Syl's DNA. figure Figure out her like regeneration powers. Yep. Yep. But then... um We haven't gotten to that point in in American pop culture yet where the one guy's like, we should make we should put a collar on this alien and send him to war or something.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yes. That would have been another plot, but Super soldiers. We're going to make alien-human hybrid super soldiers. I mean, you sent an army of beautiful women to whatever war and they just like... Supermodels, yeah. Yeah, an army of hot supermodels that all they want to do is just like try to get close to the enemy and like in bed.
00:13:57
Speaker
And it's like, you made Black Widow. You essentially made an army of Black Widow. Yep.
00:14:06
Speaker
Without the red room and all that stuff. Yeah. Also, probably takes pasture to grow ah like this like alien subspecies than a potato.
00:14:20
Speaker
Because it's like, wait, this only took like six months? i I think it's like three months to grow into like Michelle Williams' form. And then it's just like a couple days after that. And then she yeah like and she like cocoons and turns to Natasha Hentridge.
00:14:37
Speaker
So within, yeah, within like but less than six months you can have like, yeah, fully grown super soldiers. Potatoes take like a year. Mm-hmm.
00:14:51
Speaker
That's with like good condition.
00:14:55
Speaker
And they have, and then, yeah, they also have like, like, but like, so it's like, she's like enhanced strength, like, extremely acrobatic, um, can heal, like, instantly.
00:15:08
Speaker
and had like It's like, we should be actually doing this. It's messed up, but like, science don't lie.
00:15:22
Speaker
i do I do really like that like but like Michelle Williams and Natasha Hentges, I really like that you can like tell they're like really like analyzing things. like you like You tell Sills always like like and like observing and analyzing and figuring what to do.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, she does the mimic thing where she's learning by figuring out what the thing says, if it means anything good. It's very um animalistic and also universal.
00:15:50
Speaker
Like, you gotta to pretend if you are foreign completely and you say the right phrase not knowing what it means and just say, this is a positive reaction, I'll keep saying until I get the wrong one. Every time she learns, it's not like she is like completely naive. She's smart.
00:16:05
Speaker
It's very observant to do that.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, like she like watches TV and like gets ideas for like future things to set up later, and like when she... leaves Leaves a couple of that guy in the car. Like, she sees how he, like, does the car, and then she can drive cars later.
00:16:22
Speaker
Also, she doesn't do the thing where she's like, I'm learning, or anything like that. Like Apocalypse? like Yeah. She doesn't hold her hand against the TV and, like, learn English. She doesn't announce it in any weird way where it's like, learning.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Like, Young Sil's like, oh, I need i need this money i need money to like buy things. So i'll just I'll steal a bunch of money, because apparently i need that. And also I'll steal credit cards.
00:16:49
Speaker
It's also kind of weird, was she doesn't kill unless she has to. She becomes like a psychopath later. But you figure later, like as you escape, and like you kill someone, and then you're like, whoa, I can keep doing this? like Even to the train hobo she does?
00:17:08
Speaker
Like, she she murders she accidentally murders that, like, creepy hobo in the boxcar. like Like, shoving him against the wall and he just, say it like, implodes against the wall. But does that mean that whatever train stop they were at, they didn't do a cargo check? So, like, she, cause okay.
00:17:26
Speaker
So after she escapes, she goes into, like, a freight that's also part of, like, I don't know, whatever train. A passenger train? Yeah, like a very nice, like, passenger line.
00:17:37
Speaker
Because she looks like she gots out the cargo hold, then gets in the station, and then I think gets back on the same train, but on a different cart? Yeah, she steals an old guy's bag that has a ticket, and then... No, no ticket. Yeah, because she buys a ticket on the trade, yeah.
00:17:53
Speaker
But she steals his bag, and it has like a was like It was like a portable TV, I think. Oh my god, that thing was probably nuclear power. because it TVs back in the 1990s like that, like theyden you needed something like four AA's, and then that gave you maybe two hours of battery life with crap reception, right?
00:18:17
Speaker
So that thing looked like a little jewelry box of a TV. Well, it looked like a DVD player, but DVDs weren't invented yet. Or, like like, released yet. like That was, like, 97. Maybe it was, like, a Betamax player? like just It seemed very like it was going to play a movie.
00:18:36
Speaker
ah Yeah, and it had, like, CD player-type buttons on it. but guess I guess that was, like, the up channel up and down. Yeah, that thing looked like something out of, like, Blade Runner.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yes. Enhance. Enhance. Zoom in. So she she's like observing humans. And you know what's really cool like in this movie? And it doesn't get preachy. It doesn't do the thing where like the the monster goes like, I've seen your world. like I'm not the monster. You're the monster.
00:19:06
Speaker
Yeah. Does not never that. No monologue. No evil monologue that sort of shames the humanity part.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah, like, i yeah you've I've seen the worst of you. I need to destroy you. but You're all, like, you're all disgusting. Even so, also, we don't get is the, ah like, the, like, okay, I'm going to ahead just a little, but, like, in that, it's like she tries to read Michael Manson, and then it's like, oh, like, I see your brain, or, like, we're all like you and I, or something like that. Like, none of that.
00:19:44
Speaker
i don't yeah i don't i don't get I don't get that weird... She has that weird sex dream about Michael Madsen. i mean, we all get a sex dream about Michael Madsen. 95 Michael Madsen in a tank top.
00:19:59
Speaker
Scylla's dreams are and insane.
00:20:04
Speaker
Like, she dreams like... Well, they kind they kind of make sense, because, like, like Michelle Williams' version dreams about worms, and she, like, you know that's when, before before she cocoons and, like, comes out as, like, a bunch of tentacles. Or, like, bunch tentacles that come out of her face.
00:20:17
Speaker
Like, worms. But then she's having, like, a dream like dreams about, like, like ah got weird demon train's gonna run her down. Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, it's, like, a completely weird world that she is, like, envisioning.
00:20:34
Speaker
like a Tim Burton, like, it's a train is gonna, like, run her over. yep I guess, I guess H.R. Giger was, like, very, very involved in those sequences, and, like, like, funded, like, they wanted like, get, like, MGM was like, we're not gonna put, like, film this, like, so like demon train, it makes no sense, and H.R. Giger was like, oh, no, I'll pay for my own money, we're putting this the movie.
00:20:59
Speaker
and I think they they shot like a 20 minute long nightmare sequence. Just like a... Because HRGG wanted to film That's kind crazy. It's so needed. No, yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
ah true kind crazy cause it's like it's not like it's so not needed that no yeah
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, Sill's nightmare of where she dreams of herself in a near-alien form meeting with an a male alien was 20 minutes long.
00:21:32
Speaker
Totally not needed. No.
00:21:37
Speaker
I will say, I mean, you can you you definitely tell the design of, like, alien Sill is, like, definitely, like, super HR geek-er.
00:21:46
Speaker
It has all of his, like, you know, trademarks in it. It's like a wet looking alien. What looks like weird space leather.
00:21:55
Speaker
Long legs. Like tentacle nipples. Oh, God.
00:22:03
Speaker
And then. yeah, so HRE designed that that like a full like alien ah design. And then it was like Steve Johnson, who is a like special effects legend. like did like He created Slimer.
00:22:17
Speaker
He created, like, Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man. um He did, like, Doc Ock's arms in Spider-Man 2. So he's the one to, like, you know create, like, the full, like, costume and everything.
00:22:30
Speaker
It's good work. I mean, the suit at times holds up when you can get a glimmer of it, but eight they do this weird thing where they keep giving you the, like,
00:22:42
Speaker
Like, the commercial break, like, warpy vision of the alien.
Special Effects in 'Species'
00:22:47
Speaker
So you see it, but it's all, like, distorted and, like, spinning. And I'm like, ah, okay. Like, I know it's coming, but, like, I like i want a slow build-up. You don't need to keep doing, like, an ad break. And then it's like, there's some alien vision.
00:23:03
Speaker
And this is also another, like, 90s movie where the practical effects are great and the CG is absolutely atrocious.
00:23:11
Speaker
The CG does not hold up at all. Like, you have Giger in it, and it's like, just don't CGI that. Just let it... Yeah, and yeah you but you have a full, like, great, like, practical suit that, like, but then they, like, especially the end, they leave us a little bit at end, but then they just, like, go full CG at the end. It's like, oh no, this is bad.
00:23:34
Speaker
And even the beginning when like um like the tentacles are coming out of Michelle Bloom's face, like they're doing like this like they're doing some practical effects with like her like swelling up, but then it's just like terrible CGI tentacles coming out her face.
00:23:49
Speaker
But then right after that you have the crazy, you know fully practical sequence where Natasha Hatcher comes out of like the cocoon upside down.
00:24:02
Speaker
Which I guess they they did they shot that. like like That was like actually like they were pushing her through. She was basically falling out of it. It wasn't like climbing out of it upside down. was like They basically pushed her out of it because it was like was like the they reversed the shot.
00:24:18
Speaker
Oh, that was a reverse shot? was a reverse shot, yeah. So she climbed into it? So the train set was built up to down and then they pushed her through the cocoon and then they flipped it around so it looked like she was like coming out of the ceiling.
00:24:29
Speaker
Oh, I thought, like, reverse shot where she flips into the cocoon. No, they just, like, they it's like an upside-down train, and they flip it. mirrored shot. Yeah. That's what you mean. Yeah. Reverse shot means, like, you know, she goes into the cocoon. Yeah, they feel it backwards. That's, like, reverse shot, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:24:46
Speaker
I was, like, confused. I was, like, whoa, that's really impressive, but also super not necessary. It's, like, listen, we want one tank. You slowly do, like, a backflip into this whole...
00:25:00
Speaker
We're going to cover you in so much KY jelly. Like KY jelly and pudding. but She comes out like brown. It's that like metaphor. i mean This is the Geiger special. of just like the The idea of the birth and all that. The inception of like life evolving and then coming out the womb. He is all about that in most of his work.
00:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. they i mean they should They actually do like a similar womb-y cocoon in Alien Romulus recently.
00:25:31
Speaker
Yeah, that was ah that was pretty good. like like Especially when the series is known for that. And then... When you do it in this, where I think you really only see that one
Genre Blending in 'Species'
00:25:40
Speaker
time. So it's just like, you gotta make it count.
00:25:45
Speaker
ah I mean, I gotta rewatch the second one. And then the third and fourth one go. but Oh my god. i wonder how like how well the cocoon wounding looks in all the other movies.
00:25:56
Speaker
I'm sure it gets a um sure it is progressively worse. Like, by the fourth movie, it's just like a blanket. Like, three and four, i think, were, like, straight to straight the video. Or, like, ah sci-fi channel. like And honestly, this is a weird, erotic thriller alien movie.
00:26:14
Speaker
So... Taking away all of the erotic breasts you'll see in this movie, like, three and four just might as well be, like, a ghost movie. Yeah, it kind of, like, a lot of trends of, like, 90s. Like, yeah, like, erotic thrillers mixed with, like, like creature monster movies. and And, like, yeah, then, like, the the alien set-y stuff.
00:26:39
Speaker
Because, yeah, because if it wasn't, like... um it It has the vibes of, like, a he's like a serial killer movie where, you know, this team is tracking down, like, a serial killer. or like yeah Or it's like a monster movie where the like the know the monster's loose, they have to track it down catch it.
00:26:56
Speaker
it just has to be like the monster is a like horny supermodel running around trying to find like a mate. But let's talk about how they track it. Because this movie uses a a lot of different methods for what they do, but the one method that stands out is the Forrest Whitaker character.
00:27:15
Speaker
Ah, yes. Well, what's so like so so Michael Madsen is ah but we saids he's a Black Ops mercenary who's like basically just there to, like he's the one i can can that can kill Syl. And then Alfred Molina is an anthropologist.
00:27:29
Speaker
And then Marge Helgenberger is a biologist. And then we have, yeah, Force Waker is an empath.
00:27:40
Speaker
and But the empath is like such a not science. like it's It's really meant for like TV science and stuff. But in this world with aliens, empaths are a viable tool.
00:27:54
Speaker
I think what they set up is that he... they like I don't know if it's like the FBI or... like c yeah like some Some agency, are like they they have Forrest Whitaker... like, look at terrible things, and then he tells them, like, he gives them, like, the psychology of the killer, so they can, like, check the killer.
00:28:11
Speaker
So they're kind like, using him as, like, a profiler, but instead, like, but his profiling is he senses emotions deeply, and then he can, like, kind of sense where, what Syl is feeling and where she be going.
00:28:25
Speaker
I mean, I get the pseudoscience behind it because it's an alien thing, so you can't read them in a, like, language. So the language that only makes sense, or, like, the only way you can kind of understand what they're thinking is the emotion, because apparently that's still, like,
00:28:42
Speaker
The human side is is like still showing emotions. Yeah, yeah. But instead of teaching the kid English or anything so they can communicate with Sil, they just didn't for the whole six months. Yeah, just locked her in a glass jar.
00:28:55
Speaker
Not only locked her in a glass jar, did not speak in front of her. And the only time she learned words when she was like looking at other people. Reading lips. Right. So she can only read lips by just sort of saying the things from the lips. But like lip reading is not exact science either. There's some words that lip read close.
00:29:15
Speaker
So it's like you don't always get that too. So for all we know, one of our first, if you want like an accurate version, Syl should have been like broomstick, door handle, like bedtime. And then like,
00:29:29
Speaker
They're like, what what do you want? And meanwhile, you know she's trying to say, like, I am hungry. You know, just just something from that emotion from that range. But they don't. They go straight up in the, like, she can talk.
00:29:40
Speaker
She knows how to parrot back, like, the right phrases because she she figured out the context. but Yeah. Very smart. bible she she just She nods a lot and she just says, like, yes a lot.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's the Terminator acting. um But the emotion shouldn't be logical because it's like you're following what's messed up like a child.
00:30:02
Speaker
Pretty much, yeah. So it's like if he's just like, well, why did why is this happening? And it's like he's like, she's scared. yeah A lot of that should just be like, she was hungry.
00:30:15
Speaker
Now she's horny. And then she went this way. She like drove she got in the car and drove that way. And then it's like, A lot of it for an empath is you have to be there at the moment to read the situation, but you can't predict the clairvoyancy of what things to come, because like that's not the power.
Character Analysis: Forrest Whitaker's Empath
00:30:37
Speaker
If it is, that's telepathy. psychic Psychic powers. is it Wait, telepathy is when you can move things in your mind. through mind yeah But a telepath is different too, I think?
00:30:49
Speaker
Telepath is basically like psychic, but I think telepath is like you can rebuild minds.
00:30:54
Speaker
Okay, so telepath is read people's mind. Telepathy is moving objects in your mind. Yeah. Psychic is when you can see things coming.
00:31:06
Speaker
And somehow, Forrest Whitaker is almost all those, except for the whole moving things with your mind.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely it definitely feels like, well, they're like well we we don't want to make him a psychic. Let's call him an empath, but also let's give him all the powers of an empath and a psychic. I mean, that could have been two different characters. and Probably, yeah. yeah I would have liked the movie to have like a B-plot where like you see the empath and the psychic and it's like they can't agree on something.
00:31:35
Speaker
My power says this. oh My power says that. ye They're kind of both right, but they're not exactly dead on. Which is usually what do you get from like homopathic like sciences or like um pseudoscience where it's like it's not an exact science.
00:31:51
Speaker
That's the point. It's like an approximation.
00:31:57
Speaker
and and And they're definitely not getting any good evidence from like other sources. like they They never get a good image of Syl. For some reason, from videos or photos. Syl is one of those, like, in in any other movie in today's setting, Syl will be of those people that knows where the camera is to not look at it directly or, like, has, like, blockers or r f blocker on her face or something. where you You know, it's so crazy to think that she um she just, like it's like accidents.
00:32:28
Speaker
It's like all these accidental things that just you can't get a good look at the supermodel. Well, it's like like the surveillance video from the hotel ah is... i mean, to me, it kind of looks like a good shot, but then Ben Kingsley is like, ah take this back to the lab and enhance it, but I don't think they ever enhance it. We never see them, like, clear like clear up the video ever again.
00:32:50
Speaker
just took it and didn't do anything with it. And then you get, like, the Polaroid photo of the the second guy that still goes after It's just like it's like it' such a crazy, blurry shot of her face.
00:33:03
Speaker
And he's like perfectly like in the frame. and
00:33:08
Speaker
So they see ah yeah they never have any idea of what Syl actually looks like as like an adult.
00:33:18
Speaker
And then they kind of, and then they they get they get like, there's like going to crime scenes and trying to get like, figure out where she went went after the crime scene. and Right. Which is, it's fun to see, like, like, Marge Helleberger does a little bit of, like, um you know, swabbing some blood and stuff, so it's fun to see that hear her do that, like, five years before CSI.
00:33:43
Speaker
yeah, yeah they they're yeah but they're they're mostly just, like, like kind of like, just, like, reacting to things. They're just like, oh, another guy's dead, we have to go go to his house and fight, see what happens.
00:33:55
Speaker
And it's like, okay, dead guy. Oh, cool. like This guy didn't get that far with her this time. Alright, what about now? like They are just stumbling upon mostly dead LA people. yeah and then like There was only one good guy, but like he he was like too good.
00:34:14
Speaker
And then he died because he was just like, like he was like hey, like I'm trying to do the right thing. Yeah, he movie he's movie's peter ho i it that like i paid for her hospital bill.
00:34:26
Speaker
Well, I mean, because she was insanely pretty. Yes. It's not because it was like some regular. This movie would be different if Syl was like a regular person or even like Syl was like just a like a little bit of a not supermodel person.
00:34:45
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:34:47
Speaker
yeah because even i mean, even by like l LA standards, it's like Natasha Hatcher's top 10% gorgeousness. yeah so it's like There's other LA women there, but then for some reason she's even more attractive than most of them.
00:35:03
Speaker
But lot of them are like way more desperate. So it's like the fun... They only don't even mention it once. The one scene where Syl is like confronts one LA woman at a dance club.
00:35:16
Speaker
Well, because she like still like, zeroes on the one guy, but then this other woman comes up like i got a party like, I got a party I go to, I don't make them take me. And then like, so like, follows her the bathroom and kills her. And then uses that same line. ah yeah Yep.
00:35:35
Speaker
But like, she uses on like a different guy that was hitting on her initially. Yeah. So that one guy who was like, what what about the girl in the bathroom? Coming out? I was gonna take her to a party.
00:35:47
Speaker
Oh, her her entire spine has exploded now. That's just because she still has, like, pure strength. It's not like she pulled out a tentacle or anything. It's just, like, raw alien hybrid strength.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think, i think you like she like, the only time she, like, uses, like, her like alien powers a lot is, like, when she kills, like, Robbie, like, the guy from the first club with, like, her, like, mouth tentacle or mouth spike.
00:36:16
Speaker
Did that come from her mouth? i think Yeah, because they're kissing, and then he like like it explodes out the back of his skull.
00:36:23
Speaker
Which we don't see. She doesn't use that again. No, i don't think she does. No. Because next time, the second guy, she like fully transforms into alien sill. and this's like But then this is like drowning him.
00:36:35
Speaker
But also, she stabs him. Yeah. Like, you're being stabbed and drowned.
00:36:47
Speaker
Just, yeah, because just because, like, this this the supermodel in your hot tub said she wanted a baby and you freaked out. Which, understandable. Understandable. You seem like a well-to-do rich man, and now this woman's like, I just met you.
00:37:03
Speaker
got into a car accident. Yeah, I got into a car accident, like, hours before. um fully healed. And now I want to, like, have sex with you in this hot tub. but let's talk about that car accident.
00:37:14
Speaker
Like, it's like a ah different scene from a different movie. Just because she just walks the street, gets hit by a car, this motorist guy just goes, oh shit, and then drives away.
00:37:25
Speaker
No problem. Hit and run, yep. And still gets, she gets exploded like a bus, like a bus stop. Yep.
00:37:35
Speaker
And then, yeah, this random guy is like, I got taken to the hospital and I'll pay her hospital bill. don't even know what her name is.
00:37:49
Speaker
And then we see her like healing of powers.
00:37:55
Speaker
and then it Her healing powers are like almost like pre... That would have been an X-Men movie right there. yeah it's like The way the bones set and heal.
00:38:06
Speaker
She kind of has Wolverine powers. Because we see later she like she cuts her own finger off and it grows right back. In that early CG. Yes. Her
00:38:20
Speaker
back... her back It's kind of like it looks it's only just like bruised a little bit, and then it kind of... like and but then maybe It's supposed to be that like her scopula broke. She smashed through the bus stop back.
00:38:38
Speaker
So she might have been she might have looked worse in the front, but it healed up by the time she got to the hospital. Because the hospital makes it seem like it's the next day, because the guys just hang out there with like... I think she's still wearing his jacket.
00:38:53
Speaker
I think so, yeah.
00:38:56
Speaker
Or was it like she or she she switched like her 90s grunge flannel shirt?
00:39:05
Speaker
but they But yeah, the doctor, like see that they see this like crazy healing like process that occurs on her they're like, oh, you leave, you're fine, you're cured, we can discharge you now.
00:39:17
Speaker
Noah questions it, she just like walks off with this random guy.
00:39:23
Speaker
That's LA, I guess. You can just walk off. it like as someone paid the bill. yeah And you're you look like a supermodel.
00:39:35
Speaker
It's whatever you can do when you're pretty. like this is This movie just shows you how much you can get away with if you just look hot enough.
00:39:45
Speaker
yeah they're like Yeah, there's so much like no one questioning anything that she's doing.
00:39:54
Speaker
Which I get it. You look like that. Hit by cars, get taken on dates the same afternoon. By like, I don't know how many gallons of gasoline.
00:40:06
Speaker
oh yeah, she like fills up a trunk full. like I don't know how many, like it's these giant containers of gasoline. She fills like four of them up for her big like, ah her escape plan or like her like, track like how like but way like but her So that she can blow up the car. So she needed at least like... Yeah, she wanted blow car and then make it look like she died and like the car crashed. the the team like Later on, when they do the fire investigation, and like, this car is filled with so much gasoline.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yes. so but But like they're not going to question that because it's like she's an alien, so she didn't know. But the filling of gasoline, I'm betting that's like $6 worth of gas back then.
00:40:47
Speaker
Probably, yeah. 1995, when gas was like 90 cents a gallon. Maybe a buck.
00:40:57
Speaker
Buck 10.
00:41:02
Speaker
especially like no one no No one's like, wow, buy a lot of gas, huh? Almost like $8 worth of gas. Let me just take a quick look. What gas was gas prices 1995.
00:41:19
Speaker
Yeah. A buck 15.
00:41:24
Speaker
That was, and then the highest it was at the end, at like the peak when it was like the worst times was 219. Oh, geez. 1995. She spend almost $20 worth of gas probably. From her, from her giant wad of bills that she just throws up, like gives people.
00:41:44
Speaker
So, um, You know what's crazy? Like, I'm gonna go back a bit, where, like, the first thing she did when she got off, like, when she got into L.A. was buy, like, a wedding dress. A wedding dress, yeah.
00:41:58
Speaker
Which we never see again. No, yeah, she wears that once, and then she goes the hotel, and then she has, like, extremely fashionable 90s, like, leather pants and a pink sweatshirt.
00:42:10
Speaker
where the I mean, I think she bought more clothes eventually, or she was watching TV, so she kept figuring out, like, oh, I can't just walk around wearing a dress, and no one's wearing that. Yeah, no one is, like, this is like a special occasion dress.
00:42:22
Speaker
But it's never brought up. it's It's not like they find the dress are like, she wants to be a bride. Like, aw. like You know, Ben King, the impasse never picks it up and goes, she wants to, like, she wants to be loved.
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah. like, Ken Kinsley sees it and goes, ah, shit, like, I could have raised a daughter like this or something. not No one's a thing. It's crazy. It's that, like, the woman that sells for the dress also looks like, wear it out. Like, oh, you want to wear a wedding dress out?
00:42:50
Speaker
Alright. Well, it's like a $50 wedding dress. I guess. It's it's like a thrift store wedding store, I guess. Yeah, so it's not like... Usually wedding dresses are like in the high hundreds.
00:43:04
Speaker
So $50, you could be a bride every day of the week. You can buy seven wedding dresses for $50 at that point. If I saw one modern day wedding dress that's like brand name, for all we know, she bought a Kmart wedding dress.
00:43:25
Speaker
And also, too, like the like the guy that runs the hotel was also like the nicest sleazy motel guy in Movie History, yeah probably. I am surprised he didn't try to pull anything. He is surprisingly nice, and he gets to live for that, which is shocking.
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, like he doesn't make any sort of comments about what like like what she's wearing or like what she her looks, and then like she leaves the credit card, he like runs out and gives back to he's like, hey, you gotta be careful of your credit card, you don't wanna lose this, and then like tells her where to go and like find the guy.
00:43:56
Speaker
And then when the FBI shows up, he's just like, I will help you too. yes here's here's take whatever you want.
Subverting Movie Tropes
00:44:02
Speaker
Here's videotape, surveillance tape. i'll tell you I'll tell you where I sent her to go like find... like She wanted to go find a guy. There's a club right over there. go Go there.
00:44:10
Speaker
Insanely helpful for a guy in any other movie would be like extorting the FBI. Creeping on this girl. Yeah, like creeping being a creep to her. and be like There's a guy right here.
00:44:23
Speaker
Or he also is doing something kind of suspicious and then doesn't want to get caught. so um He has to try to kill, like, Syl because she stumbles upon something and it's like she doesn't understand what's going on.
00:44:35
Speaker
But, you know. Yeah. we're like we're like Or like he breaks it. He uses like his like master key to like break into a room. You're like, you were looking for a guy. Here's a guy right here.
00:44:46
Speaker
yeah And she's just like, you're not the thing I want to mate with. And he's like, what? Yeah, surprise, he's not dead. He's actually like just a nice, creepy guy. No, not night not even creepy. just like he's He's just trying to run his hotel. It's mild-mannered, legitimate businessman. In any other setting, you put that guy in a shady motel with like not good practices, it makes Yeah, it would be like... it yeah You expect his hotel, like, if she's exploring it and stuff, it's like, it should be, like, Rocheville.
00:45:19
Speaker
It should be terrible, but because she has no idea of the world, she just thinks this is how you, like, go to a hotel or something.
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah, it'd be like a pay-by-the-hour, like, you know, like, disgusting fleabag. Yeah, and it... Okay, you've seen the Blues Brothers, right? Yep. It should be, like, that apartment that one of them lives in.
00:45:42
Speaker
Where it just, like, it's by a train, it's gross, it's small, like, it's not really suitable for long term. But for whatever reason, like, she... It'd be funny to see in her world, since she's so naive, that, like, she's like, this is very luxurious.
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah, it looks luxurious compared to her, like, glass dome she lived in. Mm-hmm.
00:46:05
Speaker
The easiest thing about the hotel is there's just random porn on one of the channels. Unlocked. Scrambled or anything. yeah yeah Which is what... See, like that's something a sleazy hotel would offer.
00:46:17
Speaker
Or a fancy hotel. Because it's like, no, our porn is free back in 1995. Which is what... Do remember when hotels would brag that they had HBO as like a free thing in their service? Free HBO!
00:46:33
Speaker
Right. not all Not every hotel did that. So, like, I'm surprised this hotel did. But, like, in a meta thing, since this movie should have been a Skinamax movie, it's like, she watched Cinemax during the day. Like, that was just on during... Like, what?
00:46:50
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:46:55
Speaker
I was right. Like, in... You we're talking, this hotel, like, she should have, like, overheard people, like, fucking in the next room or something, and that's how she gets the idea of, like, oh, I need to go... have sex with someone to, like, mate.
00:47:07
Speaker
But she didn't know to mate them in her hotel. Like, she didn't bring them back to her hotel. She was just like, I need to go out. You bring you you bring me bring me back to your, like, domicile or, like, lair.
00:47:21
Speaker
Even funny, if in a commentary about society, it's like she picks a guy, but because he lives in, like, such a terrible condition, like,
00:47:33
Speaker
she doesn't pick a she did She killed one guy because he's diabetic. Okay, weird comment on you, aliens. i don't i don She didn't kill him because he he was diabetic. like That's why she rejected him as a mate, but then he got pissed off about it. and then like He's also like a diabetic ass creep. yeah he's yeah yeah So, like, movie has a weird comment from there.
00:47:52
Speaker
It's like, oh, it's like, she can sense that he tell me he's not a perfect specimen, so she was like rejecting him. But then it's like, oh, also... She doesn't understand, like, he's also a creep, so, okay, lean in to kill him.
00:48:07
Speaker
But, my point was, imagine she met a good guy, but then realized, oh, like, you actually are, like, not gonna be a suitable mate because can't i can't raise kids with you.
00:48:19
Speaker
It's like, you know, like, she's looking for the perfect thing. um Which we get to later, but it it'd be funny where it's like, you could see she evolved her standard where it became more of an Americanized modern woman.
00:48:32
Speaker
And she's just like, do you have a car? It's like, no, I don' have a car. Like, almost every guy she ends up with has a car. Yeah. In this movie. And second guy has, like, a very nice, like, you know, he lives in the Palisades and, like, a pretty nice like ah this nice house with a hot tub. and Yeah, yeah. She and hunted for, like, top-tier males.
00:48:50
Speaker
But, like, it have been funny if, like like, let's say, like, the hotel guy, but, like, way less obvious where it's, like, she hits on, like, some... mild mannered guy in a blockbuster. isn And the guy's like, oh, yeah, I'll call you after my shift. And she's like, what? She's like, yeah, I gotta work.
00:49:04
Speaker
um I'll see you later. I just can't go mate right now. It's like, why not? It's like, I live with my mom. and but but But then she just like tastes her top off. Yeah, and he's like, alright, I need a little blockbuster.
00:49:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, Different movie. Species could have been a comedy. Like, if you take out everything that's like the thriller part, this is a comedy.
00:49:25
Speaker
If you get rid of the murder, Or if you want to make it a black comedy, keep in the murder. And then just be like, every guy, just she's like, all all the things eventually end up her like trying to flash people or like show, like I'm ready to make, right now. And the guy's just like, well, I need to deliver this pizza and I will be right back.
00:49:47
Speaker
But every guy she hits on basically has ah of a successful life that they can take off at odd hours of the day to like, You know, to go party, to to like save people in traffic. like the the The doctor that... Or not the doctor, but the guy who brought her to the hospital... Let's say it's like 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
00:50:08
Speaker
Where's that guy? Is that guy coming to work or from work? We have no idea. He's just driving around. he just drives around waiting for like beautiful women to get like hit by cars.
00:50:20
Speaker
It's like, happens all the time in L.A.? No, I think, you know what that is? I think that was like in the afternoon because I mean, yeah, it was definitely like just like the sun was out. It was like, yeah, definitely the middle of the day. Unless it's like a Saturday. I don't know what's going on where like this guy was just cruising.
00:50:41
Speaker
That time to go to the hospital.
00:50:45
Speaker
But yeah, no, that's like the realistic thing where I'm like, wait a minute. She lucks into like people with jobs. or like people with like l a high society l LA lifestyles.
00:51:00
Speaker
but but yeah But then for some unexplained reason, she's like, I have to i have to get with Michael Madsen. i had a vision of Michael Madsen. Yeah, that it's like, she did she see him before? it's like briefly in that one time she saw him in the car?
00:51:13
Speaker
she watches She watches them when they go to like investigate the second guy that that she killed, and she's like watching him from the car. And then ah then she formulates her plan to fake her death.
00:51:26
Speaker
But then after she fakes her death, she dyes her hair. That's not what she does to change her appearance. She dyes her hair dark, like dark black or brown. And then goes to the hotel.
00:51:37
Speaker
it's like, I must... i must He's the... he's but he is the like My perfect mate is... What's his character's name? Press. press Preston.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah. but then he i think at this point, he doesn't really meet her for a while. You know, like it's not like they encounter each other. It's so funny to think that they only get to really face each other by the the third act.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah. Because this point, only Ben Kingsley met her when she was the 12-year-old version. And that's it. like but All the time, they're not hunting. like and and In other kind of thriller movies, at least one of them would have like a long dialogue with the killer and sort of like reveal things and whatever.
00:52:25
Speaker
But we don't get that. but yeah you're talking about like They don't even know what she looks like, so they have no idea. They're kind of stumbling around in Los Angeles and being like, maybe maybe she's... Go back to that first club, I guess. well Let's hang out at club and maybe she'll show up.
00:52:39
Speaker
we know we don't know what she looks like. Well, you get one scene near the end where...
00:52:46
Speaker
the empath, Forrest Whitaker, like bumps into her and is like, oh, that's her! This is this woman who I guess I read and her emotions are horny and hungry, I guess. but that's that's like that But that was still his plan to like start the car chase.
00:53:00
Speaker
Right, but even that, isn't your empath ability supposed to be like, no, she wants me to, like, you you wanted this. Why do you want me to find you? Yeah. It's...
00:53:11
Speaker
Instead, he just freaks and she's here, we gotta go chase after her. Get our fans. He didn't use his empath power, he literally just like, you.
00:53:21
Speaker
You're not, like, human or something. He just figured out, like, something's not right with you. and he And he wasn't drunk on Long Island's Tees at that point, either. No, see? Like, it's crazy.
00:53:34
Speaker
had the The scheme to fake, to instill fakes her death is pretty clever. Mm-hmm. Yeah, she kills a woman, cuts off that woman's fingers, I think. Or, like... but One finger.
00:53:48
Speaker
One finger. And then, buys all that gasoline, steals, like, two cars. She says two cars and uses the one car, drives it down a hill, because which she also saw on a TV show.
00:54:00
Speaker
She saw, like, a car, like, drive into, high-voltage box and explode. She's like, oh, I can do that.
00:54:08
Speaker
so and she says... she it basically feels like a hitchhike scene. Yeah, mm-hmm. It's like, it's sort of like Vertigo, where it's like, all we gotta plan this elaborate thing, and then and we will try to figure out how to like, like, misdirect, like, the attention.
00:54:32
Speaker
But yeah, the car explodes, they think Tissel's dead, and then she just goes and, think, cuts her hair, dyes her hair, and then is it's like her disguise to be a different person.
00:54:46
Speaker
And then she just goes back to the same area. She could have kept on leaving, but like thank God she just liked that town. Yeah, she well, she goes to their hotel that they're staying again Well, yeah, she really wants to bang Michael Madden.
00:54:57
Speaker
Because they're all celebrating, like, well, we did it, guys. We killed the alien. need drive the car badly. Yeah, she killed herself, so mission accomplished. We did it.
00:55:11
Speaker
And then yeah then yeah she's trying to get with Michael Madsen, but then like Michael Madsen and Marge Hellegeber hook up. And then she's like, well, second choice next choice, Alfred Molina.
00:55:24
Speaker
He's desperate horny. It's so funny to think that Alfred Molina is just like the comic relief of the team.
00:55:33
Speaker
Because he's like horny, but he's also very like nerdy.
00:55:40
Speaker
Yeah, he's trying to flirt with women, and then their boyfriends show up. He and Forrest Baker are like a comedic duo where they're getting drunk and long-lasting. Earlier, Elfamilina was trying to invite Marge Hellinger to dinner. Then she's like, no, I'm tired. I'm going to go bed.
00:55:59
Speaker
Forrest Baker's like, I'll go to dinner with you. he's like, great, let's go.
00:56:06
Speaker
Yeah, like, they they do a good job building these characters. Like, they could be chasing a psycho, they could be chasing an alien, they could be chasing, like, a robot, but, like, they're a good dynamic. Yep. And in the I'm pretty much describing, like, five different other movies that basically have the same plot.
00:56:23
Speaker
Like, The Fugitive, or... I'm trying to think of, like, other, like, where there's, like, a team like, mixed characters. mean, there's a bunch of them.
00:56:34
Speaker
be listening to them for a while, but I do like the dynamic. They are flushed out. I also like Ben Kingsley. just sort of like, well, goodnight. He just doesn't hang out with them. hes just oh He just puts on his 90s fashion.
00:56:49
Speaker
it's It's weird to think that there's some business clothes I can't tell are formal or casual. It's a weird look in a weird era. weird Also, speaking by Kingsley, quick, like, what accent is he trying to do?
00:57:03
Speaker
Confusing is the accent. Because it's like, is he is he Southern? Is he, like, is he kind of, is he foreign? Like, yeah. No idea. and then I think, I'm not sure how many movies where he just tries American accents.
00:57:19
Speaker
He didn't perfect it yet this one. No.
00:57:23
Speaker
it's almost It's almost that joke, like, the family guy joke, like, Liam Neeson when he tries to be a cowboy. Yeah.
00:57:34
Speaker
But yeah, Elfram Lina still has sex, and then she's instantly pregnant, too much much to the horror of Elfram Lina, and he gets killed. ah Because it's it's funny, because, like, Force Waker doesn't want to interrupt them, so, like, he could have stopped them, and, like, you know, he's like, well, he's getting stuff, so I don't want to, like, interrupt them.
00:57:55
Speaker
But the funny thing is, he's, like, concerned, he's like, oh, but I can feel, like, the alien here, and something's not right. Yeah, she's in there, yeah. And he's like, what? He's like, yeah, I feel like she's in there. And there's sex going on.
00:58:06
Speaker
Is that weird, guys? you know And they're like, what? It's like, that yeah, that the whole thing we're trying to stop. um Should I stop that? an empath, he's like stupid. Like, it just doesn't make sense.
00:58:16
Speaker
But then it's like, he should be like, I feel from you two anger and confusion. Well, at that point, he a jerk on the long-eyed eyes. True, true. It does block his abilities.
00:58:30
Speaker
It's just funny to think that, like, wait, so an empath, if you get them drunk, like, their powers turn off? Because, yeah, because they're in, like, the, like, sewer tunnel, and he's, they're like, Dan, where do you sense they went? He's like, i don't i don't know. i don't know. I don't feel anything.
00:58:50
Speaker
I'm so drunk, you guys. I'm going be honest with you. But he's like, but, but, but, I do sense you all hate me right now. Maybe
00:59:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's like subtle acting because you have to remember that his powers are based on emotion. Like constantly you remember that because like if not, you just think he's just confused as like he's just as naive.
00:59:16
Speaker
Because for whatever reason, they give him, like, ethnic-themed clothes. Like, he's, you know, like, I get it that he's not, like, he's not supposed be Americanized.
00:59:29
Speaker
So, if anything, he can relate to being, like, a foreigner, like, on Earth or in America. Like, just like the, just a s sill. Because she's, like, you know, not human and not fully human. And then also not from here. So, she doesn't get the terms, the idioms, the the language, the manners.
00:59:48
Speaker
But then as an empath, I guess the same thing, because all he feels is he can really feel more of the concentration of the humans, and a lot of them are just confused by him because he's like a Jedi.
01:00:02
Speaker
um they're just How do you know that? or like yeah i mean Granted, sometimes it's more than that. Sometimes he he's like, he's clairvoyant for whatever reason. I think at one point he just straight up has a vision of something.
01:00:13
Speaker
Yeah, there's like a flash, he's like, oh man, I saw that. Yeah, he has like a foresight into the future, which is like, wait, that's new. That's not emotions. Like, what? No. Yeah. If anything, he should feel someone's emotion from a longer distance, and then that makes more sense.
01:00:29
Speaker
doesn't He's like, oh shit, like, they're so emotional, I'm able to detect them from like a distance away. That's what an empath is. Also, i'm I'm pulling information from Star Trek when Officer Troy was like an empath.
01:00:42
Speaker
The most famous empath besides Force Whitaker. Yeah, i otherwise I don't know any other shows that have an empath that makes sense. um Side tangent, the other empath that I kind of remember, which is in Team America, where there was one character with an empath.
01:00:56
Speaker
yep That was the point. It was like, empaths don't make sense when you need to for the story. Like, sometimes they're just like, complete BS.
01:01:06
Speaker
But in this case... Flora's Whitaker does sort of step up. There's like a whole big action sequence where everyone gets to like have guns and flamethrowers. Yeah, everyone everyone just turns into an action hero at the end.
01:01:19
Speaker
Because Michael Madsen has been the only one really with a gun running around. Also, the only one with the obvious like training. Yes. Although, like but I will say Michael Madsen, like he is so casual with his like gun like movements. He's kind of just like waving it around like however he wants.
01:01:35
Speaker
Oh yeah. it's like it's It's so loose. He's not he's not doing any sort of tactical, like you know how you hold the gun in front of you, you cradle the gun. He's kind of just like waving around, pointing at things.
01:01:48
Speaker
I think Ben Kingsley has better gun like handling. Discipline, yeah. Trigger discipline, you know. But then they all get flamethrowers at the end, because fire is the way you kill ah this type of alien, I guess.
01:02:02
Speaker
and yeah Yeah, it's the big, like, they go into sewer, then they end up in like, oh crazy under underground cave full of oil under Los Angeles. Yeah, just the famous, like, tar pits of oil that are below city.
01:02:20
Speaker
And then, and it's yeah, Sylga gives birth to, like, and like ah like ah almost like a How old would you say that kid is? Like, three or four or five?
01:02:31
Speaker
I'm gonna say four. It's, more accelerant because, ah i guess... Of the aliens? Yeah. Well, yeah. And then it's, like, that alien... That that baby is, like, double human now. Mm-hmm.
01:02:46
Speaker
Or it's, like, whatever, like, a quarter alien and more human.
01:02:52
Speaker
So the only thing to is the tongue. But it's crazy, like, Forrest Whitaker... like why like he's like, oh, hey, hey kid, you're safe. like We'll get you out of here. it's like Who do you think... The only person out here is Syl, and you know she got stuck with Alfred Molina. Who do you think this kid is?
01:03:10
Speaker
ah from melita like who do you think this kid is I mean... It's covered in goo. It's still L.A. Who knows? It could be, like, cave people used to be on the kind of suit. And plus, like, it's a white baby.
01:03:24
Speaker
It'd be different if was, like, an alien-looking baby. The fact that it just looks like a regular baby... Like a feral child. Yeah, like a feral child that looked like maybe, like, an X-Gap, like, promo model baby like, fell into this.
01:03:39
Speaker
So, I get the whole don't fire first... He doesn't know. like He's also not a scientist. He's an empath. So it's not like, oh no, like that's its like, you know, sac fluid.
01:03:51
Speaker
should But shouldn't he sense that it's an alien? He should have. He should have been like, it seems confused. It seems hungry. Yeah, I sense that it's eating rats with its crazy prehensile tongue.
01:04:04
Speaker
Or it's like, it sends hostility towards me. Maybe I should do something.
01:04:13
Speaker
And then then he's just like, fall he's like hanging off the cliff. And that's like the what he does for the rest of the finale. He's just like, i'm on I'm hanging off this cliff.
01:04:24
Speaker
And it's also weird, because like Marge Helgenberg gets like stuck in the oil and she needs help getting out, but then she just gets out. Eventually it was like no one help no helps her. She's like, oh, i got out somehow. Because that's the whole thing. like That's why she couldn't go and help Force Whitaker at first, because she also fell into the oil and got stuck in the oil. It was like he sucked into it.
01:04:43
Speaker
But then she just like climbs out. She's like, oh, I can climb out. It's fine.
01:04:49
Speaker
And then Michael Mads is like it's like running around in full action hero style. we just like Flamethrowing different rooms trying to find Syl.
Critique of CGI and Film Finale
01:04:59
Speaker
but then this this is But then this is where like the CGI is just like probably it's its absolute worst. It's just like the CGI still like flying around the walls and stuff.
01:05:08
Speaker
it yeah it's It does not hold up.
01:05:13
Speaker
No. No, no, no, doesn't.
01:05:17
Speaker
Which, I think we talked about, like, they had, this is also when we get, like, the full, like, the full, like, practical costume that looks awesome, but then they, like, decide, like, well, we gotta have, we can't have that right around, we gotta have, like, this, like, CGI sill kind of, like, spidering around, acting like a spider crawling on the walls. Yeah.
01:05:40
Speaker
Uh, it's the Geiger thing where Geiger's like, yes, I want to see my creation, like, dance on the wall. Yes. But, like, they didn't quite get, like, the lighting, because it looks like the monster is, like, a different brightly lit room versus the cave.
01:05:58
Speaker
and Well, i think I think at this point, too, like, the oil got cut, it's out of fire, so there's, like, a big, like, giant fire going on. But it looks like neon on, like, the monster. It's, like, too orange-y. Yeah.
01:06:10
Speaker
Well, I think there was something, like, one of the things Giger wanted to do, which they didn't do, was that, like, um he wanted sill to start glowing, like like, glowing orange and, like, emit heat. if that like So, like, the anger she got, like, the more, like, like hot she would get.
01:06:25
Speaker
Like, she would, like, admit heat and, like, turn orange, like, like like orange of like for, like, heat level, but they'd just, like, no, we're we can't do that. That's not gonna work. Also, that's a contradiction where, like,
01:06:37
Speaker
her weakness is fire, but then she heats up. that's That's also why they said like it wouldn't work, because it's like, oh, we're gonna kill- we had this whole thing where they're gonna, like, use flamethrowers at the end. i mean, they could do that dumb thing where basically, uh... Uh... Like, she she gets so mad, she kills herself.
01:06:57
Speaker
Like, angle. It's like she- her downfall is herself. Mm-hmm.
01:07:11
Speaker
And then her her death... but She falls in the oil, and then it's like... It's um it's kind of like ah like a rip-off of Terminator 2.
01:07:21
Speaker
Where she's like frothing around in the like the like boiling ah like oil, and it's like kind of like the Team 1000 frothing around. Yeah. yeah
01:07:31
Speaker
It is kind of a quick, like, okay, we are not trying to reinvent the death sequence where it's like some elaborate multi-step process, but Thank God that like the the underground oil pit became like a molten factory of fire.
01:07:51
Speaker
Or else like maybe Ben Kingsley comes back and then he just carries like a drum barrel of oil or something. Oh yeah, we we've forgot to mention that he just like gets unceremoniously killed. He gets pulled into the water and dies. That's it.
01:08:05
Speaker
Yeah, just sort of like, womp womp, you're out the movie.
01:08:10
Speaker
um I'm wondering if Ben Kingsley was like, I want would love more scenes. And they're like, you are too expensive, Oscar. Yes, you're what Ben Kingsley is. So we need to throw you into the L.A. sewer system.
01:08:24
Speaker
That is so, like, filled that, but like, it's just a black pit for you to dive into.
01:08:40
Speaker
Well, I do like, they kind of like, they do a little bit to it, because like she like jumps out of the oil and like grabs Force Wicker's like leg, but then Michael Madsen pulls out his grenade launcher that he also has.
01:08:52
Speaker
And blows her head off. ye Which, ah thankfully, it's also like, it acts more like a shotgun than like a grenade launcher, because it doesn't really explode, it blows her head off like a shotgun. but But it's a grenade launcher.
01:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, also, when her head explodes, it sort of does look like the goo monster, goo head design, than what you think like a headshot wound would look like It gushes like a bug. you like It does that look.
01:09:25
Speaker
Yeah. And Michael Manson's one-liner, I feel like it could have punched up a little bit, too. Because I think oh like, let go of him, you motherfucker. Like, it should have been some like some sort of alien-based thing of, like, get off our planet, or like... Oh, yeah, no one-liner.
01:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. Or, like, I guess that bitch is, like, heat is gone or something. Like, he doesn't say anything like that.
01:09:51
Speaker
It's like, go back to your home planet. so like There should have should have been, like, some, yeah, one or two more passes on that line to, like, you know, punch it up.
01:10:06
Speaker
but But then there's the ah the last thing we see is like the rat. There's like one piece of tentacle left and right a rat eats it and then like gets like i think mutated or like turned into like the tentacles start mutating and like kill a rat. So like it's like oh maybe she's not part of her still alive. It's like something's going to come back and like in like the next movie.
01:10:27
Speaker
Which is funny because it's like does that mean the rat will then go on a whole like rat breeding thing? Yeah. Yeah. The rat just keeps eating other rats. But then I don't think they do... I don't think anything comes of like that tentacle, because they just... like I think the second one, they just like create like and ah they create like Eve, who's like the like but good sill in a lab with like new DNA.
01:10:53
Speaker
i think they also just like humanize her early. They don't... like It's not like they made a good one with... like They use the same process, but this time around, they... like They didn't just lock her in a ah glass cage and like interact with her at all.
01:11:07
Speaker
They like... they if u Okay, if you want a spoiler for the second movie, they like make a naive, but like there's a team of female scientists and guards, so like it's just... like There's no male presence for her to activate her hormones.
01:11:21
Speaker
And that's like the gimmick of that movie. She's very trained. and She's like humanized, so she's not feral and horny.
01:11:32
Speaker
Well, and then yeah the gimmick is also too where it's like, well, now it's a there's like there' was like a alien guy. There's a male alien kind of like running around. Yeah. And pregnant any women and like making like, and then the women are like exploding and having an alien babies.
01:11:48
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. It was way They upped the whole like gross like reproduction thing in the next movie. But it's crazy that Michael Madsen and Marge Heller came back for that one. We're like, yeah we'll come back. we we'llll We'll back for this one.
01:12:03
Speaker
one more I mean, it's not bad. It's not great. it's just, it's not a thriller. It's more like a just gross out sci-fi movie.
01:12:17
Speaker
But yeah, the second one was a bomb and then they so just started going straight the straight to TV for the the rest of the series.
01:12:25
Speaker
Let me one day we'll talk about the rest of the series. Like one species, two, three, four, because you're covering one podcast. and Well, I think Species 2 was in 98, so I guess in like three years maybe we'll talk about Species 2, whenever that came out.
01:12:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:41
Speaker
but I think that does it about for us.
01:12:45
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Species, it's it's it's still still pretty fun. Like, you want like a, like, you know, schlocky sci-fi movie with but with like an A-list cast.
01:12:59
Speaker
Surprisingly A-list. Yeah, just everyone everyone is like nominated for an Oscar or won an Oscar, almost.
01:13:09
Speaker
Which is, it's so it's so crazy. like you I think people forget like how ridiculous the cast of this movie is. it's like it's It's always like, obviously you remember Natasha Hedges, but you feel like, oh yeah, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina.
01:13:26
Speaker
Um... And yeah, i thinks i think it's ah I think it's on Tubi, which this is this is like a perfect Tubi movie too. Like this is what you expect Tubi to have. Oh yeah.
01:13:39
Speaker
So yeah, so that I think that'll wrap it up for Species.
Teaser for Next Episode and Closing
01:13:42
Speaker
i Come back next week, we're heading back to Southport and talking about, I know what she did last summer because the Legacy sequel is coming out next week. So we'll watch the original get ready for the the new one. and
01:14:01
Speaker
which's It's funny because it's like it's almost the exact same pattern as Scream. ah screen out i think Scream 2 was actually up. so it's like We had two Screams now we have an analogy to die somewhere again.
01:14:12
Speaker
so so It's the 90s all over again. They're back. yep so yeah Come back for that. Head over to the site. um We got news, reviews, trailers. I got a review of um Jurassic World Rebirth up if you want to read my thoughts about ah the newest Jurassic World movie.
01:14:31
Speaker
And there's, we got a bunch of trailers and all of our usual features there as well. So, however, check all that stuff out. And yes, of for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.
01:14:46
Speaker
For more For Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com. You can also find us on Facebook, at facebook.com slash everything.action and follow us on x at evaction we're also on instagram and threads at everything.action find more episodes of the podcast on apple a podcast spotify or your at podcast app of choice and be sure to rate and subscribe