Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

talisencrw I may have been up really late at night, but I didn't mind 'Alien Species' at all. Its craftsmanship for such a cheap B-movie production was pretty good (although the special effects looked like they were created on a Nintendo or Sega Genesis, and then grafted onto the film), the script was interesting enough in the realm of 'alien hostile takeover' movies, and its pace never lagged for a second. While watching it, the film's ending was very ambiguous, as if this had been planned as a pilot film for a TV-series, or at the very least, a feature-length sequel.I loved the work of veteran character actors Charles Napier and Hoke Howell (the latter died shortly after the film's completion, and the death is mentioned in the end credits). Their consummate professionalism gave a classy sheen that the film otherwise didn't deserve. It's definitely worth a watch, though, to fans of both B-movies and of science fiction.

Henry Spencer For those who may have missed it: In 1999 Earth was attacked by monstrous aliens! Randomly they destroyed entire cities with their spaceships, killed and kidnapped people and tried to conquer our world. The War of the Worlds was on fire! But, to our luck, there were some upright fighter, people like you and me, who stood up against this eerie encounter of the third kind and stood in the way of the invaders. They had figured out how to destroy the spaceships of the aliens, and in doing so, save the freedom of mankind, at least for the next few years. But they could not destroy this alien seed of horror permanently... ALIEN SPECIES is a mix of countless set pieces from well known (and lesser known) science fiction movies, a potboiler in which a motley group of stereotype protagonists has to defend themselves against a seemingly overwhelming threat, and thereby, incidentally, save the world. The sterile atmosphere of the film is mainly due to the fact that it was apparently shot with digital equipment, and it is in many scenes reminiscent of an episode of a cheap TV series. Of little help in terms of a compelling production are also the very cheap CGI effects, the unpleasant, inept actors, the annoying music and endless, boring dialog scenes. The whole project was probably a little too big for the available budget. Some films ALIEN SPECIES shamelessly uses as "inspiration" are CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIEN SULLA TERRA (!) and of course ALIEN. The open end of the film intends a sequel, which is announced in the end credits: "Coming Soon: Alien Species 2 - The Invasion." Fortunately, until now this seems not to have been realized.

Michael Martin I downloaded this movie from the New York Public Library, more to see how the NYPL system worked than to watch a movie. SciFi is one of my favorite genres and this TITLE popped up on top. A is for Alien, after all.As it began playing, I just had to log onto IMDb to see if maybe this movie was, perhaps, a sci-fi COMEDY. Alas, no. The movie is too lame to be comedy, too crappy (in all the wrong ways) to develop a cult following. From the get-go, the plot is overly convenient. Gadget geeks will love the c.1990s video monitors in the opening scene. . . "Hey, you are supposed to be watching those monitors?" "Come quick, look what just appeared on the monitors!" 1996? Looks like a time warp back into the 1980s. Check out the posters on the wall. And how about those first contact graphical special effects? What IS that software playing "Galileo 2 Raw Data Feed.wav?" On a "KFC monitor?! The lead actor didn't really pull off geeky, and his female counterpart just looked like her wardrobe came from the set of "Sexy Secretaries Gone Wild."But, I did watch it until the end, searching for signs of intelligent life (and more bad sets and lousy effects). It is one of those movies you can have fun making fun of, a la MST3K

Kenneth Eagle Spirit This is NOT that bad of a sci-fi flick. Certain aspects of it are OK. Charles Napier is a good actor, but comes across as a bit over the top in this role. Hoke Howell is OK in his role. The rest? So so at best. Although I do give Jodi Seronick extra points for at least being able to act when she screams or cries and for being a fox. Now, as for whats left ... Plot? Its there, kind of. Earth is invaded. Continuity? Well, there was that horrendous storm that they all had to contend with during the first part of the movie that I never really saw any good evidence of. Special effects? They run from being pretty good and reminiscent, I think, of the last season of the original "Battlestar Galactica" and the TV mini series "V", to being REALLY bad. Certain shots of the galaxy look more like an out of focus photo of popcorn and juju beans laying on the theatre floor. And there is that one explosion involving an alien fighter/saucer in which the use of Fourth of July fireworks, literally, is evident. Dialog and scripting? OK for the most part, terrible in spots. Example: Max, when asked how he found them, replies that he jumped in the car to look for them. Cool. The next time I'm looking for someone and I don't know where they are I'll know exactly what to do. Jimmy Hoffa will be so proud. Sound track? Again, so so. Plausability? OMG! Examples: Max, when asked where the bazooka in the back of his vehicle came from, says he found it on the side of the road and picked it up in case of an emergency. AND he downloads alien info onto his laptop from an alien contraption that must've been in some way compatible in less than a minute! Maybe Mircosoft has outlets in spots I'm unaware of. Anyway, with all it's bad points I still found enough bright spots in it, principally the special effects and the passable action sequences, for the thing to be mildly entertaining.