FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

hellholehorror This is a bad movie. Like all of the sequels to the first movie. The effects were all computer generated except for the species suit that I have got bored of. They dragged out all of the scenes far more than they ever should have. I have nothing to write. There was no imagination in the film and so I have no imagination to write a review. Another painfully bad entry into the Species series that offers nothing new or good. My favourite bit was the flying nun.

Richard Hawes MGM's Species franchise, like Wishmaster and The Crow, is a perfect example of the law of diminishing returns. Roger Donaldson's 1995 hit Species was a stylish, self-consciously trashy homage to B-movies. One that has had its scenario rehashed three times now. One would expect a low-budget sequel to revel in sleaze and gore, but since 2004, when the concept was resurrected, 6 years after the cinema release of the disastrous Species 2 (1998), for the direct-to-DVD market, there has been a surprising resistance to the gratuitous ingredients of sex and violence. Species 3 paid little more than lip service to the desires of the target audience and the same is true here. Deviating from the plot line established by the first three films, which featured Natasha Henstridge, The Awakening is a standalone feature that references and reimagines the ideas of the first film. It posits an alternative scenario; what if the scientist played by Sir Ben Kingsley in the original had not kept the young girl like a rat in cage? What if he'd raised her like his own? This could have made for an intriguing exploration of nature versus nurture. Had Henstridge's Sil been allowed to develop in a more normal way could her dangerous, alien side have been suppressed? Alas there is little such depth to this cheap cash-in.Kingsley's role is reinterpreted by fellow British thespian Ben Cross, while Swede Helena Mattsson (who looks a bit like Nicole Kidman) takes over where Henstridge and Sunny Mabrey left off. With only four key cast members and no sign of even Michael Madsen, The Awakening is the weakest of exploitation films. Only the audience is being exploited. A studio like MGM isn't short of cash, so the explanation for the cheapness of this film is clear; they knew they can get away with it and turn an easy profit. Studios like The Asylum have their desperately limited resources to explain their crass and dissatisfactory efforts, but there's simply no excuse for a Species film to be as unspectacular as this.Feeling more like a cross between a vampire movie and a retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein than a sexy sci-fi movie, Nick Lyon's film merely coasts on tenuous links to its predecessors. There are the HR Giger-inspired creature costumes and the promise of flesh is vaguely satisfied but there's not much effort or imagination. Were it not for a few gratuitous moments and aggressive curse words this could have been made for mainstream TV. Lyons does well to pay homage to the original film and its subtext but seems to have forgotten how tongue-in-cheek it all was. Species 4 should have taken things to a cartoonish extreme. Instead what could have been knowingly amusing is just po-faced and embarrassing. From Dominic Keating's terrible Aussie accent to the fact that the alien hybrids use their tongues as weapons, at one point they shoot icicle-like spears from their mouths in bullet-time, the experience is one of contradiction.The original Species really went for it. Utterly shameless titillation. The sequel went further, but in a misjudged, sleazy and misogynistic direction. Perhaps this is why the following two instalments have been so tame. The Awakening, as evidenced by its 15 rating, delivers the bare minimum that one could expect from a film with the Species title. Cautiously exploitative. Like its heroine, The Awakening is in denial, trying its best not to give in to its primitive instincts. There's the potential for a wild ride in its concept and its plot, but Lyons takes it so seriously that the only laughs come unintentionally. This is a film in which a back alley scientist creates sex-crazed human/alien hybrids that run around Mexico! One of them dresses as demonic nun and leaps between rooftops, lassoing potential prey with its tongue; this is potentially hilarious stuff! But it's stripped bare, like its heroine in the final act, devoid of emotion. This is a film of wasted opportunities.

Arden Walker They just totally ruined that amazing SIL design by H.R.Giger...I really expected that "Species" series could be at least as good as Alien series but the ruined it. After being disappointed by Species 3, I felt absolutely wreck with Species IV...I mean I am a big fan of 1st species, and the alien-creature in species IV was like a puppet rather than being realistic. SIL design and special effects were good for 1995 situations...But now for 2007 movie (I think its all about the budget I don't know) I didn't expect that...It was utterly, awful..I wish I could give "0"... If they gonna make any other 5th one and if its going to be like this one, please No..Its will be a waste of time...Remember the 1st one please...

Boba_Fett1138 This fourth entry is surprisingly the best out of the series when it comes down to the sequels. Yet the movie is probably best to watch when you don't know any of the previous Species movies, fore in that way the mystery and originality of the movie will work out the best. It's also really not essential to watch any of the previous Species movies before watching this one, fore this movie and its story have basically very little to do with any of the previous entries, that were about aliens trying to breed and being hunt down by the military. This movie takes a totally different direction and approach. As a sequel and especially as a third sequel to the 1995 movie, this movie is surprisingly refreshing in its ideas and executions. No, of course it's no brilliant movie but I'm still raving about it since it's so surprisingly much better than any of its sequels and original as well. Of course not a lot of people are willing to give this movie a chance but I'll urge more people to see this, since it's simply a fine genre movie that is worth watching. It isn't the best or most exciting movie but it's a professionally made one, which makes this a maintaining movie to watch. It doesn't suffer from some of the problems of the other sequels, that had some bad actors in it, among other things. This movie has some good characters and even better actors portraying them. Ben Cross is a good actor and a nice leading man for this movie. Hard to believe he already was 60 years old at the time of this movie! Still I would wish the movie was a bit more exciting. It's a bit lacking in action and definitely lacking in gore. All of the other Species movies were filled with gore and nudity, while this movie features basically little to none of any. It's a quite tame movie, with the expectations of some sequences, that are used to set up a specific mood and tone. The movie is a bit of a bore in parts and often drags on for too long with its story, which is the fault of its writing that offers the movie too little. Some things don't make a lot of sense within this movie and story and some things just don't really add up. However because it's such a fine put together, with a good visual look over it and some nice actors involved, this movie works out as a perfectly watchable one. 6/10