Species III (2004) - Reduced to a 'D-movie'

I'm not saying the original 'Species' movie was a masterpiece.  Anything revolving around an over-sexed alien running round trying to er 'reproduce' with as many men as possible is hardly going to be regarded as 'high art.' But, boy, was it hot fun back in the day.  It had (somehow!) well-established actors among the cast and a creature designed by the same man who had come up with the look of the 'xenomorph' from the iconic 'Alien' franchise.

Then came the sequel.  No, it wasn't as good as the original, but it was okay.  If you had your sights set low enough you could still get some fun out of it.  Now we come to 'part 3.' This one went straight to TV, not even deemed good enough for a mainstream theatrical release.  And I can't say I'm surprised.

If you gauge how good a movie is by how much you want to check your mobile phone during its runtime, then you'll be scrolling through the social media site of your choice for just over ninety minutes.  It really is just dull.

The original star of the first two movies (Natasha Henstridge) returns for the third chapter, but don't get too hopeful - her role is little more than a cameo and you could have probably got a similar looking actress to play the part and no one would have noticed.  We have another rogue scientist trying to splice human and alien DNA and - guess what - it results in an attractive girl or two running round trying to keep her species alive - if you get what I mean.

Only this time the characters don't even come close to being likable and you won't really care about the fate of mankind if these people are the best we have to offer.  Whereas before the alien effects looked genuinely creepy and if they could well have come from another world or dimension, now they're basically a man in a rubber suit jumping about the place while the camera tries to cut away quickly to disguise what they really are.

There's a bit of gore here and there, but it doesn't elevate the film at all.  This is one film that could have once upon a time be considered part of a trash (but fun) B-movie franchise, yet has descended into just something that you probably shouldn't bother wasting your time with.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)