"They could fuck the human race out of existence!" warns Michael Madsen in this inevitable--and inevitably contrived--sequel to 1995's surprise sci-fi hit. He's referring to a celebrated astronaut (Justin Lazard) infected with alien DNA from his history-making Mars landing, and the half-alien Eve (Natasha Henstridge), who was created from alien-human embryo splicing by biochemist Dr Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) in an effort to discover the alien species' vulnerabilities on Earth. While the astronaut sows his gruesomely wild oats with doomed women (resulting in a bevy of creepy kids in alien cocoons), Eve goes into heat until she and the astronaut can consummate their procreative lust. Sex and death are served up like money-shots in a porno flick, with an emphasis on gory flesh-regeneration, explosive pregnancies and slimy-tentacled intercourse. All of which makes this is the kind of derivative schlock that only a true fan could love, but it's boosted to a tolerable level of entertainment by the returning cast (Madsen, Henstridge and Helgenberger) from the previous film. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Follow up to the strangely successful Species. Eve, half alien/half human clone of the original bad guy is housed in a top security lab. She seems happy enough there, but trouble kicks off when another alien takes over the body a Space Shuttle astronaut and comes back to Earth to have kids...

The movie that transformed Keanu Reeves into a bona fide action hero, Speed was also former cinematographer Jan De Bont’s assured directorial debut. It’s an almost perfect high-concept movie that lives up to its title both in the adroit choreography of the action set-pieces and Graham Yost’s taut screenplay, which is admirably stripped of all padding.

De Bont further heightens the excitement by his use of authentic locations as the out-of-control bus travels through, across and--in one unforgettable scene--a few feet in the air above the urban sprawl of LA. And instead of relegating the love interest to a dull subplot, here Sandra Bullock is an integral part of the action as she and her bus career around the city at 50-plus miles an hour. Even the opening credits neatly illustrate the film’s title, as does composer Mark Mancina’s pulsing score. Sensibly, Reeves passed on the ill-advised sequel and took on The Matrix instead; both screenwriter and director have yet to do anything better than this.

On the DVD: Speed is the kind of movie that was made for the DVD format, and this two-disc special edition does it full justice. The feature is presented anamorphically in its original 2.35:1 ratio with spectacularly vivid Dolby 5.1 or DTS 5.1 options. Jan De Bont provides a commentary, though his solo effort is less engaging than that of chatty producer Mark Gordon and writer Graham Yost who enjoy constantly interrupting each other.

Disc 2 has lots of goodies, including mini-documentaries on the key action set-pieces with storyboards and multi-angle views of the major stunts. "Inside Speed" looks at various aspects of the production, from locations to stunts; production design and visual effects, plus reproducing all of Graham Yost’s original screenplay. There are individual interviews with the director and principal stars, a short selection of extended scenes and a brief deleted one; a photo gallery, plus a promotional menu in which there is a HBO "making of" featurette, TV spots, trailers, a press kit and Billy Idol’s music video. In all, a satisfyingly extensive package.--Mark Walker