Movie Review – “Alien: Resurrection”

This finishes off the movie review requests that can be easily
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Premise

Overzealous researchers bring Ripley back from the dead to
obtain the
aliens. Naturally, people start dying.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Brad Dourif, Ron Perlman,
and Dan
Hedeya are some of the cast members in this movie.
Sole writing credit goes to Buffy and
Firefly
creator Joss Whedon, who has since made it very, very clear
that he’s
dissatisfied with the translation of his script to the screen.
The film was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also helmed
Amelie and Delicatessen. All in all, with
a
creative team like this, the movie should have been much, much
better. The complete cast and crew listings are available from
this IMDB
page
.

High Point

The underwater sequence, but only because the rest of the
movie seems
incredibly like the previous entries in the series. This sequence
had
some dramatic tension, some fine looking aliens, and some
subtlety,
such as the fact that Ripley and the aliens swam with one style,
while
the rest of the crew swam with another.

Low Point

Pretty much everything else falls into this category, although
there
were a couple of stand-outs: the alien instincts to leave a
person’s
respiratory system intact suddenly vanished, and the alien blood
was
often conveniently non-acidic.

The worst of it has to be the ending sequence, though. Once
again,
the crew escapes something that’s about to blow up, only to find
their
escape craft happens to have an alien stowaway that is
eventually
blown out of an airlock. Three out of four movies end this way;
come
on people! Think of something new!

The Scores

The originality of this entry is very poor. Alien
3

may not have worked out very well, but at least they were trying
to go
somewhere new with the series. This one just rehashed any
decent
elements from the first two films, and then grafted in an
underwater
sequence with little motivation. I give it 2 out of 6; five or ten
original minutes aren’t enough to justify a sequel.

The effects were improved on the third film. The CGI
aliens
looked good underwater, and Woodruff and Gillis did some great
work
with models, but the CGI alien on the ladder wasn’t convincing.
That
one alien was only CGI for a very brief time, though, and credit
should be given for animatronic aliens that were able to walk
under
their own power. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story was predictable and uneven. The
basketball mating
ritual was pointless, Call’s secret was obvious (especially to
those
who’d seen the original), and every plot event, twist, and turn was
predictable by virtue of having been used in a previous movie. I’ll
give them some credit for finding a plausible way to bring Ripley
back, though. I give it 3 out of 6.

The acting was much like that of Alien 3;
some of
Weaver’s scenes worked, while most of the rest did not. It really
makes me wonder if Weaver saw anything in this besides another
paycheck. I give it 2 out of 6.

The emotional response this produced was very
poor. The
underwater sequence was effective, but the rest was such
predictable
rehash work that it didn’t really do anything for me. The jokes,
which need to be in an effective thriller as stress relief, didn’t
work because there wasn’t any stress to relieve. I give it 2 out of
6.

The production should have been better. We didn’t
get a
chance to know or like our hapless victims before people started
dying, and some of the outright bastards that should die in a story
like this survived while others did not. There may be some credit
for
realism due there, but when the rest of the movie is so blatantly
formulaic Hollywood action, it goes again the viewer’s
expectations in
a nasty way. The editing later wasn’t tight enough to keep the
pact
accelerating towards a climax, instead providing suddenly slow
scenes
mixed in with the action sequences. The whole project just feels
uninspired. I give it 2 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a stock Hollywood action flick that’s
decent
mindless entertainment. It doesn’t add anything to the series, and
it’s not particularly accessible to those who haven’t seen the
previous films. I’d suggest pulling out your copy of the director’s
cut of Aliens and watching that instead. (If you don’t
own a
copy of Aliens, ask yourself why. If it’s lack of
interest,
this will be even less satisfying. If it’s lack of funds, don’t waste
money with this instead.) This sequel is the only one that feels
like
nothing more than a cash cow. I give it 2 out of 6.

In total, Alien: Resurrection receives 18 out of 42.

One reply

  1. Another never-should-have-been
    Worse than stock Hollywood “mindless action films with some entertainment value” are those that ruin the legacy of their much superior prequels. Alien was a horror classic. Cameron’s Aliens was a terrific action-thriller that I give high praise for being a logical continuation of the first. It should have stopped there. Fandom and Hollywood should have resisted any and all desires and urges for more; at least until a truly worthy successor story-wise was discovered. Anything else is either impatience or cash-cow milking, both of which are bad for the movie arts. I can almost forgive Alien3 for it’s brooding fatalistic departure from the moods of the previous 2, but only almost; I can’t forgive the deus ex machina “oh there happened to be an alien crab or two on the escape vessel again”. This one goes a step further: “hmm, we need Sigourney again but she died… hey let’s use genetic engineering to have her reborn !!!”. Granted, they didn’t necessarily ruin the concepts of the original movie the way Highlander 2+ did for Highlander, but they just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

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