Customer Reviews

Alien Resurrection [VHS]

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(79)
3 star:		(75)
2 star:		(58)
1 star:		(76)

 

 

What people forget when they respond to this film is that Alien 3 shut down the series, very deliberately and very conclusively. Not only did Ripley die, but the driving concerns of the series that were set up in the first film had been addressed. So there was nowhere to go but in a radically new direction, and that's what Jean-Pierre Jeunet did. While the first films used the aliens and the technological context in which they appeared to address the question what makes us specifically human, this new contribution to the series is more interested in the question of a possible "post-human" future.

In Alien the enemy was not really the monster. The monster's unique method of reproduction merely served to highlight the "human condition": that we are vulnerable, that our bodies are ill-equipped for survival except in the most congenial of circumstances, that they are subject to violation by organic and inorganic forces outside of us. The idea of being "violated" through the mouth and "impregnated" by a monster is horrible, but that possibility serves to highlight our dependency upon science and technology in order to stay alive (even her on Earth), and our increasing "alienation" through technology from the natural world and from the evolutionary struggle for survival. Ash (the robot scientist) and Mother (the artificially intelligent computer that kept them alive and gave instructions) and the Company (that treats human life as expendible) were the real enemies of Alien. Ripley was a hero because she didn't think scientific fact and material gain trump human empathy (her concern for a cat) and human interests.

Aliens takes the same ideas and the same basic storyline and expands it: more military, more weapons, a girl and a sensitive soldier instead of a cat, but ends on a familiar note. Ripley ejects the threat out of the airlock and is able to escape with her body and her principles intact. This relatively optimistic resolution of both the first and the second film is what Fincher's third film rejected, by impregnating Ripley and killing off the girl and the boyfriend during the opening credits. This time the issue is raised onto a theological plane and the question is whether we can find meaning in a universe where not only are there alien forces beyond our control that can destroy us but that, as a general rule even if there are exceptions, we humans either can't seem to help ourselves or don't much care as we harm others for our own gain. Ripley seems to find meaning in her final act of destroying the alien and herself, thus saving humanity from the careless greed that would use such a monster without regard to the human consequences. With that act, while not all questions the series raises are completely resolved, the series seems to reach a logical end, having adressed gender, reproduction, humanity, science, technology, war, all in the context of defining the human over and against those alien forces that threaten constantly to overwhelm humanity.

With Alien Resurrection, the series starts again, but in a new direction. Sigourney Weaver is no longer playing Ripley, but an Alien/Human cloned hybrid who somehow remembers something of her former incarnation but no longer possesses the same kind of horror of the alien. In fact what horrifies her most are images of her own creation, visions of the technological process that brought her into being. Whereas the first three films aimed for a certain kind of realism, Alien Resurrection verges on the surrealistic nightmare landscape of Jeunet's The City of Lost Children and Delicatessen. What we see may seem silly or strange or skewed, but I think that is because we are intended to get a skewed, or post-human, vision of the human attempt to control the monster, that would seem strange and absurd through the eyes of the no-longer quite human Ripley and the android Call (Winona Rider).

Admittedly, this is a brief and undeveloped defense of the film - and in this brief form it is probably guilty of over-intellectualizing the films, and "forgetting" that the primary appeal of these films is not "intellectual" but visceral -- but I hope it suggests another perspective: that rather than think Alien Resurrection is a failure because it doesn't live up to the terms of the series as Ridley Scott set them up, we should consider the possibility that a "resurrection" of the series may require a reworking of its basic assumptions and style. I admit to being heavily influenced in my opinions about this film by Stephen Mulhall's excellent little book On Film - while I disagree with some details of his account, I think his general approach to thinking about the Alien series as a whole is quite intelligent and compelling.)

This is surely one of the slickest action films made in recent years, with superb acting and absolutely fascinating storyline for anyone interested in the Alien saga. Fans will have watched this in dread praying that the reputation of the first three films would be preserved. They can rest assured. The action is slick, the effects brilliant, the aliens terrifying, the plot spellbinding (though reassuring in its familiarity) and individual scenes (the newborn dying, the mutations being flamed etc.) breathtaking. Watch it, buy it, add it to the saga.

Spoiler Alert for those of you who intend to see this film.....

In this one Ellen Ripley is gone. However her clone lives on. What I liked about this one was at least they delivered with a decent story. Ripley is the next stage in Alien development for the bio weapons division that have her part of a cloning experiment. The scene where she uses the flame thrower to put them out of their misery was the most chilling.

You can't predict as easily who's going to be alien food in this one. The last one was like a slasher movie. This one is decent enough to see a few times. I am very surprised that Geiger was not called back to work more extensively. He had ideas for aliens that change color; ones that make unearthly noises as they speed down the air shaft. After reading how he was shut out of the process I can tell you the movie series won't survive without his input. If they make another one I hope they bring back Geiger's ideas to evolve the series.

I was disappointed by ALIEN 3. That movie's nihilistic deconstructionist view of life ruined everything that had been built by the first two films (I couldn't help but think that Frank Miller had a part in the movie's creation). After the dismal ALIEN 3, I was hoping for a better movie in ALIEN RESURRECTION and wasn't too disappointed. I knew that as part of the plot, Ripley had been cloned and unlike some, was not upset by that. Ripley is one tough cookie and though she died a hero's death in ALIEN 3, it's nice to see her get another chance.

I thoroughly enjoyed ALIEN RESURRECTION until the last twenty minutes of the film. Granted the plot was true to the formula of a usual Hollywood sci-fi action flick. Nevertheless, there is a lot that made this film better than the last Alien film. Ripley's back with Alien DNA that gives her some very useful gifts, there are a few interesting twists (what is Winona Ryder's character hiding), and we get to see the Aliens swimming underwater. However, the last twenty minutes of the film ruined all the good points of the movie. I won't give the ending away, but those last twenty minutes turned the film into a live action cartoon. I guess the writers got lazy at the end, giving their job to the special effects people and this is the sfx team's way of getting back (movie- making fact: one great way to ruin any movie is to have cheesy effects, unless of course you're making a cheesy movie).

Overall, ALIEN RESURRECTION is a decent sci-fi film. As part of the Alien franchise, it doesn't compare to the first two films, but brings some hope back into the series after the bleak ALIEN 3.

Believe it or not, there's some life in the old girl. If you missed the last one (almost the entire viewing public did), all you really need to know is that the perpetually soggy-haired Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) died, taking her toothy little friends with her. Now, 200 years later, the big bad mama of sci-fi is actually a clone of the original.

Ripley II, we soon find out, is really a half-breed-that's right, she's part alien-and the madman science guys have ordered some fresh homo sapiens for more experiments of the chest-popping variety. Oh, it's yucky, but in a good way.

The story is one-note, horrific actually, but what did you expect. Everyone gets trapped in the spaceship and spend most of the movie being chased down eerie corridors or, most impressively, through a long, underwater storage tank, where bullets travel more slowly and the aliens swim like Mark Spitz.

What makes Alien Resurrection one of best of the brood is the startling and rich camera work and the gothically immense sets, which create a claustrophobia you won't believe. It's a fabulously rendered piece of suspense.

I have always been a big fan of the Alien quadrilogy. Actually, make that the trilogy. This 4th installment really seems tacked on to the first three, and should have been left in some writer's mind, not on the movie screen. It really brings none of the originality that the first three enjoyed. I would recommend renting this one only so that you've seen the complete set - otherwise, standing alone, it rates only as a passable alien/sci-fi movie. That they brought Ripley back from blood found on the Alien3 planet is really an insult to the audience - she went out with a bang and proved her character in the first three, this movie just regurgitates a successful idea in the name of making some extra bucks for the studio.

Just by way of background, and while other reviewers seems to prefer to reveal much of the story and plot, I think that sort of ruins the film in many cases. So, you'll want to look for other reviews and reviewers if that is what you are looking for...

This movie had a lot of problems.

1) Characters. The whole band of merry criminals was completely uninteresting. In Alien, the crew was very absorbing and each character was unique and well drawn. In Aliens, the Marines were terrific - interesting, entertaining, sympathetic. Even Alien 3 had some good characters in the prison inmates. Alien Resurrection however is just a collection of generic cliches. I never cared about any of them at all, and even found them slightly annoying at times. They were utterly one dimensional, I've seen those exact characters in countless low budget movies, they had no uniqueness, they might as well have just put them in a can labelled "Purina Alien Chow". Winona Ryder's character, though she at least had a modicum of depth, really belonged in a Lifetime Movie of the Week. She didn't add anything to this film.

2) Action. The action in this movie wasn't even slightly believable, starting with the shootout between the criminals and the soldiers aboard the ship. At very short range, every soldier is killed and not a single criminal even wounded. Ripley escaped from certain doom on several ocassions - I never felt as if she was in any peril at all. Then the action kept coming to a dead stop just when things were getting interesting. For instance, when everyone is in a huge hurry to get off the ship, Ripley decides to stop and wipe out a room full of failed clones. Truly one of those "Aw, you gotta be kidding me" moments.

3) Suspense. In the earlier movies one was on the edge of their seat wondering how in the world the characters would get away from the aliens. Sure you knew Sigourney Weaver would probably survive, but that never really crossed your mind while watching because the movies were so well done. Not so here. It's just formulaic - you know the aliens are going to chase these folks around for a while and then everything will be alright. There's no real feeling that these folks are in much danger because you don't really care if they die or not.

Overall, this movie is not a worthy sequel to the other films. Even Alien 3 was much better than this - it had loads of atmoshpere, characters that one cared about, and you actually felt as if they were in extreme danger. The reason I give this movie 2 stars is because some of the special effects were good, especially the scene where the alien chases some guys into an escape pod. The swimming aliens were cool as well, that's about all this movie has going for it: A couple of cool special effects scenes.

Okay, one of these face-grabber things attaches itself to you, knocks you out, shoves a tube down your throat and drops an embryo. Soon, the face-grabber falls off and you revive. You walk around just fine for a few days, then the embryo (somewhat larger) bursts out of your stomach, which kills you, and the embryo scoots and squeals away to kill everyone else on your spaceship or planet or whatever.

My question, Officer Ripley, is: If you only serve as a temporary host for an embryo, which originates, grows and bursts out as a completely separate organism, then what makes anyone think that cloning YOU will ALSO produce one of the parasite organisms?

I once asked Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee if she ever felt guilty about receiving automatic salary increases (unless congress acts to avoid them), and she just looked at me with a blank stare. I would expect that same sort of reaction from the screenwriter who came up with THIS premise.

To say this is a good or bad movie depends on the criteria on which you judge it. As a brainless action/horror move, it works. As a sequel to a legendary series, it is one of the biggest disappointments in film history.

I got the whole Alien series in one set even though I really only wanted the first two. Hey it was cheaper. And I was surprised that when I watched the third film how much more I liked it. So I was feeling brave and watched Resurrection. You see I had seen it in the theater and almost walked out I was so disgusted. In those two hours I could have been doing something more fun, like carving bars of soap in to little funny shapes. ... Seeing it again reminded me of what I was missing. A lot of nothing and a lot of soap carving.

This movie has all the ingredients but has forgotten the recipe. A sequel should improve on or at least be as good as the movie(s) that have come before it. This is not easy and rarely ever happens. But that does not stop filmmakers from trying. There is a good cast, good enough effects, and lots of money involved. But what the 4th film does not have is a decent story. There is no character depth or development, no reason to care if they live or die. And if I don't care about what is going on, than why bother seeing it? The plot is equally thin. So they cloned Ripley for the alien. Most people with any sense would think that messing with things that bleed acid and bite off heads is a bad idea. And why would her DNA have anything to do with the alien's? They are two separate species after all. The answer is; because they want to make a quick box office buck. Or what about her memory? Why would a clone remember anything? That could have been an interesting subplot to the film. If I pay to see a movie, I expect it not to insult my intelligence. The rest of the movie is so lacking in sense that it's practically brain dead. Anyone who stayed awake in science class could see the logical holes in this movie...

Okay so ignore the flat characters, non-existent story and moronic plot. ...what does it offer? I wish I could say there was a single point where I was surprised or startled. If it looks like they should not go in there, than they will probably get attacked. Sure enough that is what happens. Surprise, surprise. The effects are a mixed bag; the CGI stuff looks good except it looks like CGI and the alien puppets look good except they look like puppets. There really is nothing here that we have not already seen in better films. The action is not as fast and furious as Aliens, nor is there any suspense or mystery like Alien. And the series did not end gracefully like in Alien3. I was not impressed with the acting. Most everyone dies, so they never really need to portray an interesting character. Weaver could have practically phoned in her lines. Granted they mutated Ripley, but it's a tired last-ditch effort for a character that we already knew everything about almost ten years ago. The other equally capable actors are given little to work with. That's a shame since there is some real talent in this film. At least the filmmakers did sort of try to give us a few new things. But did we really want to see a Queen pregnant? Was any of the silly stuff with the "Newborn" needed? ... More like a zombie than a phoenix, it has come back to remind us how much better the first two films are.

Someone once said; "They do not make B movies anymore, they just give them multimillion dollar budgets and call them A movies". This is not far from the truth. By now we understand the alien concept, we know how it works, the formula is used up. The only thing left to show are people getting their heads bit off. And how much of that have we already seen? Time to move on. ...I would avoid this film at all costs. ... There is little to look at on the DVD. The others have some interesting "making of" features, even with some cool behind the scenes footage and cast and crew interviews. There is nothing like that, just the theater trailer and a feeble attempt at a "making of" that is hardly worth watching. But if you should see it, then be prepared. ... Don't say I did not warn you.

Sigourney Weaver does it again in the final movie. No disappointment here, she kicks A**!!! In this final movie, there are people who survive with her, nice to see. It is a Movie that would be worthwhile adding to your action movie collection.