The following is a short review of Alien: Resurrection – Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. For more Alien reviews, check out this category.
Alien: Resurrection takes place more than a hundred years after the events of David Fincher’s Alien 3, and the film follows Ripley 8 (played by Sigourney Weaver), a clone of Ellen Ripley, on the space ship USM Auriga, on which many Xenomorph and Ripley-DNA experiments have taken place.
Scientists aboard the space ship have raised Xenomorphs, but when they inevitably break out of their enclosures, and when it becomes clear that the Auriga is returning to Earth, Ripley 8 teams up with a group of mercenaries in an attempt to stop the space ship from getting to Earth.
There are so few things to like about this movie. So, I’m going to start by actually just mentioning what I like about it. I’ve always enjoyed the underwater-scene. That is honestly the one image I remember Resurrection for. I also really like how creepy the look of that one scene where people are seemingly being forced to be impregnated by the alien facehugger is.
Even though I like Alien 3 and I dislike Alien: Resurrection, it is way more fun to rewatch Resurrection for obvious reasons. I think this is a great example of a guilty pleasure movie. The dialogue and the tone of the film makes it a film that is fun to watch even when it makes no sense, and sometimes even because it makes no sense.
“Who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?”
But it is just not a good movie, and here is why I don’t like Resurrection: It has a lot of cringeworthy dialogue, the plot doesn’t make a lot of sense, and the film fails to properly explain various essential elements of the plot. I always hated how odd Ripley 8 is, and I hate that this was the type of character they gave Sigourney Weaver. And then, of course, you have the awful – just awful – Newborn creature.
The overall tone of the film also doesn’t mesh well with the violence in the film, or the world of Alien. The basketball scene is one of the weirdest scenes in the franchise, but my personal ‘favorite’ odd scene in the film is when Call (played by Winona Ryder) tries to hold and drink from a cup while she is wearing big red boxing gloves.
It really hurts to say this, but Alien: Resurrection isn’t the worst film in the Alien-franchise (there’s a certain spin-off film that gets that honor). Alien: Resurrection is an awful Alien-sequel with very few bright spots. There are some interesting ideas in there, and it also contains some cool visuals. But Alien: Resurrection is a disgrace to the franchise.
4.5 out of 10
– Jeffrey Rex
I'm Jeffrey Rex 