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Film Review - Alien: Resurrection

The first time I saw a trailer for Alien: Resurrection, I groaned. No! Not another one! Alien 3 really sucked, but thank God Ripley died! Now we're bringing her back from the dead in search of more cash!

I have to admit this film is far better than I was expecting. It certainly kicks ass over Alien 3. First, we still have really stupid people in the human race who want to capture the alien species to use as either a biotech source or a direct weapon. OK, people will remain stupid.

Also it has been re-affirmed that in the future, no one will ever be able to build a spaceship that can remain clean. Maybe they come from the factory with grease smeared everywhere. What do I know? I'm a liberal arts major.

What is great in Alien: Resurrection is the re-creation of Ripley. This isn't your father's Sigourney Weaver. This Ellen Ripley has memories from the original, but she's different. She's part alien herself, and Weaver plays it as if there's a little more reptile brain stem working here. Ron Perlman plays a fun macho mercenary named Johner. He's not a nice guy. But if you're in a Us Against Them fight, you want him on the Us team.

The aliens by now aren't going to be a surprise, so no one is trying to hide them as in the original. We do see aliens doing new stuff like swimming (done very well with computer animation) and interacting with the sick and twisted scientist (Brad Dourif) trying to tame them.

There's not much of a message here. There is a comment about humanity not being very humane. But this is a fun bug hunt, with a few great characters. If you liked Aliens, you will probably like this. If you got turned off by Alien 3, give this a chance.

Jammed Pipe!

Film Facts

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Released in 1997

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewed by Mongo