The Aliens vs. their worst enemy; commercionalism

Rating: 7/10 (11 October 2000)

Although there are some pretty poignant scenes in here, and this is overall quite enjoyable to watch, it suffers from quite a few flaws of a typical Hollywood (i.e stupid) big-budget late 90's action thriller flick; rather corny dialogue that fails to be properly witty and over-uses a rude word that rhymes with "duck" every two minutes, an overall plot that often seems too far-fetched and flimsy to take seriously (although everyone on-screen pretends they do), a general balance of brawn over brains in the form of tacky computer-made special effects, and over-milkage of one annoying little movie star (Winona Ryder in this case, who manages to be genuinely irritating. Her character Call is a screen-hogging nuisance as well).

Nevertheless, this is entertaining enough to watch, with lots of shooting, some pretty strong horror moments directed with decent flair and of course, the Alien monicker to back it up. The big problem is that many will feel that the Alien franchise deserves much better than this, which feels way too teenager-oriented. And there's no denying that the first three Alien films are streets ahead of this both for style and substance.
So not an absolute travesty, but not quite worthy of the big name of the Alien films either.