So close yet so far away....

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2001)

**SPOILERS**Allright, admittedly this film does not come close to the previous films. But I think that was the whole point, seeing as how each film in the series was directed by a different director each with their own vision of how the common threads of the series (Ripley and the Alien) were portrayed.
"Alien" had Ridley Scott working closely with H.R. Giger(whose design inspired the character) to bring something that audiences had never encountered before, which was a scifi horror with human elements (mainly brought by the character of Eleanor Ripley, brilliantly played by Sigourney Weaver). Scott wanted to give us an anticipated chill by portraying the alien as a killer who is barely seen, but when revealed is more terrifying than anything we've come to expect from horror genre, while elevating scifi to a new level. With the introduction of Ripley, we find ourselves empathizing with the character because she's so human and therefore fallible.
"Aliens" director James Cameron brought the action and SFX needed to give this series a jolt. In this one Ripley's just beginning to realize what has happened to her, but by setting it 57 years after the first one, becomes even more of a shock to the system. With her daughter dead, a mining colony on the same planet where the alien was found, we find her growing physically capable while slowly becoming emotionally detached. The addition of the marines (a group straight out of a Vietnam War pic), a sleazy lawyer (played neurotically but with an underlying menace by Paul Reiser), Bishop (the android at the opposite end of the spectrum for Ash in the first film) and Newt (who basically represents the daughter Ripley never had a chance to raise), Cameron adds the action portion while still containing the human elements we loved from the first film. Here Ripley has grown from a damsel-in-distress to a woman capable of handling an entire nest of these aliens, as well as introducing the Queen (an incredibly beautiful touch by Cameron on his part on the similarities between insect colonies/alien colony)), a complete turnaround from dealing with just one of them from the first film.
David Fincher, the director of "Alien3", wanted to have that one lone menace from the first film, but redefining the series by setting it in an abandoned maximum security prison/lead works, run by the former prisoners (all men) of the facility. By putting Ripley in that testosterone-filled setting, he changed the rules. He even upped the ante by allowing the alien to carry on through other creatures, besides human, be hosts for it. By doing this, he gave the alien abilities and a new look by taking characteristics from it's host (the dog) and fusing them with the alien's capabilities. Fincher also brought to us the alien's POV, which had never been seen before in the series, and used it with great effect. And having Ripley as the host for the new queen was an unbelievable way to end the character because at that point, she had finally reached her full potential. The analogy of Ripley (the strong capable leader) and a queen alien being inside her was just perfect, and having them both die together while Ripley flings herself into the lead works becoming essentially a saviour/martyr of the remainder of humanity was a great way to end the story.
Finally I come to "Alien: Resurrection", which must be treated as a separate film with the common threads of the series, Ripley and the alien. Director Jean-Pierre Jeune brought to us the fantastic visual style that made his last effort, "La CitÃ© Des Enfants Perdus (The City of the Lost Children)" such a cult classic. But by doing this, it weakened the expectations of the audience, who hoped to see the same old Ripley vs. Alien scenario, which in this case would not have worked, seeing as how the character of Eleanor Ripley had died in the last film. Sigourney Weaver decided to play the new Ripley as a being with inherited memories of Ripley's, but also sharing alien characteristics (acidic blood, fast reflexes, healing and heightened strength). In this way the character becomes almost like a double agent of humanity and the aliens, leaving you wondering whose side she's on, and depending on certain parts of the film, leaves you guessing. The new elements of the military experimentation, pirates (with Winona Ryder as Call, an emotional android capable of being humane) and the sense of humor brought to the table by Ron Pearlman and Dominique Pinon's characters are surprisingly enjoyable, but a far cry from what we know of the series. And yes I thought the "Newborn" indeed repelling, but I also felt sympathetic towards it because of it's emotional state (not sure who to trust and how to handle being what it is, almost as if it were a newborn puppy). And with aliens actually heading for Earth, which the first three films were aiming toward by preventing such a thing to happen, that brought an adrenaline kick to the film. The ambiguity of the ending left me wondering where the series might be headed.
Final analysis? "Alien: Resurrection" may not be on par with the earlier films, but as a scifi/horror/action film, it holds it's own. I give it a rating of 7 out of 10, minus three for plot elements and acting.