Tied for second-best

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2000)

This is the fourth film in the Alien series and, for my money, tied with "Alien 3" as second-best of the lot, coming behind only the original "Alien" in quality. I'm aware that it's an unpopular opinion, but I definitely think that, while "Aliens" is a damn good action movie, it is a fairly ordinary science fiction movie, and the Alien series is first and foremost about science fiction.
The plot of this movie is simple. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) died at the end of "Alien 3," and now, two hundred years later, the United Systems Military has cloned her and the alien queen inside her. Their genes have become mixed a bit in the cloning process, though, so while Ripley is now something a little more than human, the Queen has her own unique surprises in store.
This is an absolutely beautiful film, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's direction is wonderful. The look of this film - both the sets and the aliens themselves, except for one - is fantastic. The actors are definitely competent, though Weaver, Winona Ryder (Call), Michael Wincott (Elgyn) and Brad Dourif (Gediman) stand out from the crowd. I must admit that I'm yet to be wholly disappointed by either Ryder or Dourif, and they don't even come close in this film.
There *are,* however, problems here, or rather *a* problem. The last alien that Ripley must deal with, the nature of which I won't reveal, is a particularly uninspired piece of design. It's easy to see what Jeunet was trying to achieve with its look, but it comes off as tacky and, frankly, ridiculous. It's sad how such a potentially great film can have such a clear point at which it declines.
Still, the failures of the last ten minutes aside, this is still a film well worth seeing. A particular highlight is the scene underwater; watch for the differences between the way Ripley moves and the other characters do, and see if you can pick up on exactly what she moves like.