A visual freak-show of a movie, in every sense of the word

Rating: 7/10 (16 September 2001)

Alien Resurrection is probably the most detested of the series by fans, I don't really know why. True, it's not great, the beauty of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and DP Darius Khondji's vision doesn't make up for the weak acting (what the hell is Winona Ryder doing here) or the laughable script, but Jeunet cannot make an uninteresting film. From Delicatessen (1991) right up to Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) he's proven that his beautifully surrealistic visual can create a perverse sense of wonder and terror, and with Alien Resurrection he's in full swing.

The film is a visual freak show in every sense of the word, full of bizarre mutations and characters, but the script just lets the film down. This seems to disregard the character of Ellen Ripley, I know she's a clone but they should of given her a little more emotion, think about what the poor woman went through. The scriptwriter Joss Whedon gives us no true hero; Ripley is a shell of her former self so we just don't care about her. To rap up, Alien Resurrection is a decent enough standalone film, but as part of the franchise, it's definitely the weakest.
7/10