Nothing original

Rating: 5/10 (5 August 2005)

The problem with these stories that develop themselves in several successive episodes is that quality deteriorates from the first on. This saga of the alien monsters doesn't escape this rule. If the first movie was good mainly for the originality of the main theme and the creativity of its conception the following ones became repetitive and mere action movies for lack of ideas(I must say however that I have not yet seen the third one). If you still recall the first movie you may remember that the monsters' image was only suggested by some glimpses which left large field for the viewer's imagination to conceive them. From the moment they began to be shown entirely they lost much of their power to thrill or scare us. This 4th episode has indeed some good and some original ideas. But like someone already said about a certain novel, the good ones are not original and the original ones are not good. The rest is mere action to rivet your attention till the ending which is moreover predictable. There is therefore not much to credit this movie except that it's technically well made but you know the part that computers take nowadays in this kind of sci-fi movies. A final note to say that the acting was not very good with the exception of Sigourney Weaver of course. All the others were much stereotyped some of them almost as monstrous as the monsters themselves mainly in moral terms.