A little to gory, and too few scary moments. ** out of ****

Rating: 4/10 (3 December 1999)

ALIEN: RESURRECTION (1997) **
Starring: Sigourney, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, and Gary Dourdan Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Running Time: 109 Minutes Rated R (for strong gruesome sci-fi violence and gore, and for language)

By Blake French:
"Alien Resurrection" does not carry the tradition brought to us with "Alien," years ago. This film is contrived, flat, and relies heavily on special effects and enormously gruesome creature attacks to pull the movie through a lengthy running time of nearly an hour and fifty minutes. Sure, the visual atmosphere, special alien effects, and science fiction action are all impressive, and I liked much of the film thanks to those elements. I did not care for the movie, however, for many reasons. Mainly due to the absence of a story line beyond scene after scene of violent behavior.

The story takes place 200 years after the last "Alien" movie. Ripley has been cloned from a drop of her blood and is still the main character. All this takes place on a massive space ship, where the government wishes to breed alien for medical reasons. Most of the movie takes place on a freighter ran by a homeless crew. Something goes wrong, aliens break out of their restraints, and wreak havoc on most of the members of the crew. However, they have Ripley with them to explain what is going on. One of the group members is named Annalee Call (Winona Ryder), whose identity may not be what it seems. She and the rest of the band are placed in situation after situation with a simple gimmick of how they must reach their way back to earth without aliens on board. Most of the production is spent detailing these situations, and at times, perhaps in a little too much detail.

Some of the film's violence gores a little over the edge at times. Lets say an individual excepts the fact that aliens tare off and or crush victims' heads frequently, as well as doing their gobble de gook scare scenes when they kill no one. There are even murder scenes under water, obviously taking some pointers from "Jaws." And the stomach churning suction sequence in space where the aliens and the last of the remaining humans are placed on a shuttle, will stick with you long after the ending credits roll by. This is not a movie for the faint of hear, young, or squeamish.
Most of the performances were modicum satisfactory, but none were anything noteworthy. Sigourney Weaver is surely running out of energy with the Alien series, and seems a bit lost here. Winona Ryder suffers from the exact same syndrome. Her character inhabits such a big twist near the end of the film, it is a shame that it isn't very effective. Since characters are such in lacking of humanity, and the aliens are so brilliantly crafted, it is hard not to root for the monsters here.
Brought to you by 20th Century Fox.