A flawed, fascinating and distinctly Freudian monster movie.

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 1999)

I have to admit that this really is not the film that I had anticipated for so many months leading up to the release. Viewing some snapshots on the web page, I could almost feel that Gallic style that had oozed out of Jeunet's City of the Lost Children in this, the fourth of the Alien franchise. Yet, Alien Resurrection manages to be the most unremarkable of a series of films that has virtually defined the modern sci-fi action film. And while it may not be as frustratingly hamstrung as Alien3 was (which I actually thought was far better than people gave it credit for), Alien 4 has little of the action, suspense, tragedy, plot and unique style that the three previous films gave us. Perhaps that's just a bit too harsh, but for a film with such high production values and from such a diverse series of films, I don't think it's fair for the audience to have to put up with such an anti-climax (although scribe Joss Whedon, has said that this film is merely a prologue to the planned fifth film, which he will now script).
For those of you that opted not to see Alien3, at the end Ripley chose to sacrifice herself so that the alien inside her would never be born. 200 years on, however, scientists on the USS Auriga have been attempting to clone Ripley so that they can get at the Alien Queen she was carrying when she died. Ripley's gene pool has been mixed with that of the Alien's, meaning that she is now a sadistic schizophrenic with superhuman strength and acid for blood. However, the scientists keeping Ripley overestimate the power of a glass box and (Surprise, Surprise) the aliens break out, causing the inevitable mayhem and frantic running around corridors. The band of likeable but morally cloudy alien fodder (re - the nostromo crew of Alien, the marines in Aliens, and the er... murderers and rapists of Alien3) are this time provided by the crew of the Buffy, sorry I mean Betty, the pirate ship which delivered the bodies needed to incubate the alien embryos. Jeunet regulars Perlman and Pinon make up part of the crew, while Winona Ryder is call, the ships engineer. A slight problem occurs when the survivors realise that the ship is heading straight for earth, finally allowing the Aliens the buffet meal they surely deserve for turning up in space uninvited so many times. Along the way, the Betty crew must weed out the traitor in their group and a confused Ripley must decide where her destiny lies.
Writer Joss Whedon really has tried to make as good an action movie as he possibly can (and he can make good ones ... Speed). That's fine for a Die Hard movie , but it sure as hell is not what is wanted in an alien movie. Jeunets freaky French style is similarly unsuitable, due to being overly stylistic (which, again can work well in the right movies as his previous features have shown us) and never gels properly with Whedons script. However, the most excruciating aspect if the entire film has to be the way that so many elements are interchangeable with previous Alien films, notably Aliens. For example, the crew of the Betty, with their sexism and gung-ho attitude are bad copies of the marines in Aliens, with Perlman's Johner particularly similar to Bill Paxton's Hudson. Also, Ryders sole purpose in the movie seems to be to act as Weavers foil and someone who can outfox the males of the movie, in true newt style. But while Newt was endearing, touching and yet remarkably unnauseating, Ryder seems lost and dizzy for the entire movie.
But it's not all bad news. Weaver gives possibly her most varied and difficult interpretation of Ripley yet, proving that she is one of the worlds most underrated actresses and making Ripley by far the most complex character ever to have appeared in a series of sci-fi films. And if this is the prologue to a more eventful fifth film, this could work better in context (a La Alien3). There are also some gruesome and highly inventive death scenes and the design and FX of the film are stunning . The highlight of the film has to be the truly suspenseful and original underwater chase, closely followed by a dark and tragic scene in which Ripley discovers the not so successful Ripley clones, with one agonisingly alive. The scene allows Weaver to shine fully and I was stunned after seeing that scene for the first time. Overall, the film is a very mixed bag indeed, with some good ideas, underutilised ideas, brilliant ideas and just plain stupid ideas.