Aliens2:The revenge - well, no - sorry....

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2001)

Aliens2 this ain't - and that seems to be the reason for the overwhelming amount of bile that has been heaped upon this film, mostly by American reviewers. You see, this does'nt try to play by the numbers - don't get me wrong, this is not war and peace, but it's not studio kowtowing either. Resurrection manages to take the unintentionally amusing and laughably patchy Alien3 and come up with a plausible way to bring back Ripley from the dead.
Now all those expecting Ripley to bond with a cutesy little girl, strap together two guns or get down with her bad self inside a power suit will no doubt feel let down by the new "alienated" Ripley that manages to be far more menacing and infinitely more interesting than the old one.
All those expecting the Marines to kick Alien butt will also be disappointed - in this film they actually manage to do the more believable thing and vacate as soon as possible rather than provide the Aliens with HostsRus. This Ellen Ripley is unsure who she likes less, the humans or the Aliens - she's unsure of what she is or whether living is worth doing. Ironically enough, it's left to a "Artificial person" to sway her.
The scene where she discovers the earlier failed experiments is possibly the best in the entire film, let down only by Pearlman's subsequent one-liner. How many of us doubt that if the science was available, that some government or organisation would do this? I don't.
The supporting cast works well, whether it's Wincott's sudden death, Hillard sobbing before being the last to go underwater or Wren's complete immorality.
The whole idea of the Queen inheriting from Ripley as much as Ripley inherits from her is very intriguing and original. The newborn, whilst not geiger-esqe enough for me, somehow portrays a sense of innocence whether looking for guidance from Ripley or biting Christian's face in half. I found its end disturbing and unconciously put my hand over my mouth. I don't know whether this was well done, needlessly graphic or just plain revolting. Perhaps a mixture of the three.
The ending left me a little cold, but as a whole there was the sort of attempt to get inside the Alien (as opposed to the reverse) that the series really needs.
Alien remains - by far - the best installment of the series with characterisations that seem very real, claustrophobia and hidden deaths that work better than any amount of snot-splattering explosive effects and a COMPLETE lack of corny one-liners or machoistic attitudes. What it will never be, is the favourite for those that prefer large firearms, big explosions, flashy CGI and largely two-dimensional characters.

Resurrection had some good things going for it - not least Jeunet as director - but it's a pity that Dan O'Bannon (Who wrote Alien) did not have more of a direct input.