Fascinating, if slightly unmemorable, coda to the franchise (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2003)

"Alien: Resurrection" continues the story of Ellen Ripley after her sacrifice at the end of the third movie. While this fourth film functions in some respect as something of an addendum, it does do what the otherwise excellent third Alien flick did not: expands upon the aliens biology and psychology and gives us some interesting new insights into the creature.
It has been nearly 200 years since Ripley (again played by Sigourney Weaver) sacrificed herself on the prison planet Fiorina 161. In this space-set adventure she's resurrected by a group of scientists (among them Brad Dourif) and the military, headed up by General Perez (Dan Hedaya). The idea behind her resurrection is to use alien D.N.A in her blood to create an Alien Queen and a new Army of alien soldiers. Naturally, this plan backfires and the aliens are loosed just as a team of pirates (among them Ron Perlman and Winona Ryder) attacks and boards the ship...
On completion of this movie, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet rightly paid homage to "Alien" director Ridley Scott and the alien designer H.R Giger, saying that they were the original artists and those that follow are just artisans. That is a very true sentiment, as alot of the story and character elements in this one are borrowed or are least familiar from previous instalments. There the tough grunts (the pirates in this picture equivalent to the Marines from "Aliens"), ambiguous characters with hidden agendas or motives, and the onrunning theme of the humans out to exploit the deadly aliens for their own purposes. Unlike the previous three movies, this film is set near Earth, providing the basis for the film's finale.
Performances are good enough for this kind of fare but Ripley, predictably, has the most interesting and best-developed role. The combination of both human and alien D.N.A in her blood has gifted her with some unusual abilities, bleeding acid blood and being able to scale walls with ease. This in turn renders makes Ripley's relationship to the aliens far more intimate than previously envisaged and comes up with a few unexpected surprises.
Elsewhere, Brad Dourif makes a creepy impression as one of the scientists, communicating very well his characters obsessed fascination and awe of the aliens. However, Dan Hedaya should have perhaps been used more as General Perez, Perlman and Michael Wincott are unmemorable, and Winona Ryder fails to exploit fully the dramatic opportunities in her role.
Visually, the film is impressive. Like David Fincher and Ridley Scott before him, Jeunet has an eye for the gloomy and portentous and it shows here. The set designs, with their colours of rust, red and brown are beautifully reminiscent of the prison from the third film whilst creating a feel unique to the picture. The special effects here are a welcome mix of traditional and CGi, although neither is overused to detrimental effect.
There are some interesting and memorable moments to behold here. The first is the scene where a scientist eyes up an alien in the laboratory and the camera pans back to reveal the Alien Queen in all her glory. It is a frightening moment and suggestive of the horror of the experiments. There is also an inventive action scene where the aliens are fought underwater. The finale is strangely moving, as is the last scene (a slow-moving coda) on Earth.
"Alien: Resurrection" is not too bad an effort and does expand on the themes of the first two films in ways that the third film did not. It is that third film, however, which really should have ended the series.