No dignity left for this series

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 1999)

The makers of this film should have taken a cue from the last film in which Ripley, the main character, killed herself, and just called it quits. There are few things as irritating as a series that has long since gone bad but just won't die. The last Alien film, Alien3, was bad, but I would have sat through it again to avoid seeing this gory, slimy mess. The plot, for lack of a better term, revives Ripley 200 years after she killed herself to end the alien terror that had chased her through three previous movies. She is cloned by military scientists intent on harnessing the alien within her as an unstoppable weapon. One would think that they would have learned from the past, since I can not think of one character that has survived at this point against these creatures, but never mind, soon the alien and his other cloned siblings are being closely studied in thick glass chambers. Ripley, played again by Sigourney Weaver, is the best thing about this movie, and the only one who projects any kind of personality. She warns them, calmly, that the alien queen they have bred will escape. Sure enough, soon there are aliens crawling all over, and a motley crew of a freighter stranded on the station is fighting against them to survive. One of them is Cole, played by Wynona Ryder in a performance that could have been turned in by anyone, who harbors a secret about her identity. Who cares? Virtually all the interesting characters are killed off in the first 10 minutes. I found myself at least perking up when Weaver is on the screen, because I know it will at least be entertaining. She seems to have a strange connection with the aliens, and has acid blood like they do, somehow. Her character is an example of a direction the movie willfully ignores to follow. I would have liked to know more about her relationship with the aliens. The sad thing is that the first movie in the series, Alien, was such a classic example of this genre done right. One alien, with an interesting cast of characters you cared about, was far more terrifying and effective than thousands crawling around a darkened ship slaughtering dozens of characters we care nothing for. This film is a demonstration to what happens when you take a promising idea and drag it out over two decades until it grows listless and sophomoric.