The re-release is unlikely to proclaim 'From the director of "Amelie"'

Rating: 5/10 (1 September 2002)

Jeunet was wrong for this film, no question. He has the style, the darkness, the claustrophobia and the sci-fi experience ("Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children" prove that); what he lacks is a true gift for terror. His films, even at their most disturbing, are not frightening in the way the "Alien" films should be. He also has a strange, dark sense of humour, which sits uneasily with the Alien story. I have no idea if Joss Whedon, who can write decent scripts when he wants to, is responsible for the incomprehensible story that is this film's main handicap, or if Jeunet rejigged it to suit his more baroque style, but in either case an acknowledged talent screwed up somewhere.