The resurrection of a popular series

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2002)

Let's recap.
The first alien film, which was directed by Ridley Scott is the film that started it all. Scott's direction was sharp and "Alien" had the most tension-filled setting of the series and it brought to life a truly horrifying creature. But that was twenty-three years ago. "Alien" since it was released in 1979, has become seriously dated and seems to have lost some of its potency.
"Aliens", which was directed by James Cameron, is the most well-known film in the series and the most successful. This time instead of Ripley going up against one alien, she must now go up against an entire nest of the deadly creatures, but with the help of a few good marines added to the bunch. The ultimate question was of course, would excellent firepower be enough to combat the aliens? Cameron focused a lot on action and tension, which transformed "Aliens" into a war movie of sorts. I liked "Aliens" the most and hasn't lost any of its ability to still shock its audience.
"Alien 3", directed by David Fincher, is the most underrated of the series. Fincher changed the series by doing something new with it by adding his trademark dark settings to the film. Instead of continuing the trend that was pioneered by James Cameron, he went back to step one, while still taking the series in a new direction. He created one of the most dark and depressing horror films ever brought to life. Though for some odd reason, audiences missed that entirely. Fincher had originally intended the film to be much longer and with more character development, but executives at Fox had cheated him out of his own vision by removing most of said footage.
Now we have "Alien: Resurrection", released in 1997 and directed by acclaimed French film maker Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Set two-hundred years after the events of "Alien 3", Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been cloned from a sample of her DNA and must continue her ongoing fight with the deadly alien this time with the help of a group of futuristic space pirates and a mysterious woman named Call (Winona Ryder).
It goes without saying that Jeunet is a visual genius. He has a real sense of bringing life into his scenes and giving the movie a fantastic look. The gore here is pretty extreme and some scenes will certainly make your skin crawl, turning the movie into a freak show of sorts. But that could ultimately be what Jeunet was trying to do, I'm not quite sure. That is no reason to hate this film however. An excellent addition to the series that is not to be missed.