Alien: Redemption

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2011)

Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of Alien: Resurrection when it was first released. I saw it at Harkins Arizona Mills and walked with distaste because, at that time, I was a thorough lover of the Alien³ film. Years later, I would reverse my opinion by simply opening my eyes to the (literal) horror of Alien³ and realizing, despite the "humor" of Alien: Resurrection, it was 10x the movie part 3 was and a good conclusion of the series.
The movie wasn't taking itself too seriously. If it did, it would be very odd for the once-great Ripley character to be spewing lines that only (other Sci-Fi great) Spock would recite. It was fun, scary, adventurous and just enough suspense and originality to be added to any Alien franchise lover's collection.
Unfortunately, you kind of have to see the wretched Alien³ to get the background needed: (and believe me, this is a spoiler for those who haven't seen part 3) Ripley's partners from Aliens died, including the young girl, Newt and Ripley gets stranded on Fury 161, a prison planet, but not before being injected with the queen alien. Ripley attempts at destroying the *only* queen by killing it along with herself.
200 years and 8 attempts later, the new "company" of militants, clone her and remove the queen alien in order to spawn more alien warriors for the battle..of a war we've never seen. Anyways, they decide to keep #8, or Ripley, alive and she slowly, but surely, regains some of her memories of her uncloned past. Meanwhile, we have on this cloning ship a group of renegades who brought the hosts to those aliens. They're very rambunctious with this new model Ripley, but all hell breaks loose when the inevitable happens: the aliens, smartly, escape on board.
So, here it turns into the past, once again, making this a thankful last chapterthe movie turns to escaping off the ship to avoid being either eaten or harvested for the Queen. Luckily, Ripley (Weaver) keeps it interesting with dialogue and quips and they introduce the NEVER-SEEN-BEFORE alien swimmersnot that that's a big deal.
The movie's finale still puzzles meeven after watching this several times. I don't want to spoil it even further, but the two (vague) things that bother me was Ripley's willing to go there and why one character/creature kills another immediately. This could just be me, but I can see why they were trying to change it up at the endeven though it ended just like part one?
I have already stated to stay away from the "Special Edition" of Alien³ and I might have repeated that hereif only for the incredibly awful, "Men in Black" opening segment. Don't let that discourage you or set the scene for Alien: Resurrection. Simply, get the DVD that contains both, watch the original (theatrical) opening credit scene – though it looks like some Child's Play horror sequel beginning – and then continue on with the rest of the special edition. Seriously, the MIB terrible "special" edition should be avoided, while the rest is just fine.
It's a watchable movie, with some really funny lines and scenes – I loved the "it was in my way" bit. It's nowhere near the caliber as Alien or Aliens and it's 10x higher than Alien³but it's worth a viewing to complete the series.
Side Note: (spoiler) Once again, they kill off one of the best characters almost immediately. In Alien³ the doctor was axed prematurely and Newt, Bishop and Hicks earlier. Here, it was the captain, Frank (Wincott)he got the same quick fate. Yeah, I get this is not supposed to be a bed of roses, but come on, for oncelet someone other than Ripley prevail.