Awful Movie, waste of time

Rating: 1/10 (8 December 1998)

I had high hopes for "Alien Resurrection" when I saw it last summer, since I think nearly everyone feels the third movie was a weak entry. I was both revulsed and turned off by AR, and when I saw it again on cable recently my feelings were only confirmed.
The original Alien was one of the first movies that used the "doom and gloom" view of the future to good effect. Everything's dark and murky, spaceships look more like industrial waste yards, and the view of people and society is cynical. The first few times you see it that approach is different or interesting, but now it seems every aspiring sci-fi movie uses it. Will somebody please turn on the lights?
The makes of AR forgot one key element of making this approach work is giving someone for the audience to care about. Ripley's dead, now we have a cloned half human hybrid who spouts wonderful lines like "Who do I have to f$%! to get off this ship?", a gang of smugglers who kidnapped colonists to use as hosts for the aliens, and a bunch of soldiers and scientists on "the other" side. The only person in the entire movie who I cared lived or died was the poor infested colonist who ended up getting blown away as the alien was about to burst out of his chest.
Sigourney Weaver overdoes her creepy hybrid human but, let's just say you can tell she was the executive producer. Dan Hedaya I honestly thought was playing his part for laughs, which jarred in an otherwise gloomy movie.
Lots of running around and shooting, with the heroes using weapons that looked like they were cobbled together from spare plumber's pipe. It got to the point I wondered what color blood/entrails would be splashed across the screen next as people and aliens died in various creative ways.
The "final showdown" with the newborn alien, who is supposed to be a hybrid that's more alien, was ridiculous and incredibly revolting. Did we really have to see every detail of it being sucked out a hole into space?
I've heard they're committed to making a fifth movie, after this entry I certainly hope not. They can keep cranking out Star Trek movies until the end of time, but I think this series is dead