Not the best of the series but still entertaining *** out of 5

Rating: Null/10 (10 February 2005)

Alien Resurrection is an enjoyable entry all though it's the worst in the series. I think the action scenes (especially the underwater segment) are outstanding. Sigourney Weaver is terrific as usual. It's a neat twist on the Ellen Ripley character. Ron Perlman and Winona Ryder are terrific as well. But when you have a cloned Ripley making out with one of the aliens, you know that the series has gone one step too far. I'm kind of indifferent on this one, because the story about cloning and creating alien hybrids is kind of interesting and takes the franchise to a whole new level. Something COMPLETELY different. But at the same time, with such a story we see every slimy detail of the alien creatures, when this was something that was avoided in the previous entries. In the first three films we see the aliens just enough to whet our appetite until the final confrontation, which still keeps the aliens somewhat in the dark. I think it's a lot scarier that way. But in Alien Resurrection, we are invited to see Ripley tear out the inner mouth of an alien with her bare hand. There it limps like a fettuccine noodle, when I had always thought they were more metallic. I do like a little more subtlety, and I don't think this film believes in that. The special effects are outstanding, but do we really need to see the aliens SO much? I will say though, it is neat to see the aliens communicate and gang up on a third and slaughter it in order to make an escape by acid. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's direction is quite different from the previous directors' visions, but it's an interesting look. It's a good film, but it's not quite like the first three. But over the period of eight years since it's release, it's hard to imagine the alien series without this entry. Only after you've seen the others, see this one.