Dodgy sequel in which the aliens feel like an afterthought

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2015)

In the beginning, in 1979, there was ALIEN. It was more of a horror film than anything else, and had a lot of suspenseful and sickening moments in equal amounts. In 1986, James Cameron made ALIENS, which blended action with horror brilliantly. In 1993, there came the much maligned ALIEN 3, which most people hated but which I thought was pretty good, and suspenseful like the first. And now there is this, the fourth instalment in the series.
Sad to say, it doesn't reach the heights of the first film, nor the second, nor even the third. The trouble is that it doesn't really feel like an alien film at all - just another science fiction piece, with some alien creatures as the monsters. I mean in the other films we felt that the aliens were powerful, prowling and totally terrifying. Now, they pop up now and again to kill some hapless person, but most of the film is spent in conversation as we learn of Ripley's new character.
This was, I felt, the film's main failing: the lack of the Ellen Ripley as we used to know her. Weaver played a strong, yet sympathetic heroine in the first three films; now, she is a half-human, superhuman alien clone with whom the audience shares zero sympathy or understanding; she is not even likable. Or hardly believable. Weaver does the best with the character she has, but too much of the dialogue is given over to stupid, repetitive one-liners, or incessant swearing.
Jeunet at least assembled an interesting, international cast for his film, which makes the proceedings a little easier to swallow than if it had been some group of B-movie nobodies. Winona Ryder is top-billed as a woman who turns out to be hiding a secret, unfortunately I knew what this secret was long before I actually got around to seeing the film, so I knew what to expect. I've never liked Ryder much and don't really consider her as much of an actress, and this film does nothing to make me respect her further.
Thankfully, the supporting cast itself contains some notable character actors. First up is Brad Dourif, who enjoys himself in a small role as a nervous scientist who brings Ripley's character 'back' to life. Dourif is as good as ever, and proving himself to be the king of the bit-parts. Secondly we have Ron Perlman as a tough, scarred soldier, and although his character is highly clichéd, he's about the most likable of the bunch and lends plenty of humour to the action. Michael Wincott also appears as the leader of a band of smugglers, and it's good to hear his gravelly voice again.
Which leads me on to one of the main criticisms I have of this film: the lack of originality. Much of the action, when it eventually comes, has been lifted from the other films in the series, so what we're seeing is merely regurgitated. Saying that, the action parts are all quite good, especially the famed underwater sequence. Unfortunately, as so much of the film is given over to dialogue and banter, there is little action to enjoy and hardly any suspense built up.
The special effects themselves are all average, with the CGI aliens looking reasonable although not as good as their counterpart in ALIEN 3 did. Unfortunately the much-touted alien/human hybrid at the end of the film is a huge disappointment and laughable, and feels totally out of place. And it looks like a pining dog too, which is damned annoying, although the death sequence, where it gets sucked out of a window, is quite good. There is also a high level of gore for horror fans, but Jeunet frequently overuses this in favour of building up suspense as in the previous films, and there is a noticeably 'empty' feel to much of the film.
Which leads me to my final point: if this were not the fourth part of the ALIEN saga, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. But, with such competition from the other three, Jeunet comes across like he's more interested in set design and style than the actual aliens themselves, and betrays the series fan by seriously losing touch with the 'feel' of what an ALIEN film should be like. Not totally bad, but not very good either.