Alien: Resurrection (1997), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, stars Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Gary Dourdan, Michael Wincott, Brad Dourif, Kim Flowers, Dan Hedaya, J.E. Freeman, Raymond Cruz, and Leland Orser. This is the fourth film in the Alien franchise and follows a clone of Ripley created by the relentless Weyland-Uthani corporation so they can use her DNA to birth new Xenomorphs (Does it make sense? Not really.) When the aliens inevitably escape and begin to wreak havoc throughout the facility, Ripley teams up with a group of mercenaries that includes a mysterious woman named Call (Ryder). Together, they attempt to eliminate an evolved Xenomorph and escape the facility before it’s too late. 

I hate to say it, but this is the first film in the franchise where I wasn’t too impressed by Sigourney Weaver’s performance as Ripley. However, I don’t think this has as much to do with Sigourney Weaver’s ability as it does with the film’s weak script and generally silly tone. Her performance doesn’t work because the character doesn’t work. For example, there’s an infamous scene where Ripley schools a few people in basketball, it all culminating in a flashy dunk. It just ends up making the movie feel like a laughable, comic-book version of Alien. Granted, this can be somewhat fun in the right mindset, but it’s no doubt disappointing for the majority of Alien fans. There’s also the issue that because this is a clone of Ripley, she struggles to retain the experiences that the character went through in the first three films. In other words, it feels like we’re either starting over or taking a step back with the character.

 As for the film’s supporting cast, no one stands out, but at least the various characters are fleshed out enough to be distinguishable – something that Alien 3 failed to achieve. Still, what’s strange about these characters is that they don’t receive any arcs. They’re the same from beginning to end which results in the film feeling like it wraps up far too quickly. Likewise, the film recycles Ripley’s 3-film arc of motherhood which just feels lazy at this point. It has nothing new to say about the topic, not to mention that it’s maybe more visually on-the-nose with this theme than even its predecessor. Even the themes of femininity here boil down to scenes where Ripley bluntly asks other characters if they “want to fuck?” I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering that it’s written by Josh Whedon. On top of all this craziness, characters are given abilities akin to superpowers, only amplifying the silliness and betraying what should be a horrific and intense tone.    

The sci-fi setting is again a bit more fun than realistic/dark and a far cry from the other films in the franchise. I can admittedly be tolerable if one is willing to go along for the ride. However, what saves the visuals from total crap is that this goes back to using almost entirely practical effects. CGI is one of Alien 3’s most glaring issues, so it’s nice to see that the filmmakers learned at least one lesson from that movie. This all being, the color scheme and general cinematography makes the film still look pretty crappy. It’s dull, blurring, and redundant. At least there’s one cool underwater sequence that sticks in a person’s memory. 

Overall, this is mostly another crappy Alien movie, but at least it doesn’t come in anywhere near as disappointing as its predecessor. The movie goes in a ballsy direction in terms of tone, and although I think this is the film’s biggest issue, it’s also what makes it unique. In terms of characters and visuals, there isn’t anything too exciting. That being said, I think it mostly delivers the basic goods of what a person wants out of an Alien movie: Xenomorphs picking the cast off one by one. The problem is, it’s just far too silly/strange to really recommend to anyone. (Shrug) at least there’s a slight “so bad, it’s good” quality. C