ALIEN: RESURRECTION (1997)
A film review by Steve Kong Copyright 1997 Steve Kong
Alien: Resurrection takes its roots from the second film in this 18 year old film series. Resurrection is more of an action film than anything and as an action film Resurrection works very well.
For those of you who don't want to know how Ripley comes back from the dead -- those that don't remember, Ripley dove to her death in Alien 3 -- skip this next paragraph and go to the next one. When I saw the trailers for Alien: Resurrection I wondered how they would bring Ripley back from the dead. But the well-written script by Joss Whedon finds a way to bring her back that is, though not unique, so simple that it bypassed me. They cloned Ripley with some blood samples.
To tell you how the aliens come back in this movie will spoil the movie, but lets just say that the aliens do come back and the are better than ever. French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet seems to have turned up the goo level on the aliens though; the spit and the drool are just generally gooey. Next to this though, Jeunet finds some interesting ways to show how intelligent these creatures really are. An example to look for is how the aliens escape.
Sigourney Weaver brings back Ripley, but this time Ripley is different. Ripley has come back with an attitude and is going to take it out on the aliens. Sure, Ripley had an attitude in the last three films, but this time, it's a huge attitude. I liked Ripley, but I think Winona Rider's Call is cooler. Though Ryder looks so fragile, her Call shows that she can take a few hits.
As for the other cast members when I first read who was going to be in the movie I rolled my eyes and said to myself, "They're kidding right?" But, I was completely wrong. The actor that I originally disagreed with most was Dan Hedaya. For me, Hedaya has always been a comedic actor, I wondered how they would fit him into Resurrection. I'm happy to say, I was all wrong. Hedaya does well in Resurrection. The other player that bothered me was Michael Wincott, but he also does a great job in Resurrection.
Worth mentioning are actor Ron Perlman and the great score by John C. Frizzell. Perlman was a joy to watch and his character was pretty funny, providing a lot of the comic relief in the film with sharp one-liners. Frizzell's score, though not as good as Horner's score for Aliens, is admirable.
And one scene that knocked me out of my seat was the underwater scene. Please look at this scene, I loved it. I loved how they handled the alien in the water. This is a great scene.
The only part that bothered me was the last 15 minutes or so of the film. The film builds up well, but the ending is somewhat of a let down. Don't let this make you skip the movie. This is a fun and exciting action film set in the Alien universe. See it for Weaver, Perlman and especially Ryder. Don't miss Alien Resurrection.
On a side note, I noticed that H.R. Giger again got no onscreen credit for his Alien design. And although he did not work on this film, the design is his, and I think that he should have gotten credit for such a wonderful design. Please don't forget who created and designed the Alien, one of the best sci-fi aliens around. Cheers to H.R. Giger for such a wonderful design.
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steve kong reviews@boiled.sbay.org
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