Alien Resurrection Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Brad Dourif Rated: R
If you compared the basics of Aliens (the second installment of the series) with Resurrection (the fourth) you would assume they were identical. Ellen Ripley (Weaver) leads a group of gritty, mega-gun toting renegades through the bowels of a ship, looking to destroy the queen alien, in an effort to save themselves and mankind. Unfortunatley for the gang there is an evil guy lurking about who's real intention is to save the alien species, even if it means destroying the humans on board. I half expected Paul Reiser to pop out and say, "Ripley, if they can clone you, then there's just a whole bunch of "me's" out there." Eh. Not so much. Despite the core of similarities to previous Alien films, Resurrection has enough slam-bang action, enough surprises (and plenty of goo) that in my estimation, it is the best of the sequels thus far.
What's different about Resurrection is that Ripley has had a complete personality makeover. Her only similarity to the former Ripley is that she looks astonishingly like Sigourney Weaver. The fourth installment takes place approximately 200 years after she died in Alien 3. But those sneaky scientists managed to find a strand of her DNA in some blood from the prison compound and, combined with Alien DNA, create a new, more powerful and more dynamic Ripley clone. One fascinating element about Resurrection is that since Ripley (still the series' heroine) is part Alien, she has some compassion for them. She has natural instincts that tell her where they are lurking, ditching the computer tracers from all the earlier films. ("It's right behind you man! Get out of there man!") There are some psychosexual elements that I won't presume to ruin for you. Let's just say there's a lot of goo involved. Pretty funky stuff.
Another thing that Alien Resurrection offers that the first three hardly attempted were major digital effects, which make up most of the Aliens you see in this film. Here's a tip; whenever you see an Alien in a close-up, it is a slime-splashed animatronic, its really there. If you see an Alien running or swimming or climbing, it's digital. I tell you this because you may not be able to tell, they are done astonishinly well.
For true Alien fans, Resurrection re-hashes some of the old tricks (not everyone is what you think they are). There is a classic flamethrower which gets quite a bit of use in one scene. Acid blood plays a big part in this one too. But not everything is old hat. There are a few new Alien surprises in this one, which, if you can get past the Grand Canyon sized plot holes, are pretty creepy and cool.
This is indeed the most violent, gory and gooey Alien film to date. (No, it ain't Flubber.) But Jeunet manages to make the grotesque somehow fitting and almost appealing in this fourth installment. Very seldom did I get the feeling that there was a disembowelment for no reason. Everything seems to have its place here. It kept me on the edge of my seat, it made me laugh (appropriately, of course) and it made me glad that this was such a strong rebound from the last sequel. What's more, who knows how long they can continue this series now? After Alien 3, we were pretty dang sure it was over. But ever since they cloned those sheeps in England, these Hollywood people have a whole new arena to play with.
3 out of 4 stars Copyright (C) 1997 Nick Amado
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