[5]
Sigourney Weaver returns for her fourth (and thus far final) Alien film, resurrected by scientists seeking to extract the alien queen she was carrying at the end of Alien 3 when she heroically back-dived into a vat of molten lead. After many failed cloning experiments, the eighth time’s a charm. Ripley is ‘reborn’ as an alien/human hybrid, haunted by human memories and surprisingly sympathetic to the xenomorphs’ cause. Those xenomorphs escape confinement, of course, and the entire space station begins hurdling toward Earth. The bulk of Alien: Resurrection is an escape mission, with Ripley leading a band of pirates through the monster-infested facility to their spaceship. But the enemy also comes from within. Ripley’s humanity is called into question and another character, played by Winona Ryder, is also revealed to be something other than what she seems.
I like how Ripley is handled in this movie. “What does it mean to be human?” is one of the main questions posed by science-fiction through the ages, and the reinvention of the character also gives Sigourney Weaver something new and interesting to do. Unfortunately, this is the only strong element of the screenplay by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), who relies on a lot of well-trod stereotypes and desperately snarky banter to drive the story. The film also plays annoyingly loose with the franchise’s mythology, especially in the way it crams the alien life cycle into an impossible few hours’ worth of time.
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children) certainly distinguishes himself stylistically, injecting his trademark visual humor, exaggerated camera angles, and a steam-punk sheen to the film’s overall aesthetic. His sense of humor, though, sometimes feels at odds with Whedon’s, resulting in a film that’s maybe trying a little too hard to be cute, a tonal shift that may alienate (no pun intended) fans of a series not known for its humor. Darius Khondji’s overly-dark cinematography does the film no favors, nor does John Frizzell’s musical aggrandizing of moments already so stylistically heightened, they start to become laughable.
Weaver is surrounded by wonderful character actors like Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Michael Wincott (The Crow), Dan Hedaya (Clueless), and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play). The cast is so large, few have a chance to shine. Leland Orser (Se7en) makes the most of his small role, playing a doomed man who joins the team after Ripley tells him there’s an alien inside him. If there’s a weak link, it’s Winona Ryder, who the film tries to make seem important, but ultimately isn’t terribly relevant.
If the goal was to make a more entertaining movie than the dour Alien 3, I think Alien: Resurrection marginally succeeds. If you don’t take it too seriously, the movie delivers plenty of action and visceral moments, including more dripping slime than the previous three movies combined. The climactic birth of a new kind of human/alien hybrid is one of the film’s highlights. The ‘newborn’ as it’s called, is a truly horrifying creature that enhances the third act of the film. There’s also an exciting sequence in which our heroes escape underwater aliens only to find themselves in a nest of hatching face-huggers.
With Dominique Pinon, Gary Dourdan, and Raymond Cruz.