Alien: Resurrection

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Runtime: I saw the Director's Cut that was 116 minutes long

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Starring: Obviously, Sigourney; there's also the likes of Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, and Dominique Pinon

From: 20th Century Fox

I literally had not seen this movie in almost 20 years. My memories of it were hazy, except that I was not a fan. I was reminded why I was not a fan, as it's not a good movie; it has a unique look and all, but that doesn't make it good. I explain all that below: 

Truth be told, it's because tonight I plan on seeing Alien: Covenant theatrically in its United States debut that inspired me to watch this movie; as I don't consider the AvP travesties to be canon to either the Alien or Predator series, this was the last in the series I needed to see again so I can give it a proper review. Honestly, I had only seen this once before, and that had to be soon after it hit the home video market... on VHS. Yes, it's almost been 20 years. That probably says what I thought about it even then. I barely remembered it except for some of its cast, a big revelation involving Winona Ryder's character, basketball, and xenomorphs swimming in water. I sure as hell did not remember seeing a certain monstrosity in the final act, but I'll get to that later. For the record, I saw the 2003 Special Edition of this movie, which is around 7 minutes longer.

The general idea of bringing back Ripley by cloning her is pretty goofy and I am not sure how that would result in the alien still being inside her... the film has more and worse logic problems than that, to be honest. Basically, a bunch of people you mostly don't care a whole lot about have to fight off the aliens after-shock of shocks-s*** goes wrong. Regrettably, the cloned Ripley is different and is even part xenomorph. Maybe something interesting could have resulted from that, but more often than not Ripley just comes off as a real weirdo and not even that pleasant to be around.

I'll mention right away an opinion I know won't be popular: I've never found Joss Whedon to be any good. What work I've seen from him I have never enjoyed. No, I haven't seen any of his Marvel movies but there is the chance I'd find them to be overrated. I know that he disavows his script as shot for the movie but him doing an Alien movie just doesn't seem right anyhow. It was obvious the studio wanted this movie to not be “grimdark” like the third one was but this comes off as so goofy; such things as “character motivations” are typically thrown right out the door and instead we get plenty of nonsense and bad humor. It's a shame as there were some inspired moments, the cast was full of familiar faces I enjoy, and as the director and cinematographer are talented Europeans, the movie does have a unique look and style to it... which wasn't enough to make me like this. It does make me actually want to see the rest of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work... I know, I know, don't come at me with pitchforks.

I wish I could have liked an Alien movie that was quite gory and had the likes of Weaver, Ryder, Perlman, Wincott, Hedaya, and Dourif, but I have to be real here. This was not as good as it could have been. And oh boy, a lot of the late 90's CGI you see here does not look good at all 20 years later. Then there's the big reveal of something in the final act... I don't blame the people who put that together; I think the idea wouldn't have worked in execution as it just looks goofy as hell and I found it pretty difficult to take seriously.

While this was a misfire, at least you can say that the first four movies in this franchise were led by amazing directors who have a lot of talent and yet are all quite different from one another. Looking at who did those AvP movies... no wonder that was one of the many reasons why they will never be considered canon by me. I am hoping I'll dig Covenant more than this or ProMEHtheus, but who knows for certain.