ALIEN RESURRECTION
A sequel that's truly unique
This seems to be the film that most divides fans, critics, and the casual viewer alike. Few people described this movie as so-so; it certainly seems like a love-it-or-hate-it proposition. I loved it.
Another note about those comic books that came between Aliens and Alien3; after Alien3 came out, these were converted into novel form, but the characters' names were changed, since obviously Newt and Hicks are dead (although everything else in their lives remains pretty much the same as those two). Ripley was eventually introduced into the action, but since she died at the end of Alien3, the writers of the novels made her eventually discover that she was an android. Just for what purpose she was constructed, I have no idea, and did not have the patience to continue reading these silly books.
By film four, this series has established two things to me - one, is that the wait between movies is decreasing. Seven years between the first two, six between the next, and now five. I anticipate that the fifth Alien movie will come out in 2001; the sixth, in 2004, the seventh and tenth in 2006, and the eighth and ninth in 2007. Yeah, just think about that for a second. Anyway, the second thing is that this is a series that can really, really pick its directors.
The Nightmare On Elm Street series has, for such a comparatively small-scale venture, found a lot of talent in its writers and directors, many of whom have gone on to bigger and better things (most notably Frank Darabont, but there's also Chuck Russell, Renny Harlin, Jack Sholder, and Stephen Hopkins). But the Alien movies have found guys way beyond that league - I mean, think about it. Ridley Scott and James Cameron are well established. David Fincher is obviously going places way beyond his MTV-spawned "peers". And now Jean-Pierre Jeunet, half of the moderately famed Jeunet & Caro French directing team, proves that "French" does not have to be synonymous with "is really lame".
The setup for this movie does not inspire much hope, and it aroused little more than groans amongst the series' fans. Really, Ripley's fuckin' DEAD, and they're still trying to get Weaver to star in these movies? Please! Give us aliens, and let the poor lady rest. We don't need to have her cloned - man, what a lame excuse to bring her back. There are so many more avenues to explore here, so many ways the aliens can be re-introduced.
Anyways, it's two hundred or so years after the events of Alien3. Ripley's been dead for a long, long time, but there's still a blood sample of hers out there, and a team of space-mercenaries have procured some human hosts for some mad scientists on a military vessel. See, their intent is to clone Ripley into Ripley-8 (they screwed up 1-7), and thus clone the alien Queen, and use the hosts to...well, you figure it out.
Yeppers, the aliens continue to get weirder and weirder. This movie suggests that the impregnation of a human not only affects the alien fetus, giving it human characteristics, but alters the host on a genetic level (presumably to make it more compatible with this xenobiology). So they clone up Ripley, who reaches adulthood in about ten seconds of screen time, and perform an operation to remove the alien fetus. (even though the film later establishes that Ripley has acidic, alien-like blood, nobody performing the operation seems to notice this) They cage up the resulting queen, which lays some eggs, which they use to impregnate those test subjects, and the fully-grown aliens are kept in their separate cages - wow, these are some fast-growing aliens. Those mercenaries are still there!
I know. None of this sounds promising. But to no small amount of amazement, the actors and director pull it off. Alien Resurrection is a remarkable film, and continues to impress me in new and unexpected ways.
Weaver's performance as the Ripley-but-not-Ripley is quite a detour from hers in the previous three films; she's very sensual and lithe here, and frankly, sexy as hell (particularly that look she gives that guy when he asks he how she knows the ship's accelerating). This is quite a turn from where she was going with the last three movies. The supporting cast makes up a crew of misfits that's probably the most engaging of the series - I mean, we've got Brad Dourif, Ron Perlman, and Michael Wincott all in the same movie. These guys are known mostly for stealing every film they're in - what happens when you put them all in the same room? There's also Dan "hairy shoulders" Hedaya, Jeunet mainstay Dominique Pinon, and J.E. Freeman. Only second-billed Winona Ryder disappoints - well, she didn't disappoint me, because I've never seen what the hell the big deal was about her anyway. Her character isn't all that interesting, either.
It's nice to see that writer Joss Whedon knew that the "Company as enemy" thing was getting pretty old; not only are they not the badguy here, but they in fact are pretty much out of business. The conflict in this movie is more purely aliens-vs.-humans, until you look a little more closely at nuveau-Ripley. Anyway, despite the freshness there, Whedon apparently didn't know when that "climactic countdown" thing was getting old, let alone the "oh-no-it-stowed-away-on-board-better-find-a-way-to-suck-it-out-into-space" thing.
There's a LOT of rather dumb shit in the plot - lemme list 'em off really quick, at least the ones that come immediately to mind. Those flimsy cages the aliens are kept in, and the klutzy (but enjoyably surreal) way the disembodied head of Brad Dourif is used late in the film to explain things. This military starship (absolutely HUGE, and crewed by a complement of 42) is actually programmed to return to Earth when something goes seriously wrong - this sounds like a really bad plan, especially when there's contagions involved. An even worse plan is Ripley's technique to save the Earth from alien infestation. This doesn't seem like it's doing either the planet or its population any favors. One guy kills himself for no apparent reason, the same guy who is somehow able to make a (called!) shot at something he can't even see, ricocheted off of two objects. And the "freakshow" scene, where Ripley-8 runs across Ripleys 1-7, is completely unnecessary, and features Ripley 7 which speaks English, whereas even Ripley-8 had to be taught.
But for everything stupid, there's something I loved. Like the fact that this takes place on a starship but there's still room for an underwater scene. The chestburster scene, which could never be as shocking as in the original film, but is inventive and gruesome as hell. A return to the mystery of the aliens, the sense of "what the hell are they going to do or turn into next?" An android crossing herself in a chapel. A weird love scene between Ripley and what appears to be a whole orgy of aliens. That mercenary chick (Kim Flowers) with an amazing, amazing ass. (so help me, I'm a pig) That guy's dreadlocks. The little joys of watching the aliens learn, and communicate. People's brains flying everywhere. A delightful little shot involving a hand grenade. The basketball scene. And, like I said before, the performances of just about everybody involved.
But I'm not yet decided on the Newborn, a really strange human/alien hybrid that divides fans as does much as the movie as a whole. His skull-like face brings things full-circle with Giger's original designs, which is cool, and while the rest of the aliens are completely unexpressive ('cept for those lips), this one is quite facially articulate, which is actually quite an achievement, FX-wise. Depending on his facial expression, he can look pathetic (as in pitiable, not as in lame), pathetic (as in lame, not as in pitiable), or frightening. Needed less of that second one.
This movie really lends itself towards an extremely comprehensive feminist "reading", which I'm not exactly in the mood to do right now after having written this thing out. Let's just say that between the varying themes and identities of motherhood, the sexual politics going on between just about everybody of opposite sexes, and the abortion-like event of the climax, there's plenty of material here to chew on.
Overall, Alien Resurrection comes across as the most "light and fluffy" of the series, and yet the most gruesome and adult-oriented, with its weird sexual themes. It doesn't really resemble any of the films that came before it, but that's part of its strength, and part of why I treasure it. You've gotta admit, it's different. Whedon and Jeunet should have a cigar. They've given birth to something unique.