Alien Resurrection Review
by Roger Rubio (snapman AT aaaa DOT net)December 24th, 1997
This movie was interesting. As far as story is concerned, it was a hell of a lot better than Alien 3. At the same time, it was trying to be an amalgamation of Alien and Aliens, and the result is, well, just interesting.
ALIEN RESURRECTION is the story of the Auriga, a military ship which is being used for the transport, breeding, and study of the alien species. A band of mercenaries boards the ship and becomes trapped on it when the aliens escape. Notice I haven't said anything about Lt. Ellen Ripley. The reason for this is because Ripley doesn't do much in this movie. Ripley used to be the centerpiece of the Alien series; apparently, the aliens have really taken over. Regretfully, in this movie, she seems to be just another one of the people trying to get off the ship. She is brought to life as a clone (with some residual alien characteristics), but is not "resurrected," as the title of the movie would have you believe. If she was truly resurrected, she would have kicked more alien ass, expressed herself more, led more, and not stood idly by while other people struggle with the aliens.
Ripley, in the original ALIEN, was the first female hero, leader, and the first to survive at the end of the movie. This made the character of Ripley (and consequently Sigourney Weaver) into a role model and inspiration for several young actresses and women everywhere. After all, the women usually did not survive a horror movie, and if they did, they would be subject to the damsel-in-distress syndrome. Lt. Ellen Ripley changed all that. The character and role model was further reinforced in ALIENS, where Ripley got to kick some alien ass and exorcise her own demons in the process. Weaver portrayed a woman who could be strong, aggressive, and not lose her femininity in the process: she was not killing aliens just to kill them; she had a little girl to protect. ALIEN 3 was just a rehash of the original ALIEN with a "what's the point anymore?" version of Ripley. In ALIEN: RESURRECTION, Ripley is just there, because an ALIEN movie would not be an ALIEN movie without Ripley. I guess there's nothing else interesting enough to explore about her character anymore. That's too bad. "Greedy studio execs resurrect Ripley for another outing" would have been the headline if this were a newspaper article. Ripley had to be re-invented to attract Weaver back to the role; unfortunately, the old Ripley is more interesting than the new one.
What Ridley Scott (the director of ALIEN) established and James Cameron (director of ALIENS) reinforced, David Fincher (director of ALIEN 3) wasn't quite sure what to do with. This criticism is not to deprecate Fincher; its just that he was given the helm of the Titanic and was told to keep it afloat as long as possible. Given the story he had to deal with, I'd say Fincher did a fabulous job. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (director of ALIEN RESURRECTION) looks like he didn't burden himself with any type of ALIEN legacy. He decided to make his movie his way. I respect that kind of independence. The film looks great, with stimulating color contrasts and respectable FX. Sigourney Weaver is a little more sedate (with a few exceptions) in this movie. Winona Ryder is good, although a little out of her league amongst these people. Ron Perlman is as good as always.
The writing demonstrates an openness to new ideas about the aliens, although it's a little zealous about presenting them, and in the process, the audience becomes lost as to how certain things happen. Ripley and the aliens seem to have a bond now; what kind of bond? They take the Queen out of Ripley's cloned body, and she starts to breed; how is this possible? I'm not a biologist, but don't you need a fertile male to impregnate the female? Were there any alien males on the ship? Then the Queen (all of a sudden) sprouts a human-like womb after squeezing out a few alien eggs; again, how? How did the womb show up after all that egg laying? What impregnated her new womb? Straight cloning? I don't think so. And this newborn? All this comes near the end of the movie, after every familiar idea is exhausted. It is clear the ideas that should have been explored were neglected in favor of things that are all too familiar: aliens, eggs, chest bursters, face huggers, people trying to get off the ship, and, unfortunately, Ripley's face, not her character. This neglect means this movie is just a rehash, and not an exploration of a new incarnation of Ripley and the aliens.
Regardless of its flaws, this movie wasn't bad. I just wish they would have explored the ideas they brought up late in the film. Apparently, those ideas are brought up strictly for sequels (again, the studio execs make sure they get a return on their investment, and I can't say I blame them). I could always describe each movie in the Alien series with one superlative: ALIEN was suspenseful, ALIENS was exciting, and ALIEN 3 was depressing. The best word for Alien Resurrection would have to be twisted. It had potential -- maybe a second writer could have fleshed out the loose ends better.
Roger Rubio
THE SNAPMAN
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Roger
http://www.aaaa.net/~snapman
"You cannot escape one infinite, I told myself, by fleeing to another; you cannot escape the revelation of the identical by taking refuge in the illusion of the multiple."
-- Umberto Eco, FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM
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