Alien: Resurrection

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Pearlman, Kim Flowers and David S.James

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeaunet

Release Date: 1997

Running Time: 1hr 44 minutes

Genre: Sci Fi

Rating: 18

Format: DVD

Synopsis:

Two hundred years after her death, Ripley is now a powerful human/hybrid who must continue to help fight the war with the aliens! 

So here with are with the fourth installment to the "Alien" Franchise. Why they thought they had to make another movie is beyond me. Set in 2386, Ellen Ripley has now been cloned as a powerful human/alien hybrid. When Ripley originally arrived at the maximum security prison they took blood, allowing them to get hold of her DNA. Initially it reminds me of Alice's character in "Resident Evil" as she is not only cloned once but several times. Ripley has an eight tattooed on her arm meaning she is the eighth clone. In all honesty I feel like there should be a movie between "Alien 3" and this one, why? Simply the fact that two centuries have passed since the events that took place at the maximum security prison. What the heck happened in between? How was it that they came to clone Ripley? How did they get hold of her sample of blood?

Unfortunately I get the impression that they chose to make this movie just for the sake of having another"Alien" film. Dan Hedaya is a great character actor he was fantastic in "The Addams Family" however he just irritates me as General Perez. The storyline has gotten to the point where it's ridiculous. Gediman is studying Ellen Ripley and the alien. They're aware she is a queen. If you ask me that's all the suspense and fear gone out the window that was in the original first two movies. They're actually studying the alien lifeform? Elle Ripley now has super powers for example having amazing basketball skills because she is a clone? What's the point in Winona Ryder's character Call? Is there a reason she's the only woman there apart from Ellen Ripley? What happened in those 200 years? The storyline is very poor and doesn't make an ounce of sense.

There are a few gruesome scenes which essentially do add to the tone of the film very well considering what the movie is supposed to be about, it's just a shame it's rather laughable. The performances from Sigourney Weaver, Dan Hadaya, Brad Dourif and Winona Ryder just aren't convincing, very disappointing. Ron Pearlman is a great actor however his performance in this is just annoying, it's not realistic and comes across as very poor. Let's see how many characters we can kill off in the first 40 minutes of the movie! I'm sorry it's far too predictable. The alien lifeform is the only thing in the movie that actually looks blooming awesome! Suspense is created by only showing the audience so much, allowing them to use their imagination, is something going to jump out? Is there something lurking around the corner? When you just present it to your audience on a plate, there's no emotion, there's no fear.

The best movies are where you are on the edge of your seat in anticipation, because you don't know what's going to happen. I do honestly think there is a missing link between this film and the last. It just doesn't add up. It's not all bad there are some really good looking scenes involving some pretty weird looking creatures. I'm still however not entirely sure what the writers were thinking when they wrote the storyline or what Jean-Pierre Jeanuton was thinking when it came to direction? The characters in this movie can certainly hold their breath a long time underwater, didn't realize they were such professionals? The alien lifeform can swim now too? That's a new one.

In my humble opinion this movie is just a mess, if you can ask me I'd stick to the first four movies, they're highly entertaining and will have you on the edge of your seat. I don't really understand the reason behind the making of this film, apart from the fact that they thought they could and make profit from it. The storyline is all over the place the acting is appalling and the cinematography is pretty bad looking. It's a no from me.

2/5 stars