Blu-ray Review: Alien: Resurrection (1997)

"The worst movie in the series, by far."

(aka Why?)
Release Date: November 26th, 1997.
Country: USA.
Rating: R.
Written by: Joss Whedon.
Directed by: John-Pierre Jeunet.
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Brad Dourif, and Leland Orser.

That's not to say that Resurrection doesn't have its moment's because it does, but it's such a tonal mess that it's hard not to rip on it.

Joss Whedon, who wrote the movie, has not been shy in his criticism of the final thing, bashing the casting, line delivery of the characters,and basically everything else about the movie. He has a point with his criticisms, but his script is to blame for more than a few of them, so really Joss, why are you bitching.

Watching this movie now, it feels like Whedon's TV show Firefly, only with Aliens in it. And that is a mixture that doesn't quite take here.

200 years after the events of Alien 3, Ripley has been cloned by a gang of evil space scientists aboard the spaceship Auriga, in hopes of getting their hands on the Alien Queen that she had growing inside of her when she did the swan dive into the molten steel back on Fiorina 161. After a few botched attempts, they finally clone her properly, remove the alien from her chest, and set to using the Alien DNA to perform all kinds of scientific miracles, because they are the perfect organism. They also want an Alien Army, because why wouldn't they?

THE MONSTER'S MOTHER.

Enter the Firefly-like crew of The Betty, the decidedly Firefly-like ship with a Firefly-like name, who arrive at The Auriga to deliver some humans for Alien Implantation. They're sassy and foul-mouthed smugglers, save for Call, the quiet girl who seems out of place, which there's a reason for.

IT'S LIKE A PROMO SHOT FROM A TV PILOT.

When the Aliens escape their containment, it's every man for themselves, but lucky for everyone that Super Ripley is there to save their asses, because she's got some keen insight on the Aliens now, since she had one inside of her. 

THIS WAS PRETTY MUCH US WATCHING THIS MOVIE.

This isn't a very good movie, especially not for an Alien movie, but it is enjoyable enough as campy fun. It's got plenty of action, lots of gore, and some actors who elevate the shoddy material with their presence alone.

Ripley is cool in this movie. She's not really "human" anymore, so she's kind of relaxed and detached from things, and almost nihilistic. She's also way tougher and stronger, which makes her a better ass-kicking machine.

Ron Perlman was great, as he always is, as Johner. Same goes for Brad Dourif, awesome as always, although his was a smaller role. It really sucked that they killed Michael Wincott's character off so soon, because he's so great and underrated, but he was awesome too.

THIS GUY.

The problem with this movie is that it plays like any other Space Horror flick that copies off of Alien (1979), instead doing something worthy of being a sequel of that classic. Joss Whedon's script is the main culprit, giving us one-dimensional characters who fire off lines like "Earth, man. What a shithole." He tried to make it witty and hip like Buffy or Firefly, and it just didn't work here.

And how long were they under water, swimming, fighting aliens, screaming and struggling, without taking a breath?

It also didn't make very much use of the whole Earth aspect of the flick; ***SPOILER*** When they finally get to Earth, we see that they've landed in Paris, only Paris looks like a destroyed bunch of ruins. I never got the impression that Earth was supposed to be destroyed like that, and maybe that's just something they came up with for this movie, but it begs a lot of questions and leaves us, the Alien fans, wanting.

It's also not a very scary movie, like its predecessors. It focuses much more on quips and action beats, which is really what Joss Whedon does best.

And as good as Wynona Ryder is in general, she was way out of place in this movie.

THE ALIENS SWIM NOW. OF COURSE THEY DO.

Whoever came up with that mongoloid Human-Alien hybrid thing, or maybe it was whoever brought it to life on-screen, dropped the ball. It looked silly, and it made us laugh with its little puppy-like whimpers and sad eyes.

It's cringe-worthy.

WHO DID THIS? AND WHY?!?

This movie at least delivers the gory goods, and some truly out-there set pieces.

AND THE ALIENS, AS ALWAYS, ARE COOL.

No, but Joss Whedon made sure to add plenty of lesbian subtext between Ripley and Call, which really felt out of place and kind of lame.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE MOVIE THO.

If this wasn't an entry in the Alien franchise, I could honestly say that it's a pretty fun flick. It is though, and viewing it as such just makes the whole thing seem like a half-assed cash-in attempt.

D+

Alien: Resurrection is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Ryder, indeed.