In the wake of James Cameron's incredible sequel to Ridley Scott's ALIEN, many people ached for even more sequels that would push the franchise even farther. ALIEN III came and went, though most fans were left with a sinking feeling of disappointment and anti-climax. Could there be a fourth film? Yes, there could, and we were reassured that although ALIEN III wouldn't be completely written off as a dream (as some urged), Ripley would return and the ALIEN franchise would have a second swing to redeem itself.
And so we get ALIEN RESURRECTION . . . and so we also get a film unfortunately like the last relative failure of a sequel and disappointingly far from Cameron's classic ALIENS. You would think --you would hope-- that the new filmmakers could learn from past mistakes and exploit what has worked in the past, but no such luck... ALIEN RESURRECTION features a thin premise, a cast of underdeveloped characters, low-stakes action, cheesy one-liners, and once again, like ALIEN III, too few Aliens.
One aspect of the premise, though, shows delectable promise. Fans will love the new improved Ripley, a virtual super hero with alien prowess, super strength, super agility, and much more. But what makes Ripley such a wonderful protagonist in ALIENS is her humanity and her compassion, not just her toughness. The Ripley of ALIEN IV is not remotely that woman and suffers because of it . . . she may appease the young teenage fans out there for her ferocity and coldness, but those of us who treasured the old Ripley will find her missing, for all intents and purposes.
Actually, I was very surprised at how poorly written this film was considering Joss Whedon, the guy who does a fabulous job on the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER television series, was at the helm. This movie is one macho scene after another, one senseless stunt and testosterone swaggering one-liner after another . . . scenes are disjointed, there is nothing but hatred and distrust between the characters, and frankly, I couldn't care less if any of them lived or died. I was rooting for the Aliens, to be honest, as I assume most viewers were, too, if they thought about it.
But even rooting for the Aliens is a disappointment. We may learn that they're pretty intelligent after all (which we all pretty much knew anyway), but there are too few of them, they die too easily, too many humans make it out alive (even though they're incompetent as hell), and even the Alien mother was nothing to marvel at. There are some Alien surprises that I won't reveal to people who haven't seen the film yet, but, though effectively creepy in design, just don't compensate for their poor, brief treatment.
They corralled the wonderful Sigourney Weaver again, apparently by a superstar salary, and Winona Rider could have also added real dramatic quality. But though Rider and Weaver don't do a poor job by any means, their characters and lines leave them no room to act . . . they're wasted talent. The minor characters portrayed by no-name or television actors, like Ron Perlman, belong to this movie and its script, not the high caliber talent of Weaver and Rider.
And once again they handed the directing duty to a European, stylish director who was too artsy in composition and frantic in pace for his own good. Uncomfortable close-ups, unnecessarily chaotic hand-held shots, and rabid zoom-ins just add insult to injury to this badly crafted script.
So there it is . . . we could have written off one bad ALIEN movie as a fluke, but with two bad ALIEN movies in a row, it's now becoming clearer that ALIENS was the fluke for being so successful (though ALIEN is quite good, and often overlooked for some reason). How could they have dropped the ball again? It seems obvious to me what they needed to do . . . ALIEN explored the nature of the Alien itself, learning about its deadly method of reproduction, focusing on claustrophobic confines and escaping one Alien. James Cameron then had the right idea . . . the second film would look at many humans against many Aliens, adding more firepower and the awesome Alien Queen. A third film --or fourth film, or any good sequel in this sequence-- simply needed to up the ante even more: I think a movie that explored what would happen if, say, hundreds of Aliens invaded a city on Earth would have done the trick excellently.
But no. . . ALIENS III and IV lower the ante, and thus show a lack of ambition and an even greater lack of competence, control, and creativity. ALIEN RESURRECTION is a disappointment any way you look at it, regardless of how passionately some young fans will love the newly empowered Ripley. It just doesn't compensate for this mediocre sequel. You may want to resist your temptation to see this one. It's unfortunate that quality has become the most alien thing in this once-promising franchise.
Paul O'Brien is a graduate student in English Literature at San Jose State University. He has a degree in philosophy from UCLA, and has been a comic book fan since 1985.