USA 1997. Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Brad Dourif, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman
The producers clearly got afraid of Alien 3's inconceivable failure at the box-office and went for something different. Now, I really liked the gloomy third part. It was a welcome return to the nailbiting terror of first film. So naturally the expectations upon Alien Resurrection were high but fair enough. But this is just too bad. Too bad.
We
should have seen it coming though, since the sign of desperation was
proven already when the producers hired French surrealist Jean-Pierre
Jeunet. So naturally this fourth official alien adventure ends up as
a distasteful playground for special effects designers, with the dark
Ridley Scott mythology of the first movie finally mutating into a plastic
Jeunet universe of jello babies and big mama alien made entirely of
white chocolate. No, I didn't like this fourth part.
I didn't like the idea of a Ripley, who died at the end of the third
film, being cloned back to existence. It's a stupid idea, turning her
into a stone cold robot. Meaning we don't have anyone to root for. Instead
the film badly wants us to symphatize with the Winona Ryder character
but Winona is so painfully miscast that it's impossible to do anything
except waiting and hoping and praying for her to be deleted from the
story by some merciful monster. I haven't decided what I shall think
about Brad Dourif yet. I thought he broke new record with his moronic
turn in Dario Argento's Trauma, but his appearence here is unclassifiable
and out of place in any movie, regardless of genre.
But it's not difficult to see what the producers were looking for when they hired Jeunet, or what Jeunet in turn tried to achieve. A more surreal fantasy story, more in line with his previous movies The City of Lost Children or Delicatessen than with Alien. Which is further indicated by the use of overacting type-actors such as Dan Hedaya (Clueless, Addams Family etc). But it's hard to sell a genuinely scary movie these days (unless it is directed by Wes Craven). And to be fair, seen from its intentions, Alien Resurrection delivers fair action entertainment, if that's all one is looking for, with a stunningly shot underwater chase-scene and two fun performances by Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon as two space pirates. But fans of the previous entries shouldn't be satisfied with this disappointing bastard. It has no heart. It has personality on its own, perhaps, but no heart or soul and very little suspence and atmosphere. So, before it's too late to save the series, assuming it's going to continue, at least give the fifth part to an English-speaking guy for Christ sake!
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.