Reviews: Alien: Resurrection (1997) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Action, Monsters
Subgenres: Aliens, Confined, Sci-Fi, Space
Our review of Alien: Resurrection (1997) dives into the story, the scares, and whether it truly delivers the horror fans crave.
Alien: Resurrection (1997) is a rated R 1h 49-min American science-fiction action horror film that is the fourth installment in the Alien film series. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie (2001), Delicatessen (1991), The City of Lost Children (1995), A Very Long Engagement (2004)) did a great job executing the movie. It was brought to our attention in 2005 that the film did not 100% follow the screenplay. The film contains bad language, extreme graphic violence, gore, frightening scenes, intense scenes, tension, sitting on the edge of your seat moments and grotesque images. The movie was shot in Stage 16 and Stage 15, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Long Beach, California, USA and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Screenwriter Joss Whedon (The Avengers (2012), Toy Story (1995), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996-2003)) was not happy with the movie and said in 2005 that the script differs from the film. He said "It wasn’t a question of doing everything differently, although they changed the ending; it was mostly a matter of doing everything wrong. They said the lines, mostly, but they said them all wrong. And they cast it wrong. And they designed it wrong. And they scored it wrong. They did everything wrong that they could possibly do. There’s actually a fascinating lesson in filmmaking, because everything that they did reflects back to the script or looks like something from the script, and people assume that, if I hated it, then they’d changed the script… but it wasn’t so much that they’d changed the script; it’s that they just executed it in such a ghastly fashion as to render it almost unwatchable."
The military scientists on a space vessel used Ellen Ripley’s DNA from blood samples that were taken before she died to create a clone about two hundred years after the events of Alien 3 (1992). Ripley’s DNA was mixed with the Alien queen’s DNA resulting in the clone growing up with an embryo inside it. The Scientist successfully took the Queen out of her but Ripley gained extreme/enhanced strength and reflexes, acidic blood, and now shares a psychic link with the Aliens and the clone has some of Ripley’s memories.
Elgyn (Michael Wincott - The Crow (1994), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Dead Man (1995)), Johner, Christie, Vriess, Hillard, and Call, delivered several kidnapped humans in stasis to the scientists. The scientists raised several adults aliens to study by using the humans to hosts the Aliens. The aliens escaped, and the Xenomorphs are running around the ship, which is headed to Earth. The situation is terrible, and as you thought that it cannot get worse, the Queen gives birth to a dangerous deadly alien that is a new breed and is a danger to the human world. Will Ripley and space pirates be able to stop the ship before it reaches Earth?
I enjoyed Alien: Resurrection and is an entertaining film that I would see again and recommend to others but I rated it fairly for all of the mishaps, goofs, and plot holes. It is a creepy monster action-thriller that requires viewers to follow the movie without distraction to understanding it when it comes to the cloning/cross breeding material. The actors could have done a better job although Sigourney Weaver rocked her role. The special effects were excellent as well as the sound and sets, but the editor did not do such a good job.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Alien: Resurrection Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 5.98/10
- IMDB: 6.2/10
- MetaCritic: 6.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 5.5/10
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