Review of Alien Resurrection (1997) by Mark D — 21 Apr 2012

Feeling more like a campy, overblown take on the series than an actual entry, "Alien Resurrection" is a severely uneven but not completely abysmal sequel which relies on a lot of fancy special effects to cover up the fact that there's really no reason for its existence.

Despite the fact that "Alien 3" gave the series something of a nice close in terms of the main plot and Ripley's character, this fourth sequel pushes forward like a failed abortion, taking the franchise 200 years into the future (wasn't it already set in the future?) where another Alien catastrophe takes place on a spaceship and a sort-of clone/sort-of-alien version of Ripley tries to stop it.

Tons of acid blood and goopy gore ensues. Were it not for the interesting cast with a few familiar faces (including Winona Ryder in a clever role, as well as the always fantastic Ron Pearlman) this film would pretty much be a complete failure, especially because some scenes make it feel like a made-for-TV movie.

Still, it remains something of a curious piece of wild sci-fi escapism that warrants a viewing every five years or so, when you're tired of rewatching the other, better films in its series.