Alien: Resurrection (1997)

200 years after her death, Ellen Ripley is revived as a powerful human/Alien hybrid clone who must continue her war against the Aliens.

Director:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Writers:

Dan O'Bannon (characters), Ronald Shusett (characters),

Stars:

Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon

5 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sigourney Weaver	...	Ellen Ripley
Winona Ryder	...	Annalee Call
Dominique Pinon	...	Vriess
Ron Perlman	...	Johner
Gary Dourdan	...	Christie
Michael Wincott	...	Frank Elgyn
Kim Flowers	...	Sabra Hillard
Dan Hedaya	...	Gen. Martin Perez
J.E. Freeman	...	Dr. Mason Wren
Brad Dourif	...	Dr. Jonathan Gediman
Raymond Cruz	...	Vincent Distephano
Leland Orser	...	Larry Purvis
Carolyn Campbell	...	Carlyn Williamson (Anesthesiologist)
Marlene Bush	...	Scientist
David St. James	...	Surgeon

Storyline

200 years after the conclusion of Alien 3, the company is able to resurrect Ripley through the process of cloning and the scientists successfully take the Queen Alien out of her. But, Ripley's DNA gets mixed up with the Queen's and she begins to develop certain alien characteristics. The scientists begin breeding the aliens, but they later escape. Soon the Xeno-morphs are running amok on the ship, which is on course to earth. The Queen then gives birth to a deadly new breed of alien, which could spell disaster for the entire human race. It's up to Ripley and a band of space pirates to stop the ship before it reaches earth.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | scientist | blood | clone | breeding | 

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Taglines:

It's been more than 200 years...The beginning has just started.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence and gore, some grotesque images, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Jeunet & Caro

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alien 4

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£172,220 (UK) (2 January 1998)

Gross:

$47,748,610 (USA) (13 February 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brandywine Productions, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 116 min (2003 Special Edition)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The underwater sequence marked the first time that Winona Ryder had gone underwater since a near-drowning incident that happened to her when she was 12 years old. The actress suffered a complete anxiety attack on the first day of filming in the underwater set.

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Goofs

The blood disappears from the newborn's hand between shots when it caresses Ripley's face.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ripley: [voiceover] My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones. But there are.

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Crazy Credits

Many of the creature effects casting and mold making crew. Some long standing, heavily contributing members, were omitted from the credits. Supposedly due to budget concerns.

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Connections

Referenced in Scary Movie 2 (2001)

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Soundtracks

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
Written by Samuel Lerner (as Sammy Lerner)
Whistled by Dominique Pinon

User Reviews

The resurrection of a popular series

Let's recap.

The first alien film, which was directed by Ridley Scott is the film that started it all. Scott's direction was sharp and "Alien" had the most tension-filled setting of the series and it brought to life a truly horrifying creature. But that was twenty-three years ago. "Alien" since it was released in 1979, has become seriously dated and seems to have lost some of its potency.

"Aliens", which was directed by James Cameron, is the most well-known film in the series and the most successful. This time instead of Ripley going up against one alien, she must now go up against an entire nest of the deadly creatures, but with the help of a few good marines added to the bunch. The ultimate question was of course, would excellent firepower be enough to combat the aliens? Cameron focused a lot on action and tension, which transformed "Aliens" into a war movie of sorts. I liked "Aliens" the most and hasn't lost any of its ability to still shock its audience.

"Alien 3", directed by David Fincher, is the most underrated of the series. Fincher changed the series by doing something new with it by adding his trademark dark settings to the film. Instead of continuing the trend that was pioneered by James Cameron, he went back to step one, while still taking the series in a new direction. He created one of the most dark and depressing horror films ever brought to life. Though for some odd reason, audiences missed that entirely. Fincher had originally intended the film to be much longer and with more character development, but executives at Fox had cheated him out of his own vision by removing most of said footage.

Now we have "Alien: Resurrection", released in 1997 and directed by acclaimed French film maker Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Set two-hundred years after the events of "Alien 3", Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been cloned from a sample of her DNA and must continue her ongoing fight with the deadly alien this time with the help of a group of futuristic space pirates and a mysterious woman named Call (Winona Ryder).

It goes without saying that Jeunet is a visual genius. He has a real sense of bringing life into his scenes and giving the movie a fantastic look. The gore here is pretty extreme and some scenes will certainly make your skin crawl, turning the movie into a freak show of sorts. But that could ultimately be what Jeunet was trying to do, I'm not quite sure. That is no reason to hate this film however. An excellent addition to the series that is not to be missed.