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

Although it appears that the cast spend most of the time wandering up and down endless spaceship corridors, in reality there were only two built for the film.

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Goofs

In the first three films, it takes an extremely long time (long enough to require freezing of the passengers) to get between populated places in space. In this film, the ship is able to travel from "unregulated space" to Earth itself in as little as three hours. However, we have no idea what "unregulated space" is (it could be very near Earth for all we know) and there have been two hundred years of technological development since the first three films anyway.

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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 Bride of Monster Mania (2000)

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Soundtracks

"JuliusPriva son d'ogni conforto"
From the opera "Julius Caesar"
By George Frideric Handel (as Georg Friedrich Händel)
Sung by Maureen Forrester
Courtesy of BMG Classics

User Reviews

"Was it everything you hoped for?"

Alien Resurrection was released about six months after I graduated from high school, and at the time I wasn't very familiar with the series. I took my first film class about six months later, at which point I learned to really appreciate the great films and filmmakers, and one of the first things I learned was that the first three Alien films are spectacular achievements of science fiction cinema and the third sequel is a sad, ridiculous mess. This happens all too often with sequels and yes, part four is not yet another amazingly impressive Alien film, but come on, it's not THAT bad.

I watched it last night for the first time in almost ten years, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It's strange that I liked it so much, because it shows all the signs of a botched, modernized sequel of a series that should have been left alone long ago. The characters, most of all, are almost all goofy caricatures with preposterous dialogue and routine motivations, and some just don't belong at all. Personally I am a pretty big fan of Winona Ryder, but only in roles that suit her, and she has had a lengthy list of roles that suit her, but Annallee Call in Alien Resurrection is just not one of them. Too often she comes off as a tough talking teenager in this movie and it just gets hard to take her character seriously. She's like Ja Rule in Half Past Dead, but less ridiculous.

Then again, this could just have been a result of her starring alongside Sigourney Weaver, and that woman is just awesome. Dan Hedaya is suitably over-the-top in his role as the gleefully neurotic General Perez, and I have to admit that I was curious to see the performance of Gary Dourdan as Christie. Lately I've been watching countless hours of CSI on DVD, and it's amazing to see how different his role is in this movie from the most serious role he would play later in that show. I prefer the later performance, myself.

The resurrection implied in the title refers to Ripley being borough back to life 200 years after her death for the purpose of creating one of the alien queens, and then breeding the animals for twisted scientific purposes. They decide to keep Ripley alive for observation after surgically removing the alien from her chest, only to discover that she and the aliens are clearly more than they are prepared to handle. There is a negligible subplot involving a group of shady characters headed by the wonderfully sinister Michael Wincott as a Frank Elgyn, who promises his men won't start trouble or get into any fights if they are allowed to stay on board for a few days and nights.

I also have to mention Ron Perlman, who just has a face for this kind of movie. Probably most recognizable lately as Hellboy, this has to be one of the least appreciated actors of the last few decades. In just over 20 years he has acted in more than 150 films and TV shows, and at the time of this writing he has 18 projects in the works. Unbelievable! He also has one of the best lines in the movie ("Why the waste of ammo?! Must be a chick thing…").

The aliens are probably the thing that will make or break this movie, and in my opinion they were impressive enough. The occasional CGI effects are never convincing, but then again they never are, so luckily they didn't overdo them. Even the aliens swimming underwater was not too much for me to accept, perhaps given the automatic tension that is immediately generated in almost any movie where someone has to hold their breath for a long time. This went on far too long to be anything remotely realistic in this movie, but it was a good scene nonetheless.

I would also argue that this is the goriest of all of the four alien movies, particularly at the end, but also contains some of the best comic relief. This combination makes the movie highly entertaining, even following in the long shadows of its spectacular predecessors. There is a high energy scene in the third act of the film where Perlman's character performs a daredevil stunt to shoot one of the pursuing aliens dead which is followed by what has to be the funniest spider killing in film history. I haven't laughed out loud like that at a movie in a long, long time.

In browsing through the posts on the message board for Resurrection I have been inspired to raise my rating for the movie from a 7 to an 8, if only because it is so obvious that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon about bashing this movie. I see nothing but whiny, pouting little brats whimpering and griping about little nitpicky details in the movie, condemning the third sequel in the Alien quadrilogy as a travesty and an embarrassment and a pathetic way to end the series.

Stupid people in large numbers, man. It's sad to see such a clear mob mentality slamming a movie that is about 100 times better than most people say. No, it's not up to the same level as the first two films and it definitely has its drawbacks, but it is definitely a good installment in the series, and you could certainly do a lot worse for some fun popcorn sci-fi on a Friday night. I'll admit that my judgment might be a little skewed because I watched the staggeringly awful Eaten Alive just before seeing this, but it is clear to me that Alien: Resurrection has yet to receive the respect it deserves.