Rating: 
Summary: A Welcome Resurrection
Review: There has been some great debate over this film with die hard fans. This film, while nowhere near the superb fun and brilliance of the first two, is a welcome return to form. Pretty much everyone knows that Alien 3 was an awful mistake of epic proportions. We need this film to set things more on track. Joss Whedon, who wrote it, definitley turned it back in the right way again. Sigourney Weaver is back as Ripley. She died at the end of the last film with an alien inside her. She's cloned aboard a spaceship and, since she had alien in her, her DNA and the alien's DNA mesh together. The end result is a much different and, might I add, much more powerful Ripley. It was a great twist in the series and a great new direction for the character and Weaver. Speaking of Weaver, she is very good. She brings a whole new dimension to the character and makes it real. The only thing that doesn't really work in the movie is the addition of Winona Ryder. I'm all for Winona, but I just never bought her in the movie, or really cared for the character. The film is full of impeccable designs, effects, make-up, and action. A major improvement over the dull, boring Part 3. The aliens themselves are much more rel and effective this time around. It harks back to the ones in the first two. Part 3's alien was just very uninteresting. The supporting cast includes familiar faces like Brad Douriff, Dan Hedaya, and Ron Perlman. Not a superb film like the first two, but a rollicking adventure that is much more worthy to the series than the disgusting Alien 3. The ending, however, left more to be desired. The writer of this movie is the usually brilliant Joss Whedon. It's to bad that the brilliance and intelligence of his "Buffy" T.V. show didn't find it's way in this movie... So, so sad. Anyways, not worthy of the Alien series, but pleasant popcorn entertainment. Maybe a rumored Part 5 will be better. Here's hoping it doesn't end with this. Needs to go out with a bigger bang.
Rating: 
Summary: ALIEN RESURRECTION!
Review: Ellen Ripley joins that growing list of great movie characters for whom death proves to have no meaning! Actually, she has been dead for 200 years according to the story in "Alien Resurrection," but a renegade team of military scientists are still after that ultimate biological weapon and bring her back! The twist is that "Ripley" has picked up some of the Alien's bedside manner! Winona Ryder plays the sidekick in what is a rather obvious subplot! This DVD has bonus behind-the-scenes shots and interviews with Weaver, Ryder and Ron Perlman! Fairly interesting way of dealing with Ripley's death, but certainly this 1997 film driected by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is not a stand out effort in the Alien series!
Rating: 
Summary: what the f@#%
Review: They shouldn`t have made this film. The movies should have ended with alien 3 ( which wasn`t that great ) where Riply dies. Here are some reasons why I think this...
(1) horrible acting
(2) not frightning
(3) Wyona Rider sucks eggs So trust me, don`t see this movie. You`ll be glad you didn`t.
Rating:
Summary: Bad.
Review: 'Alien Resurrection' is a very bad movie. They should have stopped the series when they were at 'Aliens'. This movie was a little too silly.
Rating: 
Summary: The Director of "Amélie" Takes us to the 4th Dimension
Review: Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and David Fincher should hang their respective heads in shame. Let there be no pretenses, this movie RULES! (and when chatchi uses ALL-CAPS, then you know he's serious). This is a movie about aliens, and since direct Jean-Pierre Jeunet is from France, he can relate. Jeunet injects his fresh European-style of filmmaking into a franchise who's "Best if Used By" date, passed 20 years ago. With inspired casting (Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, et al.), exciting visuals (the fantastic scene where Ripley plays basketball), and a great story (which escapes me at this time) - this movie delivers results. POSITIVE results! Jean-Pierre Jeunet is to the "Alien" movies, what Richard Pryor was to the "Superman" movies - It may have seemed like a mistake at the time, but upon seeing the final product, I think we all agree that both were excellent decisions that brought new life to a tired franchise. Forget about those other "Alien" movies, PRETENDING to be hip and stylistic... "Alien: Resurrection" is clearly the one to own.
Rating:
Summary: unjustly slighted
Review: Alien Resurrection seems to have suffered unjustly at the hands of critics and fans. By no means as bad as Alien 3, this installment has many things to recommend it.
As noted in another user review, I think the reason that it was so badly recieved is that it did not take itself quite as seriously as the previous films and refused to reach the heights of pomposity and high-seriousness that 1, 2 and 3 seemed to insist upon. The combination of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Gallic irony and Joss 'Buffy' Whedon's one-liner laden script was perhaps just a too much for the die-hard anoraks out there.
Resurrection is not without its faults but it does hold up as a good popcorn movie with some impressive concepts behind it. Signourney Weaver's reinvention of Ripley is nicely done, making her intriguing and menacing all at once. I'd love to see more of this new, improved Ripley sometime. Perhaps the weakpoint is Winona Ryder as Call. We never really seem to care for her underdeveloped character and the relationship between her and Ripley (which should be a key one) never really seems to gel.
The Alien itself is much more impressive in this film, compared to the anaemic, dog-Alien for 3 and this film does pack a lot in the way of genuine chills and spills.
The main reasons this perfectly fine sf horror movie did not receive the recognition it deserved can, I think, be summarised as follows:
1. It was perhaps too cerebral and thoughtful a film after the travesty of 3. The franchise perhaps was more in need of a Aliens-style high-octane romp to fully revive the interest of fans and critics.
2. The slightly playful and ironic approach of the script and direction perhaps alienated (sic) the franchise's hardcore following.
3. Too much momentum was lost after the dismal third installment. Ideally, Resurrection should have been followed almost immediately by another film, one with perhaps more of an action bent to it.
All in all, I would rate this film highly as it combines intellligent and intriguing sf with genuine horror chills and a nice undercurrent of irony and detachment.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks to all the 1 star voters.
Review: Just wanted to say to all the folks out there that gave this film a 1 star rating . . THANK YOU! You were right!
Rating:
Summary: This film SuuuuuuuuuuuuuuX
Review: No stars for this film, it flat out suuuux. It was an embarrasment. No wonder talented screen writer Joss Whedon cried when he saw the finished film. Bad acting, bad costumes, bad set design, rediculous ending, bad CGI. Bad bad bad. The alternate opening and ending on the other version of the film provided here are even worse, a total joke. The film makers should be ashamed of themselves. This film is a total embarrasment.
Rating:
Summary: Very little to like
Review: This movie had a lot of problems. 1) Characters. The whole band of merry criminals was completely uninteresting. In Alien, the crew was very absorbing and each character was unique and well drawn. In Aliens, the Marines were terrific - interesting, entertaining, sympathetic. Even Alien 3 had some good characters in the prison inmates. Alien Resurrection however is just a collection of generic cliches. I never cared about any of them at all, and even found them slightly annoying at times. They were utterly one dimensional, I've seen those exact characters in countless low budget movies, they had no uniqueness, they might as well have just put them in a can labelled "Purina Alien Chow". Winona Ryder's character, though she at least had a modicum of depth, really belonged in a Lifetime Movie of the Week. She didn't add anything to this film. 2) Action. The action in this movie wasn't even slightly believable, starting with the shootout between the criminals and the soldiers aboard the ship. At very short range, every soldier is killed and not a single criminal even wounded. Ripley escaped from certain doom on several ocassions - I never felt as if she was in any peril at all. Then the action kept coming to a dead stop just when things were getting interesting. For instance, when everyone is in a huge hurry to get off the ship, Ripley decides to stop and wipe out a room full of failed clones. Truly one of those "Aw, you gotta be kidding me" moments. 3) Suspense. In the earlier movies one was on the edge of their seat wondering how in the world the characters would get away from the aliens. Sure you knew Sigourney Weaver would probably survive, but that never really crossed your mind while watching because the movies were so well done. Not so here. It's just formulaic - you know the aliens are going to chase these folks around for a while and then everything will be alright. There's no real feeling that these folks are in much danger because you don't really care if they die or not. Overall, this movie is not a worthy sequel to the other films. Even Alien 3 was much better than this - it had loads of atmoshpere, characters that one cared about, and you actually felt as if they were in extreme danger. The reason I give this movie 2 stars is because some of the special effects were good, especially the scene where the alien chases some guys into an escape pod. The swimming aliens were cool as well, that's about all this movie has going for it: A couple of cool special effects scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Collector's Edition is significant improvement on original
Review: I already reviewed the original version of this film back in September (i.e., not perfect, but a decent sequel and enjoyable "popcorn" flick). So these comments here are specific to the "new" revised Collector's Edition, which was part of the "Alien Quadrilogy" version. If you want to own this movie, definitely go for this new version. I was on the fence about this for a long while...did I really need to spend money AGAIN for a DVD? (And what's with that? How many times do greedy movie studios need to dive into our wallets?) Because I've been ripped off and bought "new collector's" or "Special Edition" versions of films that were frankly...not special. This version of "Alien Resurrection" is a happy exception to that experience. This is an excellent set, affordably priced, beautifully and artistically packaged and most importantly, it has really significant and worthwhile additions that -- if you like this movie at all to begin with -- you will definitely want to own. Although director Jeunet is very defensive about the idea that this is NOT a "director's cut" and he thought the movie was fine the way it was...after seeing the NEW extended version, I totally disagree! The restored footage -- about 10 minutes or so -- dramatically improves and clarifies the story and fills in some confusing details that were very vague in the original. There is a greatly improved title sequence involving an insect loose in a space shuttle that is leaps and bounds better than the original titles (kind of a "morphing" sequence showing Ripley's failed clones). It is unfinished, so the little insect looks very much like a video game character, but the overall concept and direction is fresh, humorous and just plain better than the original. There is more clarity and information about the minor characters, especially the pirate crew of "The Betty". Just the retention of a few lines, or brief shots, can make all the difference in a film...for example, in this version (as in the original Joss Whedon script) it is clear that crippled mechanic Vriess (Dominique Pinon) is in love with Call (Winona Ryder), a situation that was barely hinted at in the original film. Ditto for the sexy relationship between Captain Elgyn (Michael Wincott) and his pilot (Kim Flowers) -- barely acknowledged in the original film, here more time is spent showing that they are clearly longtime lovers...which in turn explains her great distress at his later death. There is a scene that references Ripley's relationship with the late Newt (from Aliens 2), more time spent on Ripley's psychological state. And a lot more kinkiness in the relationship between Ripley and the alien creatures...it appears to be more graphic sexually at any rate. Best, I think, is the revised ending that shows "The Betty" landing on earth...this is far more satisfying that just showing Ripley and Call in the window of the ship, merely saying "Oh, look out there, we're on earth". We actually see a run down future city (Paris, perhaps, in a nod to Jeunet?) and a planet whose ecosystem looks pretty drained. It's definitely cartharctic. Plus it more clearly sets up a potential sequel featuring aliens loose on earth. You know how one ALWAYS gets away... BTW: I disagree with those viewers who feel that the Auriga "crashes" into the earth and causes the death of 10 million or so humans. I think it's clear that the Auriga blows up in the atmosphere. I figure that would be a problem in and of itself, but it's not the same as "crash landing". Neither does "The Betty" crash land...which is clearer in this new version, as we can see that the whole crew has survived without injury. Surprisingly, this all makes for a superior movie and one I wish had been shown in the theatres in the first place...I think it would have overcome some of the fan displeasure that greeted the last two sequels in the series. It's not the original...it's not the excellent 2nd film...but it's a decent movie and it's better now. Watch it in this new version before you dismiss it out of hand.
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