Alien Resurection

Not a bad idea just executed terribly wrong!

Lover: Taken from IMDB
“I think that I am one of the few people that really loved this movie. I love this movie because of the great Special Effects, the great story and the cool characters of the movie. The way they bring Ripley back to life is brilliant, I mean.... I would have never thought it up. I also think that Jean-Pierre Jeunnet really shows his talent with this movie. The visuals in this movie are awesome. And I even think that the Newborn was a great idea too, and I also think it looks great too. And don't think I never saw an other Alien-movie because I saw and own them all. I'm a real Die-Hard Alien-fan. I mean... Aliens is still the best one(I don't think that will ever change), but I think that this movie is much better as Alien 3 and maybe even a little better as Alien.(although that is a Classic of course) But I think Alien Resurrection is a must-see for every Alien- and Sci-Fi Fan.”

While they are welcome to their opinion I’m afraid it’s wrong. There are two reasons why, they say that this film is “even a little better” than Alien and that the ‘Newborn’ was a good idea!? All wrong!

Hater: Taken from IMDB
“I feel sorry for Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Obviously a talented director with an eye for spectacle, he has been saddled with one of the most hackneyed and downright groan-inducing scripts ever. Basically a haunted house movie set inside a spaceship (two, actually) full of the eponymous Aliens, writer Joss Whedon scraped the bottom of the cliche-barrel, bringing us not-at-all-lame scenes of people wandering down dark hallways and sticking their heads into acid-burned holes for no particularly good reason (other than to be eaten, of course). The movie liberally steals ideas and scenes from Jim Cameron's Aliens, which is okay, I guess, in an incestuous and cannibalistic kind of way. The sets, the characters and the banter are all pale, inept imitations of stuff we've already seen in the series. Too bad they couldn't have stolen a speck of intelligence from the previous three Alien movies. This is a noisy, ugly and boring movie... but like a train wreck, it's worth seeing, if only to awe in how someone could manage to louse up a movie about shooting aliens and wearing leather pants. But my hat's off to Whedon, Jeunet & co.; they loused it up royally.”

This is absolutely right on one point, Joss Whedon as great as the man is, should not have been the writer of an Alien movie. This is not a comic book movie, or some adolescent sci fi franchise, it is Alien. Established as a bleak franchise where you have no chance of winning, Resurrection puts it finger well and truly up at the other movies. The film is full of clichéd scares and wise cracks that come across as silly; the director is as much to blame though. Jeunet’s trademark visual flare does not belong in this universe and don’t even get me started on that bloody stupid Alien Queen with a womb and the Newborn!

What I thought:

Perhaps it is a statement to how bad the fourth Alien instalment is that Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has never returned to big budget filmmaking. No doubt Amelie is a beautiful film but Alien Resurrection is about as far from a resurrection as you could have made.

Joss Whedons wise cracking script is too comic for the Alien series, you just get the feeling that no one was taking it serious enough. That’s a big flaw, yes we are aware that this is science fiction but the fear is very real. In all three films before it this was taken very seriously. It created some very effective films and is a statement to all three directors that they all went through such a bad time trying to get it onto the screen.

Though just one more thing, how rubbish was the newborn! Maybe in a film of its own it could have been quite a scary creature but it was just so stupid looking!