Did ANYBODY like "Alien: Resurrection"?

Cafe Society
1

To complete my trilogy of threads about the Alien series (having just rewatched them all), I now need to ask whether anybody liked “Alien: Resurrection”? The film certainly had some good visuals as well as some creative scenes (I liked the way the aliens managed to escape from their cell by killing one of their own), but there were so many plot holes, inconsistencies, anachronisms and just plain silliness (breath activated doors?) that I felt the movie ultimately failed.

And then, of course, you add all the ridiculous notions the audience is asked to swallow up front in order for the movie to even take place (Ripley was cloned – with an alien inside her – from skin samples left behind hundreds of years ago, she somehow inherits some of the alien’s characteristsics, she is able to remember things the “original” Ripley knew, etc.), and it just becomes too much for me.

So, after having vigourously defended Alien3 against those who hated it, I now have to ask if anybody out there in Straight Dope land can defend this movie?

Regards,

Barry

2

On the whole i thought it was a decent film, no, not as good as the first two (each for different reasons, the first one for the atmosphere, the second for the action).
But the one element that really spoilt it

was the rubbish Alien/human creature, soooo bad!

an interesting idea, but very badly done
nick
i’d also like to say i enjoyed the third one

3

No defense here. Winona Ryder’s bobble-head character ruined alot of scenes. The final scene with the hole in the hull of the ship was disturbing.

What a shitty life Ripley’s had.

4

It was much better than Alien3, but that wasn’t too hard.
On the whole, I liked it till the last 10 minutes or so. The hybrid creature and the dumb-assed, physically-impossible way it died ruined the ending.

5

Well, the opening was pretty cool, I thought. I liked the early scenes onboard the tramp freighter ship, where they introduced the “mean jokester” and the “crippled guy”. That sort of thing. And the “black guy with the guns” was cool. Thatw as about it, though. Ending dull and pointless.

6

It had Winona Ryder. That is reason enough to see it.

7

WTF!!

You mean to tell me that this stupid Alien can get sucked through a pinhole in the ships porthole (yeah…cause glass is no match for acid) like a bowlingball through a straw…YET!!!..Human Riply can freakin’ climb 12 vertical feet up a ladder out of the Sulako’s cargo bay airlock as it is being used to evacuate a cargo hold the size of a gymnasium…here’s the best part… WITH a damn 5 ton Alien Queen hanging from her shoe!!

And what the hell do all these stupid robots do anyway? Uhh…I am a ro-bot…I’m filled with yogurt. I don’t do anything on the ship…I don’t have any super powers…
I did like that little nervous guy with the Alien inside him.

8

I was SOOOOOO disappointed with this - it coming from one of the men responsible for the incomparably BRILLANT Delicatessen :slight_smile:

Sadly, this film sucked from start-to-end - it varies from poor to laughable and ir truly a turkey…

Alien 3 was better - honest

TTFN

JP

9

I liked the overall style and feel of this movie. It had some great moments (swimming aliens!). But the ending was just TOO DAMN FAMILIAR!

Hmmm… let’s see. How did Alien end? Ripley opens the door and the creature is sucked out of the ship.

Ok, how does Aliens end? Oh yeah, Ripley opens the cargo bay and the creature is sucked out of the ship.

Alien3 actually had an original ending!

And how does Alien: Resurrection end? Well, of course! Ripley shoots the window and the creature is sucked out of the ship.

I can’t believe these movies don’t get called on this point more often.

10

Oh, I thought it was supposed to be funny. I laughed my ass off when the monkey (hybrid thing) got sucked out the hole, especially the expression on its face.

You have to expect it to be funny. It’s all about context.

11

[spoilers of course]

I liked the movie. Believe it or not, it was one of my favorite movies. If not for the initial implausibilities, it would easily rank in my top 10 of all time.

Of course, Aliens was my all-time favorite, until FOTR came out. And IMHO, Resurrection did an even better job at raising issues such as what it means to be human and alien, race loyalty, power, and homoeroticism (both as a titillation aspect and as a “is it really homoeroticism or is it just a power struggle” mind game.)

The ending WAS in my top 10 of all time. Because you know that seeing the Earth SHOULD be as great an uplifting and happy experience as the beautiful scenery suggests, yet you know that, as always, everyone will be given the corporate shaft.

12

OK, I can’t vigorously defend it, but I loved it. I honestly don’t see what all the hatred for it is about. The hybrid did suck from a special effects standpoint, sadly, but I was fine with it storywise.

Pros:

  • Visually interesting and fun.
  • Really emotional moment with Ripley in the room of discarded clones.
  • Leland Orser (yay!) as the guy with the alien inside him.
  • Aliens killing one of their own to escape. (nasty buggers)
  • Distinctive characters worth caring about (like in the first 2 films, but unlike 3)
  • Fun as a VERY different aesthetic. Not the horror of the 1st and 3rd, and not the war movie of the 2nd, but the hyperreal style over substance techno-fetish look, similar to 5th Element. Which is fun in it’s way. I enjoy it the way I enjoy the movie Dune as a David Lynch fan, but not as a Frank Herbert fan.
  • a different spin on Ripley. Adding depth to a character who was wearing pretty thin by the end of 3. Can she still connect to her human side? How deep is her desire for revenge? Is it deeper than the now alien part of her?

Cons:

  • poor science regarding clones, BUT!, (and this is a big but) they already established in 3 that the aliens took some of their genetic makeup from the hosts. (i.e. the dog alien). It’s not such a stretch that they could alter the host’s genes too. Preposterous, maybe, but as science fiction handwaving, its no worse than graviton beams and the like.
  • As mentioned, pisspoor effects and creature design for the hybrid, which is not an inherently bad idea, just poorly executed.
13

I chuckled when the ship crashed, apparantly oblitering North America. If that’s “saving” Earth, then I’ll take the Aliens, thankyouverymuch.

I’ll admit the first scene with Ripley and Winona inspired quite a few girl-on-girl notions, but as Winona’s character seemed increasingly inept, I lost interest in her and her dopey cause completely.

Why doesn’t anybody install lights any more? All four movies were so damn dark! Geez, people, you gotta change the bulbs when they burn out.

14

I didn’t think the science on the clones was all that bad. Basically the important elements are this:

-the aliens “memory” is actually encoded into their constantly changing genetic matieral, which allows their species to “remember” over generations
-it also consumes and uses other genetic material, adapting its traits to its own
-human hosts (like Ripley) even though they are slated to die, actually have their genes altered so that they can both become a better incubator as well as simply as a side effect of the absorption process

So, given all that, Ripley’s cloning w/ some memories remaining isn’t all THAT implausible.

What was REALLY implausible was a ship re-entering the atmosphere after being depressurized in SPACE with an open window!!!

However, it did make for a heartwrenching final sequence for Ripley.

I didn’t think it was a bad film at all. Twas fun, and advanced the story admirably.

15

I confesss that the single, solitary reason I had for going to see this in the theater was the presence of Winona Ryder.

16

I wondered about that myself. I think what happened was the ship exploded in the atmosphere. It seemed too big, relative to North America. That, plus the high angle of attack leads me to believe it smashed against the atmosphere like a fat man bellyfloping into a pool.

I actually liked Alien Resurection. In my mind, each Alien movie was very different:

Alien - Classic 70s Ridley Scott sci fi/horror
Aliens - Classic 80s James Cameron sci fi/action
Alien[sup]3[/sup] - Failed attempt at making a thinking mans Alien
Alien Resurection - Classic 90s mindless generic action movie:

Recognizable, yet anonymous character actors like Ron Pearlman (Blade II)and that guy who plays “Latin American soldier/gangbanger/whatever # 3” in every move (Raymond Cruz) and Brad Dourif (LOTR: Two Towers).

Ridiculous plot holes (a violent, uncontrolable monster is valuable…why again?

Silly quotes

Johner “So I hear you fought these things before…what did you do?”
Ripley Clone"I died"

17

I was highly dissapointed in this movie. For starters, all of the director’s other movies were all absolutely BRILLIANT (Delicatessan, City of Lost Children, Amelie), so it was a rather depressing that his American debut would be such a horrible mistake. I did like seeing his standard actors in the film, though, and loved their characters (Dominique Pinon, the goofy crippled guy; and Ron Perlman, the “Tough Man”).

So, for the work they had, a lot of the acting was pretty good. Pinon and Perlman were great, and as has been stated, Leland Orser was great. Hell, even Dan Hedaya was pretty entertaining…

Actually, overall, the movie wasn’t so bad. I liked the basic concept (a ship of essential “Space Pirates” kidnap people in chryo sleep and sell them to a science facility where they use them as Alien hosts…that was pretty cool. But the whole ressurrection of Ripley was just a ton of CRAP!!! I mean, I’m not all that bright, but wouldn’t Ripley have been completely vaporized in that furnace? I mean, it was used to melt lead! To my knowledge, smaller, much weaker fires are used to cremate someone, and those leave nothing but ashes…no DNA there. And the concept of genetic material crossing over isn’t too bad (I’m guessing if they did find some genetic material, there could have been some Ripley and Alien together and the scientists just couldn’t distinguish which was which, so they merged them). An alien/Ripley cross not so odd. But, to grow a fetal Ripley, sans Alien, and then age it to the point where she became impregnated, and the clone mysteriously forms a separate alien embryo…that’s way too stupid. I liked all the failed experiments in the lab, but they should have left it at that.

Actually, they should have done what countless comics and books have done since then and completely moved on beyond Ripley. Alien 3 was really good (IMHO), and was a perfect end to Ripley’s story. They should have left it at that and moved on with another storyline altogether. If the scientists had just found a bunch of eggs on some planet and were using those, it would have been a great movie. Then, they could have also avoided that lame ass alien/human hybrid thingy. The scientist said that the queen was now “Perfect” because she had a human reproductive system…why would giving birth to one being at a time (and then being killed by it) be a better birthing procedure evolutionary speaking, than being able to lay thousands of eggs?

It had some good visuals, and some really nice bits (the aliens’ escape being probably the best part of any Alien movie…I love the look on the third alien’s “face” when the others decided on the plan), and some of the characters were really fun, but overall, they really kinda flushed a good thing down the toilet, especially at the end. And yeah, I also liked how the space station seemed to take out half the planet’s surface area in one blast…I never realized it was such a big station! or small planet.

18

…Must…Not…take…American bashing…cheapshot…dammit, too late

19

I thought the whole Ripley/Alien gene-spliced clone was created on purpose by the bioweapons division as an experimental super-soldier type thing. Why else would you bother to try cloning her dozens of times? You must admit that they final product was physically far superior to any human. They stated that the bioweapons division wanted them badly in every movie.

20

Actually, to me it looked like the ship blew up a big chunk of Africa(South Africa?)