Friday, October 23, 2009

Alien: Resurrection

(1997) ***1/2

200 years after Ellen Ripley dies in Alien 3, the military essentially mucks out the acid pit in which she died, extracts DNA and clones her. They do this because they were aware that she had a queen alien inside of her, which they want to use to make new aliens, advance science, etc. Along for this ride is a team of space thugs who bring the military the cargo they need to produce new aliens - fresh, live humans.

Some of the unsuccessful Ripley clones

Alien: Resurrection of course pales in comparison to the first and second movie, and while much of this seems like a desperate attempt to cash in on the fan base from the first two films, there are some parts that help move the narrative along. Example: once Ripley is cloned, some of her new genetic make-up is combined with the alien dna, thus making her a 90/10 human/alien badass. Her ability to use her own blood as acid comes in handy a few times.


Also, Ripley starts to feel an affinity for the creatures which she spent so much of the first three films trying to destroy. This new, care-free, alien-loving, hard-core Ripley is refreshing and presents some actual intriguing conflicts towards the end of the film with a new alien that is uniquely terrifying. So, although not worthy of its predecessors, not bad if taken out of the Alien saga context.

6 comments:

Catfreeek said...

WTG on reviewing this series Trevor. Nice choice.

JPX said...

Oh Trevor isn't finished yet, he still has Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator Requiem

Trevor said...

Noooooo! I've seen both of the AVP movies, and I would simpley dread having to sit through them again. I'm done.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Oh no you're not, mister!

AC said...

awesome job trevor! don't listen to the boys, they are sadistic completists. reading your reviews has made me want to watch the four movies all over again.

Octopunk said...

I'm of two minds here. On one hand, it is considered a Horrorthon honor to have braved an entire series to its bitter end.

On the other hand, I had aspirations of a big "sci-fi horror" theme this year, the tentpole of which was to be the Alien flicks, the Predator flicks, and the AVP flicks. So you kinda scooped me... but if the path isn't completed, the honor will be mine. Eventually.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...