FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Oh, that wacky Alien
In space, no one can hear you crack wise
by Robert TarryAlien Resurrection
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Check listingsCreepo misogynist artist H.R. Geiger- designer of the original Alien creature - has been both a blessing and a curse to this movie franchise. His incredibly scary creatures have been dropped in our laps (or, rather, attached to our faces) like some gift of the cinematic gods. Put an alien in it and people will go see it.
Now the trouble is, what to do with it?
Hide it around corners and make it jump out at you? (Alien) Call in the marines and shoot the shit out of it? (Aliens) Or do nothing at all, screw the script and hope for the best? (Alien3)
The first two were fun, the last one blew and now comes the fourth, an odd mix of all three. In an eggsac, Resurrection steals from the first two without improving on the original, then makes the fatal mistake of the third - assuming the mere presence of these creatures is enough to hang a movie on.
No new ideas? Who cares? Long's you got aliens!
Can't think of a new reason to weave the aliens into yet another storyline?
Heck, this time we'll grow 'em in the lab, just 'cause!
Can't think of a new surprise character twist at the end? Use another android.
Can't think of a new way to fight with the aliens? How about underwater? (Next up, Aliens On Ice!)
To be fair, there's a few thrills, the acting is better than your usual sci-fi (especially a sinewy Sigourney Weaver and the gruff Ron Perlman, who breathes remarkable life into the tired space-ruffian role), the look and feel from The City of Lost Children and Delicatessen director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is superb, and the effects are absolutely dazzling - yet Alien Resurrection fails to connect on an emotional level.
Part of the problem is Winona Ryder - who probably couldn't even spell "emotional level" - the rest is inconsistency. Ripley's a sweaty, twitchy, half-alien predator one scene, a nurturing mother figure the next. It's tense shoot-em-up one moment, the next we're in a chapel discussing the finer points of robotics, then, strangely, strolling casually down the hallway cracking witty one-liners.
Scripted by Joss Whedon (whose previous thrillers include the blood-curdling Toy Story and the roller-coaster Buffy The Vampire Slayer), it's a veritable cavalcade of whimsy. It's unfortunate, but when you run out of ideas, usually all that's left is to pillage your past for cheap jokes (see also Indiana Jones, the Terminator, et al).
Then comes the exciting climax and the film's one new idea: a half-alien, half-human offspring that looks like a cross between Frosty the Snowman and Skeletor.
Would you believe - puppy dog eyes?
My chest hurts.
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