This is the film I've seen the least. It's got its fans and I'm happy for them. After all, everyone has different tastes and that should be respected. Nonetheless, in some ways, I really dislike this movie. It had a great core idea but I always felt its overall execution was lacking. Jeunet has made some great movies and I love 'City of Lost Children'; but he was simply working with the wrong material here.
On the plus side, 'ALIEN: Resurrection' is a very different movie to the previous entries in the series; and arguably, each of those differ from each other. It's 'A:R's great saving grace for me. For its oddly placed humor and weird introduction of borderline superhero Ripley 8 (come on ...corrosive blood, enhanced strength, communion with Aliens...) and desperate need to shoe horn its narrative around 'Ripley' once again, it still added a much needed level of diversity.
This isn't a movie that is derivative or just rehashing old characters. Everything is new here, even the approach to making the movie itself differs wildly from any of the other 3. It's no wonder it sometimes feels like it gets treated like an ugly orphan of the litter. While it goes a long way to badge the 'Ripley' name on the series once again, it still sets up a fresh batch of characters that could have benefited from a recasting. After all, these are more or less the same character archetypes Whedon used with much effective conviction in 'Firefly'. Most of the Firefly's crew are present here.
So it's a valuable movie in the series in my book, even though I don't particularly like it. It introduces some neat ideas about cloning Aliens and it gives us a great launching point for what should lead to the conclusion to the series. After all, more than 250 years have passed and 'Ripley' has finally made it back to Earth. I want to know that story.
I would love to see 'ALIEN 5' have her investigate the Auriga's crash site. That could lead to some interesting story progression, too, for the character. Weaver's age could even work in favor of the Ripley 8 character as her mixed DNA is causing the character to age prematurely. This could be a direct sequel with no time lapse at all. 200 years... really? I still don't understand how the movie even benefits from that decision. It just further removed it from being associated with the prior trilogy.
I always felt of all the movies in this series that needs a sequel, 'ALIEN: Resurrection' needs a finale, a capstone to finish the series off properly. A final battle against Aliens on terrestrial soil with Ripley 8 leading a response team armed with futuristic armaments would be an ideal way to do it.
-Windebieste.
