THROWBACK | 'Alien: Resurrection' Retrospective
Can the final Ripley ‘Alien’ film regain some of the franchise’s lustre, or will the franchise go out with a whimper? (Until the prequels…)
When Ellen Ripley died at the end of ‘Alien 3’, most expected any future ‘Alien’ films to focus on a new cast of characters - if the franchise was to continue at all.
The gap between the third and fourth ‘Alien’ films is actually the shortest in the original series. Fox desired Sigourney Weaver’s return, and hired young up-and-comer Joss Whedon to pen a script that would bring her character back. It was thanks to this script and a reported $11 million pay packet that Ripley returned to our screens.
Whedon’s script was passed between the various directors Fox hoped to lure into the production, including Danny Boyle, Bryan Singer and Peter Jackson. All passed for various reasons.
Soon, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (later known for ‘Amélie’) was brought on board. Jeunet was given some creative control over the project, including a choice of ending. He decided to add in extra violence and make the tone more of a dark comedy - a decision that later horrified Whedon.
Set two hundred years after ‘Alien 3’, the new power is the United Systems Military (not exactly the most subtle of satire), who’ve worked for years to clone Ripley from a genetic sample from the prison planet so as to use the Alien queen to breed a whole swarm of xenomorphs for military purposes.
When the aliens break out, a cloned Ripley - who has gained some hybrid elements from the cloning process - and the mercenary crew of the ‘Betty’ need to escape the ship before it crashes.
Despite Weaver’s reported salary, the cast for ‘Alien Resurrection’ is still a strong one. Winona Ryder was a hot talent at the time and cult figures Ron Pearlman and Brad Dourif add some much needed personality to the film.
The script has its issues, but the main problem seems to be in the direction. There’s an incongruity of tone between the disparate elements - intentional and planned would work a lot more than this accidental result.
It’s never quite clear what emotional reaction the viewer is supposed to have. The plot point of Ripley seeming to have picked up some traits from the xenomorph is an interesting idea, and it’s set up well in the early stages, but it never generates any tension.
The film can be fun, but it’s never exciting. The action scenes are well produced - especially the underwater fight and elevator climb. However, the dialogue isn’t well directed, with the actors either delivering their lines as flat as possible or overacting.
One of the things that made the first two films work as well as they did was the inclusion of emotionally satisfying moments. They weren’t just quips, or action and terror. The crew in the first film are all long-term co-workers; in the second, Ripley was a grieving mother helping an orphan girl. The closest that this film gets is when Ripley discovers all the failed clones, and is horrified before she puts them out of their misery. It’s an effective scene but doesn’t gel with the rest of the film around it.
Now to the script’s issues. Jeunet’s chosen ending, if this was indeed his choice, is one of the strangest third acts to sit through after watching the other films. Ripley is taken into the xenomorphs’ hive and comes face to face with the Alien queen. Not only has Ripley received some hybrid elements, but the queen has also developed a human womb. As Brad Dourif gives one of the craziest monologues you can imagine, the queen gives birth to some kind of fleshy xenomorph that decides that Ripley is its mother, and kills the queen.
The final sequence isn’t that bad, as Ripley and Ryder’s character call fight off the humanoid alien on board the mercenaries’ ship as it enters Earth’s atmosphere. It’s actually as close to the movie gets to being tense, as it isn’t clear who will survive or how. The solution is a bit farfetched, as it relies on the viewer not knowing about convection or how hard it is to enter or leave an atmosphere, but it’s not the least scientific part of the franchise.
The film did ok at the box office, but nothing like the first two films. Weaver was open to returning as long as the script was strong enough, but Fox decided to try and turn the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ comics into a film series of its own. To this day, Weaver has not returned to the franchise.
Not counting the spin-off series, it would be 15 years before another ‘Alien’ film would be released, with a very familiar face at the helm. But, is it a prequel; is it a spin-off; is it any good?
Stay tuned and we’ll find out on 11th May when ‘Alien: Covenant’ is released!
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