The Event Horizon

4. Movie Reviews

4.1 Alien: Resurrection, reviewed by Soh Kam Yung

I didn't know what to expect from this fourth Alien movie, but after watching it, I found myself satisfied: ``This was what the third Alien movie should have been,'' was my main thought.

The story takes place two hundred years after the events in Alien3. Ellen Ripley (and the alien queen inside her) have been cloned from blood samples taken from the prison planet aboard a military ship (the Company is no more). However, even then, cloning isn't perfect and some of the genetic material of the alien queen and Ripley's have been mixed up. The effect on Ripley is to give her some of the instincts, skills, strength and speed of an alien (among other things). It would be a spoiler to tell you what effect Ripley's genes have had on the queen.

Into this comes an exen more explosive mixture. A freighter arrives carrying bodies in statis. Their (the bodies) use is apparent from the moment you see alien eggs placed before their faces. As is usual in such movies, the military apparently believe they can breed and control the aliens. Of course, we all know what will happen next. Anyway, Ripley escapes from the holding cell where she is put in after the queen is removed from her body. She and the crew of the freighter must destroy the military ship before it returns to home base (which happens to be Earth) as well as escape, hopefully in the opposite order.

Alien: Resurrection is a mix of both the first two Alien movies with a passing resemblance to the third one. Some of the suspense, hidden horror and atmosphere of the first one is found in the movie, including the fact that the aliens have intelligence. The gun-ho style of the second can also be found, although with a lot less aliens involved. Elements of the third movie also appear, although in parody.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also directed the atmospheric City of Lost Children, this movie has managed to thread the fine line between resembling the previous Alien movies while still managing to be something different. The connection this movie has with City of Lost Children is enforced by Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon, both of whom also acted in City. There appears to be a kind of symmetry involved (or invoked by Jeunet?) between the two movies: in City, Pinon was the cloned assistant to Krank (the scientist unable to dream) while here, it is Ripley who is cloned. As for Perlman, he is both the bad and good guy and appears to throughly enjoy the role he gets to play.

As usual, there are some sticking points to the story-line, as well as a curious similarity in endings (I won't say more) to previous Alien movie that takes away some of the tension. Nevertheless, I have to admit to enjoying it. It helps that the movie features some genuine humour as well as horror distict from the previous Alien movies.

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