Alien Resurrection (1997): Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s darkly operatic entry of the alien franchise delivered an underwhelming finale to the iconic Ripley heroine

Chad’s Grade: C+

It’s safe to say that many fans of the Alien franchise were not happy with Alien 3. The controversial third film in the series, directed by David Fincher, had Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley sacrificing herself by falling into a pit of molten lead just before an alien queen burst from her chest. It was a bleak ending to the fan-favorite heroine that made many fans demand a course correction. 

Say what you will about Alien 3, but I found it a visually stunning if narratively incoherent closer to the trilogy. But it’s pretty much a commandment in Hollywood to never let an IP franchise die, so 20^th Century Fox Studios wanted to revive the series with a fourth film. And Weaver indicated she was interested in reprising Ripley if the filmmakers could find a believable way for her to return.

The long-running producers of the Alien series, David Giler, Walter Hill, and Gordon Carroll didn’t want to make the mistake of the last entry, where they started filming with an uncompleted script. Instead, they turned to one of Hollywood’s most trusted wordsmiths Joss Whedon to craft the (ahem) resurrection of Ellen Ripley.

The prolific Whedon is best known as the writer/director of the first two Avengers blockbusters for Marvel but is also the creator of the cult TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (loosely based on the film) and sci-fi western Firefly. Whedon has a knack for melding comic-book-style adventures with clever, quippy dialogue full of pop culture vernacular. His script for the fourth Alien cannily blends the B-movie plotline of human cloning (to bring Ripley back from the dead) with a Poseidon Adventure-style disaster epic set aboard a doomed space station infested with a new batch of alien creatures.

Whedon’s creative screenplay became a hot commodity in Hollywood, especially when Winona Ryder joined the project to co-star with Weaver. One of my favorite aspects of the Alien films is how it showcases bold, rising directors. And after Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and David Fincher gave each of their respective pictures their own flavor, the series producers were ready to take another wild swing.

The first director to show interest was Danny Boyle, who was hot after his 1996 indie hit Trainspotting made waves with its surreal and flamboyant style. He reportedly loved Whedon’s screenplay but backed out due to his aversion to working on a mainstream studio franchise. And if you’re wondering what a Boyle-directed Alien movie might look like, you should check out his creepy and underrated sci-fi horror gem Sunshine.

The producers eventually settled on visionary French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet who co-directed (with Marc Caro) Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children and made the jump to solo director with the Paris set romance, Amelie. Jeunet’s style is a cross between Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, crafting wild visuals infused with quirky and whimsical humor. His still stunning The City of Lost Children blends gothic steampunk imagery in a surreal, post-apocalyptic setting. Unlike Boyle, Jeunet was eager to do a big Hollywood picture, and Alien Resurrection would be his first English-language film.

For the most part, Alien Resurrection is a solid improvement over its predecessor, largely thanks to Whedon’s imaginative script that gives the franchise’s tired tropes a fresh coat of paint. The cloning storyline, which could be an apt metaphor for the current state of Hollywood, primarily works as it gives us a new variation of Ripley. The film is set two hundred years after the events of Alien 3, as scientists grow a Ripley clone based on her blood samples from the prison planet where she perished to get the queen alien ingesting inside her.

This gives Sigourney Weaver a chance to flex her acting muscles, getting to play a darker, cross-bred version of Ripley. After the operation to remove the queen, she gives almost a silent performance, playing a human version of an alien. In the opening 20 minutes of the picture, we’re not sure where her allegiances lay, as she calls the queen and the other aliens her children and gives a sneering smile when the creatures begin their rampage across the space station. As the picture progresses, the more human Ripley we know and love emerges. It’s a tricky narrative that could’ve backfired, but Weaver’s acting skills make it work.

As the scientists now have a quickly growing alien queen and her subsequent eggs, they await their cargo, courtesy of the pirate ship “The Betty.” This motley crew of characters has kidnapped human crew members still in hypersleep to serve as the new alien hosts. It’s a chilling plot twist, especially paired with Jeunet’s dark visuals of the sleeping victims waking to the face-huggers jumping from the pulsating egg sacks. The space pirates are a fascinating addition to the franchise, and they share a passing resemblance to the pirate crew featured in Whedon’s 2002 TV series Firefly. And at times, sections of Alien Resurrection play like a proto episode of the cult sci-fi hit.

The pirate group features an exciting collection of actors, like Jeunet regulars Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon, who make the most of their quirky characters. This is where Winona Ryder appears, playing a mysterious android named “Call,” working undercover to kill the Ripley clone. As much as I enjoy Ryder, she’s miscast as her impish style clashes with her tough character. The real surprise is Michael Wincott as Captain Elgyn, the leader of the pirate crew. Wincott became typecast in villainous roles decked out with long jet-black hair in 90’s era films like The Crow and Strange Days. Here he shows a welcome roguish side with a sexy haircut and a swashbuckling smirk. One wonders why he never played more leading man roles.

Despite the promise of a solid script and diverse collection of actors, the film is ultimately crippled by a mismatch between director and writer. Jeunet’s offbeat humor and gothic operatic style doesn’t mesh with Whedon’s brand of witty banter. During production, Whedon’s script was butchered, with characters reduced to making irrational choices and spouting out-of-place one-liners. And Jeunet has little experience directing hi-octane action sequences, as Alien Resurrection features little of the kinetic horror beats of the earlier films. 

The first half features all the twists and turns we expect from solid Whedon-scripted yarn. This includes a creepy scene where the Ripley clone, who notices the number 8 imprinted on her wrist, wanders into a room marked 1-7. There she discovers a horrific collection of cross-bred Ripley-Alien clones, including one still alive that begs Ripley to kill her. Or a tense underwater action set piece where the survivors swim, Shelly Winters style, as two alien creatures chase them into a chamber full of alien eggs.

But even with those standout scenes, the film never builds to a memorable finale. The big reveal, where the alien Queen has inherited Ripley’s human reproduction cycle and gives birth to a crazed, half-human hybrid, is a horrific Frankenstein-style twist. But the newborn creature is so poorly designed and executed that it lacks any impact. And Ripley’s killing of the newborn, where she cuts the ship’s glass with her acid blood, sucking the creature out the tiny hole, is cruel and out of character.

But Alien Resurrection is a showcase for Jeunet’s whimsical style that made him one of the more interesting European directors. His roving camera work is stunning and stylish, giving certain scenes an extra kick. He brings a touch of his unique steampunk visuals to this sci-fi setting, featuring the gorgeous work of acclaimed cinematographer Darius Khondji, who laced the film negative with silver, giving the picture a grey, metallic glow. And a few of the director’s quirky beats do land, such as the scene where the scientist Gediman (a wonderfully weird Brad Dourif) toys with a caged alien, watching it learn and strategize behind the glass. When Gediman freakishly kisses the glass, the alien returns the kiss with a snap of its acid tongue.

Ultimately, the eccentric tone and offbeat humor were a bad fit for the alien universe. All the previous entries were full of dark horror in gritty settings, but the circus freakshow atmosphere that’s a hallmark of Jeunet’s style stands out. Alien Resurrection proved a disappointing follow-up to Alien 3, with middling box office receipts. It was enough to shelve the franchise until Ridley Scott returned to the series with his prequel films Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017).

Alien Resurrection-The Extended Cut

As with all the previous Alien films, Alien Resurrection received an extended cut that runs 7 minutes longer than its theatrical release, featured on the Alien Quadrilogy Blu-Ray/DVD set. As par the course, the new cut features longer scenes with added dialogue. This includes a few mentions of Newt from Aliens, where the Ripley clone struggles with emerging memories of her adopted daughter.

The most significant change is a different version of the opening credit sequence. The film opens with a close-up of alien-looking teeth, only to pull back to reveal a tiny fly that is squished by a bored soldier stationed on the USM Auriga, as the tracking shot reveals the massive military vessel. It’s a weird visual play that is very much in director Jeunet’s wheelhouse and is an improvement over the vague flesh and alien images used in the theatrical. 

And the final scene is slightly tweaked as the original ending had Ripley and Call gazing across a field of clouds from their ship, where Ripley states as she sees Earth for the first time, “I’m a stranger here myself.” In the alternate take, “The Betty” lands on what looks like a post-apocalyptic Earth, where Call and Ripley have their final conversation overlooking a destroyed Eiffel Tower. It’s a pointless change that adds nothing to the film and is an odd, open-ended finale of the Ripley character.