REVIEWS

"ALIEN RESURRECTION"

The one thing that you CAN'T say about the "Alien" movies is that the visuals were lame. I mean, "Alien" was directed by Ridley Scott (who went on to direct the sci-fi classic, "Blade Runner"), it's sequel, "Aliens," was directed by James Cameron (who went on to direct "Terminator II," "True Lies," and the highly anticipated "Titanic"), and even the one widely considered the worst, "Alien 3," was directed by David Fincher (who went on to direct "Seven"). These films were directed by people who were known to be good directors, but who hadn't quite yet made a name for themselves. Needless to say, they're all big names now. That brings us to the latest installment of the "Alien" saga, "Alien Resurrection." This time, the folks at Twentieth Century Fox went with a director who may not be very well-known in the United States, but he's definitely proven himself to be a visual genius with his earlier work in France. His name is Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and along with Marc Caro, he directed "City of Lost Children" and "Delicatessen." If you've seen either of these movies, you already know that Jeunet is a director who loves to move the camera. The visuals in "Alien Resurrection" are excellent, and I look forward to the next film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

If you've seen the two Jeunet movies I mentioned earlier, you're gonna see two familiar faces in this movie: Ron Perlman as Johner, the dim-witted, sex-hungry ogre, and Dominique Pinon as "Vriess," the guy on the funky wheelchair. Fans of Jeunet's earlier work may be surprised to hear Pinon speak English, but his lines are few, and he doesn't speak horrible English. The accent IS prominent, though.

Sigourney Weaver must've had a great time playing this role. She had to play "Ripley," but with an edge. A really sharp edge. Her acting was superb, and she had real presence. As for Winona Ryder, I've read a couple of reviews that said she didn't belong in this movie. I disagree. I think that she did really good playing a character that was very different from the others in the film.

The problem with the movie lies in the script. It's a good concept, but there's little else BUT concept. The plot is paper thin, and the dialog was tailor-made to be soundbites for the movie trailer and TV commercials. It was written by Josh Whedon (creator of the movie and TV series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), and I wish he put a little more thought behind it. Still, it's a fun ride, and I STRONGLY suggest that you go to your local video store and rent "Delicatessen" or "City of Lost Children." You'll thank me later.

Scale of 1-10: 7