Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Director:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Writers (WGA):

Dan O'Bannon (characters) and
Ronald Shusett (characters) ...

Release Date:

26 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

It's been more than 200 years...The beginning has just started.

Plot:

200 years after her death, Ellen Ripley is revived as a powerful human/Alien hybrid clone who must continue her war against the Aliens.

Plot Keywords:

Female Pilot | Space Exploration | Masculine Character With Female Name | Impalement | Breeding

Awards:

4 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Ellen Ripley
Winona Ryder	...	Annalee Call
Dominique Pinon	...	Vriess
Ron Perlman	...	Johner
Gary Dourdan	...	Christie
Michael Wincott	...	Frank Elgyn
Kim Flowers	...	Sabra Hillard
Dan Hedaya	...	Gen. Martin Perez
J.E. Freeman	...	Dr. Mason Wren
Brad Dourif	...	Dr. Jonathan Gediman
Raymond Cruz	...	Vincent Distephano
Leland Orser	...	Larry Purvis
Carolyn Campbell	...	Carlyn Williamson (Anesthesiologist)
Marlene Bush	...	Scientist
David St. James	...	Surgeon

Also Known As:

Alien 4
Alien resurrección (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Alien - Återuppstår (Sweden) [sv]
Alien - A Ressurreição (Brazil) [pt]
Alien - Die Wiedergeburt (Germany) [de]
Alien - I anagennisi (Greece) [el]
Alien - genopstandelsen (Denmark) [da]
Alien - ylösnousemus (Finland) [fi]
Alien 4 feltámad a halál (Hungary) [hu]
Alien, la résurrection (France) [fr]
Alien: Dirilis (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Alien: La résurrection (Canada: French title) [fr]
Alien: O Regresso (Portugal) [pt]
Alien: la clonazione (Italy) [it]
Obcy: Przebudzenie (Poland) [pl]
Osmi potnik - Ponovno vstajenje (Slovenia) [sl]
Vetrelec: Vzkriseni (Czech Republic) [cs]
Yaratik: Dirilis (Turkey: Turkish title) (TV title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence and gore, some grotesque images, and for language.

Runtime:

109 min | 116 min (2003 Special Edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Brazil:14 | Italy:T | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #35542) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Brandywine Productions

Trivia:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's long time partner, Marc Caro, with whom he had made Delicatessen (1991) and Cité des enfants perdus, La (1995), had no interest in taking part in the film. Caro did fly out to Los Angeles for several weeks to provide some costume and art direction designs.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ripley undergoes surgery, Gediman cuts her chest below her breasts. Later, Wren checks the scar which appears in the upper section of the chest, between her breasts.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ripley: [voiceover] My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones. But there are.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: John Goodman/Jewel (#22.19)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

The Fatal Mistake.

Review 4 of 4

With Alien 3 closing the story arc of the Alien trilogy, this film begins with a fresh slate. The Alien films have always been a director's series but in this film it was the writing that ultimately killed it. Resurrection tries to be too many things at once. It has a very artistic and dynamic visual style, but cardboard characters. It has a very overt sense of humor, but it is all done in a very juvenile manner. Much of the maturity and restraint of the previous three films is thrown out in favor of a more comic book style. The cinematography and set design is gorgeous to the point of decadence. Sigourney Weaver has been given an interesting character to play and does it with a strange sense of detachment that lends more depth to the proceedings than the script ever could. Thinking back, the first three films all had very solid overall stories and well developed characters while Resurrection has a very solid concept but can't seem to build a coherent movie around it. If you follow the overall themes of the series with the first, second and third being birth, life, and death respectively that leaves Resurrection on shaky thematic ground. Since this is Alien: RESURRECTION obviously the filmmakers wished for rebirth to be the theme, but somehow it never quite works. The characters are basically action movie clichés, and the action sequences of the movie are hopelessly contrived. Why does the Alien always stop to snarl before it attacks giving people just enough time to shoot it? Alien 3 did not have this problem and it reinforced how dangerous the creature really was. Resurrection turns the Aliens into monsters from a B-movie. Very few scenes in the film are particularly memorable. Sure, the underwater chase is a nice bit of action derring-do, but there's no real sense of danger...except for the supporting characters you barely know who get killed in the reverse order they appear in the credits. Two fantastic scenes that I wish there were more of in the film are the doctor's examination of the Aliens where he "plays" with them. Now that was a scene of inspired genius. The other scene was when Ripley wakes up in her circular chamber. It is interesting to note that neither of these scenes have any dialogue, because the dialogue is pretty atrocious. Ron Pearlman is always fun to watch and makes a good comic duo with Dominique Pinon, but Winona Ryder absolutely kills this movie with her nonperformance. The effects look less realistic this time out and the score at times seems to try too hard to emulate the second and third films with Goldsmith's original Alien theme being used on several occasions. The film is a brilliant exercise in dynamic visuals but the story really does not go anywhere. Unlike the first three films this one does not take itself seriously at all so the danger level becomes nonexistent. I believe Jean-Pierre Jeunet was an excellent choice for a director but the script served him very badly. This is an interesting film to watch for an interesting scene here and there but not in the same league as the previous films.