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For the video game, see Alien: Resurrection (video game). Alien: Resurrection (1997) is the fourth film in the Alien series, preceded by Alien, Aliens and Alien³. It opened on November 26, 1997.
Synopsis The events of Alien: Resurrection take place two centuries after the events of Alien³. Ellen Ripley has been cloned using "blood samples from 'Fiori' 16, on ice" so that the United Systems Military can extract the Xenomorph queen embryo that was inside her from Alien³. The first seven tries are unsuccessful hybrids of human and alien body forms. Six of them are dead in fluid-filled preservative chambers. The seventh, also horribly deformed, remains alive on life-support, and is granted a mercy killing by Ripley later in the film. On the eighth try the scientists recreated a mostly human, almost normal-looking Ripley with a viable alien queen embryo inside her. This film reveals a new alien capability - the ability to transfer memory genetically, which enables the resurrected Ripley to keep some of her former self's memories. It also piques the curiosity of the scientists and leads to their decision to keep her alive for further study. Having her DNA mixed with the aliens' has also given Ripley black claw-like fingernails, increased strength and regenerative abilities, lightning reflexes, enhanced hearing and weak acid for blood. She also has somewhat of an empathy for the aliens, referring to them as "my babies." At the end of the film, it is shown that the alien queen has also received a gift from Ripley's DNA: the ability to give birth to live offspring directly. This offspring seems more 'human' than the other aliens, with a human-like skull and eyes. This creature kills its alien mother right after birth, recognizing Ripley as his 'true' mother, weeping in a quite "childish" mode. A rogue ship full of freelance mercenaries arrives with kidnapped humans for the aliens to parasitize and reproduce inside. However, before the freelancers depart, the aliens escape and wreak terror across the ship. Ripley teams up with the freelancers to help destroy the ship before it reaches home base, Earth. Responses Despite positive reviews for Sigourney Weaver's performance, the film is considered the least successful in the series, having been poorly received by many fans and critics. It grossed $47.8 million at the U.S. box office and a total of $161.3 million worldwide. However, Winona Ryder won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for her role in the film. Controversies Some fans were disappointed by a number of mistakes in references to events in earlier films in the series. For example, Ripley's I.D. number has been changed . Fiorina 161 was in fact nicknamed "Fiori 16" in the third movie despite some fans believing otherwise. A novelization by A.C. Crispin corrects these mistakes and quotes several lines from past movies. It also offers more details about the thought process of the aliens, showing them to be considerably intelligent animals that are not only capable of reading different languages, but also have the ability to remember the events of Aliens from the perspectives of both the Alien Queen and Ripley. It also quotes several past characters, and makes mention of the character Morse from the previous movie as having submitted information on the events in Alien³, later discovered by Call. Screenwriter Joss Whedon was extremely unhappy with the final product. In a 2005 interview, when asked how the film differed from the script he'd written, Whedon responded, "It wasn’t a question of doing everything differently, although they changed the ending; it was mostly a matter of doing everything wrong. They said the lines...mostly...but they said them all wrong. And they cast it wrong. And they designed it wrong. And they scored it wrong. They did everything wrong that they could possibly do. There’s actually a fascinating lesson in filmmaking, because everything that they did reflects back to the script or looks like something from the script, and people assume that, if I hated it, then they’d changed the script...but it wasn’t so much that they’d changed the script; it’s that they just executed it in such a ghastly fashion as to render it almost unwatchable." * There was also controversy surrounding proper credit for the alien design. H.R. Giger, the artist famous for creating the original alien design, was openly displeased that the film did not give him a credit for this and sent a letter to the studio complaining. This does not parallel to his lack of credit in Aliens, as the new design for the Alien (Queen) in the second movie was actually put together by someone else entirely (James Cameron). Alternate version In the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy DVD box set, Jeunet included an alternative version of the film with alternate opening and closing scenes, references to the character Newt from Aliens and extended dialogue between Call and Ripley's clone in the chapel scene, including the dialog "I'm not afraid to dream anymore. 'Cause when I wake up it's always worse". Basketball scene In one scene of the film, Ripley picks up a basketball, and, without looking back, throws it over her shoulder across half the length of a basketball court, whereupon it lands right in the net. This could easily have been faked with editing or special effects, but in his commentary on the DVD, Jean-Pierre Jeunet explains that the shot took place in real time and was not faked. Sigourney Weaver committed herself to do the scene for real and trained for months to achieve the shot. Jeunet tried to talk her out of it, fearing delays in the filmmaking if she were unsuccessful. Weaver insisted, and on the very first attempt threw an incredible shot that went straight into the basket. Unfortunately, her co-actors were so astonished that they were clearly 'out of character'; Ron Perlman even looked at the camera and said "Oh my god!"; Jeunet had to edit the shot carefully to trim these reactions. (A differing account says this take was completely unsalvagable and after many failed attempts to recreate the first take, Weaver succeeded on her last chance ). An additional problem was that the ball left the frame for a few instants during its travel through the air, which made the scene look as though it could have been faked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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