December 1

"After reading all the reviews for this movie I must say I was VERY hesitant about seeing this movie. But as I went for free I didn't mind. After the mind-blowing effect and superb underwater sequences, we came to the Newborn, and yes the reviews said it was shite, and in some was I had to agree, it COULD have looked better, but it didn't.

"However, this film has come under a lot of unjust critism, not from ALIEN fans as I once thought, but from ALIENS fans. I can see these people wanted Aliens again, but James Cameron's movie this isn't. It is a fabulous and new insight into the Alien world and the real stars of the movie for once are the Aliens themselves. This time the creatures are awesome and better looking than ever, as well as hyper intelligent, in much the same way the first creature in Alien was. There are twelve warriors and a queen, so they can't have the cascade effect that we so loved in Aliens. The creatures prefer to hunt on their own or in pairs. This again caused critism, but I don't think they got WHY they hunted like that. The fact is THEY know the hero's have guns, and so they don't want to attack all at once and have the shit blown out of them in one massive firefight. As for the creatures being slow to attack, I loved this, for once the director has looked back to the original for inspiration. Brett in Alien took at least a full 20 seconds to die, and Lambert and Parker 40 - 60 seconds. This addition was great as it shows that the creature isn't just a killer, but is also curious as well, which was one of the traits it had in the original too.

"The atmosphere is the best yet, claustrophobic it may be, but excellent. The corridors have strobe effects when the power is down, strobe when they find Purvis. It is dark when it needs to be and light when it needs to be. There is no Mulder and Scully torchwork here. The eerieness is absoulutly spot on and this is by far the most spine-tingling since Alien. I wasn't scared, but I was shivering at some of the prospects that the film gave us. Where Ripley finds the 7 clones before her and the mutation in them is delivered like a freak show in a carnival, and yet the hatred you feel towards the guys who did it is echoed buy the fact that the room is well lit, and you can see ALL of Ripley 8's pain.

"As for the characters and comedy, I guess I didn't get much of the humour. My eyes were always on the screen as there is always something for you to watch. The characters were great, Call was brilliant althought could have had a little more work. By far the best was of course Siguorney Weaver as Ripley. Her performance is that to rival her's in Alien3 which was against the grain and wonderfully hard. Here she is tough, mean, gets what she wants and yet is strangly erotic and seductive, just like the creature her DNA is melded with. This attention to detail just clinched the film for me. As for the rest of the cast, well they did great jobs with what they had, and all acted really well.

"However (and here it comes) there are a few critisms that must be addressed. The Newborn did look bad in some ways and ould have been a real warp of Human and Alien. However, this is what is was, just not what fans were expecting. I think that they employed a realism approach as opposed to a fantasy approach, and the Newborn did look realistic, as though it HAD been a fusion of Alien and Human. However, they could have done it differently, but THAT is what it looked like, and the eyes, although strange looking did give you symapthy towards it, so long as you weren't looking as to how you could slag it off. The Aliens attacking slowly again was another I read, but was completely unjust. As in Alien (as before) the creature did take it's time SOMETIMES. Besides, if you were unarmed and six people all had guns trained on your head, WOULD you run at them???? My only real criticism is that there weren't enough Alien attacks, given a longer running time this may have been possible. Also the characterisation was lacking meaning insted of and escape film, it was more a day in the life of......... who were escaping.

"However, with the massive underwater sequence, Aliens pressing buttons to kill people, herding the people towars egg chambers and other such intellingent acts, the Aliens stole the show. Only twelve of them, but boy were they back, and how. This is not the best Alien film, but more an insight into the world where these creatures exist. The film is incredible and awesome, and although isn't Aliens, it comes a close second. I didn't like it at first, but Ripley 8 grows on you and so does the excellence of this movie. If it is watched with a clear head of all reviews, you will really enjoy it, and what a rollercoaster ride it is..."

[Submitted by Dave C.]

"I think the movie is getting a bad rap. All these guys are writing in with like two pages of stupid criticisms of the movie. I think these were the people who were looking to be let down in the first place. I personally thought the movie was pretty good; though I do have the criticism that Elgyn and Christie died wayyyy too early. True, there were a lot of elements in the script that could have made the film better (the St. Just character for instance), but it was still satisfying. I thought the cinematography and art direction was amazing."

[Submitted by Dave.]

Nov. 26

"Wanted to send you my review of the film, which is posted on our World Of Fandom web site (http://www.zipmall.com/wof):

In W.O.F. #30 (our current issue) I took an in-depth look at the story of Alien Resurrection, along with interviews with Brad Dourif and Ron Perlman. For the benefit of those who have not read the article, the story, set some 200 years into the future from where the last film left off, concerns itself with a covert military operation that has cloned Ellen Ripley in order to harvest the alien creature. To do that they have tampered with the genetics of both to create new hybrids.

"The film comes in at 108 minutes, although I've been told that there were some advance screenings of a directors cut that ran about 140 minutes. Regardless, the final cut is rather slow moving. If you take into consideration Jeunet's last film, City of Lost Children, you are well aware of what I mean. The director likes to exploit every shot, every set for all it's worth. Case in point, there is a long shot down a tunnel where Ripley is leaning with her head on the wall. We must watch every character walk single file before the camera before Winona Ryder's character comes along, and then the director cuts to a medium shot as they begin to exchange dialogue.

"That's not to say that Nigel Phelps' production designs aren't breathtaking. They are amazing, as are the various spaceship designs and outer spacescapes. Again, the director lingers over these a bit too long, which breaks up the action sequences.

"The action is packed with the typical sight gags that have become Jeunet's trademark. He takes a typical Hollywood action scene and spices it up a bit with acrobatics and enhanced visuals. The problem is that their placement in the film is like a sugar rush; intense, short-lived and a prolonged lull until the next rush.

"What truly elevates the periods between the set action pieces is the chemistry between Weaver and Perlman. There is a confrontation between the two on a basketball court that is one of the high points of the film. This new Ripley is more aggressive and has a few nice ticks because of the mix of Alien and Human DNA. Throughout the film her loyalty is in question. Unfortunately, many of their other moments are cheapened by bad dialogue, such as when Weaver asks, 'Who do I have to fuck to get off this ship.' As for the rest of the cast it is a matter of why care. There are just too many of them, there is no real character development and fans of the series, who are probably aware of the cast's work in other projects, will quickly surmise that they'd been cast as a stereotypical characters. In fact, the rule of thumb, the guiltier you are the sooner you die.

"It seems odd the Whedon's screenplay read much better than the film played out. I know several people who have seen the film and read the screenplay, and have made the exact same comment.

"If you noticed I haven't mentioned the creatures yet:

"The main problem with Alien Resurrection can be traced directly to the fact that H.R. Giger is missing from the action. Giger is the artist whose early paintings were adopted as the design for the adult alien creature in the firts Alien film and then retained in all the sequels, thereafter, and the man who also designed all the stages of the creature's life cycle. Giger also designed and built the alien spaceship and all the alien interiors for the first film and recieved the 1980 Academy award for Best Visual Effects for all his combined designs. In a recent interview Jeunet commented, 'The people who made the first Alien were artists. Ridley Scott, Giger, the writers... they invented everything. The rest of us who follow are artisans. The first film is a work of art, an entity all its own.' If the director truly believes this then why didn't he bring Giger back? Did the studio even try? In Resurrection Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett are given the credit 'based on the characters created by.' In fact, the only character created by O'Bannon still in the film, besides the creatures, is Ripley, and she is not O'Bannon's Ripley. She is more Whedon's creation, slightly enhanced by the memories of a character that has been altered by various writers and directors over the course of three other films, which O'Bannon had nothing to do with. However, the alien creatures, conceived on paper by O'Bannon and given life by H.R. Giger, remain intact, with only some minor alterations, here and there. The case can be made that even the Newborn (an attempt to totally confuse the creature's life cycle) is nothing more (and considerably less) than a de-helmeted alien creature skinned raw.

"Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. appropriate the credit 'Alien Effects Designed and Created by' on this film. Hum... something is rotten in the State of California! We all know that H.R. Giger designed and created the aliens (with the exception of the James Cameron/Stan Winston designed Queen Mother), so what did these guys do? In my opinion, as well as other die-hard fans of the series, they made a big mess of things, starting with their involvement in Alien 3. On Resurrection their designs are a blur, a piling of gelatineous sludge on top of H.R. Giger's sleek biomechanical creation, successfully destroying the inherent esthetics of their design. The body color of the aliens is dark, and when placed in even dark environments, whatever design details remained after these Effects Creators got through with it, is now totally (maybe mercifully) lost.

"I ran into a guy who licences toy designs and he commented that he was glad he saw the film before he signed the contract. He didn't see anything in the film that was interesting or exciting in the creature, and decided to wait for Fox to release Alien Resurrection on video so that the licence for the toy designs will cost significantly less.

"The CGI designs are also poorly rendered, and look like CGI. It's seems rather odd when you consider that these CGI folks are the same ones who worked on Starship Troopers, and those effects were outstanding. There is no sense of aesthetic beauty to any of these alien designs, and they've been reduced to a derivative, stereotypical ugly monster. It's obvious that they took from Giger's past work what they wanted and came up with stuff of their own without any rhyme or reason. For example, how and when did the aliens come up with the ability to survive and swim under water?

"The new white, possibly albino, hybrid alien design - the full responsibility falls on Gillis and Woodruff - is horrible. I've seen armature special effects people come up with more inspired and creative designs. It's obvious that not much thought was given to the design of this poor sad-sack creature, it seems to have been an afterthought! They should have consulted someone, anyone, who might have offered them a plausible direction to take the design in, based on a continuity with the already established visual aesthetic, and on the science of the future in which the film is set. Could have called Giger. Probably would have worked up some excitement, originality and coherence into the visual outlook of his bastard grandchild, if for no other reason, just to protect the family name.

"A director friend - who wishes to remain anonymous - agreed with me about the design, and went on to reflect that maybe Giger had seen the film and asked that his name be removed from the credits. I also agreed with him that Whedon's original ending was more inspired then the ending that they went with - send it back out into space from whence it came. I had to agree with him that the first 40 minutes of the film were really good, but in the end he said, 'It was a nice try.'

"To recap the score... Joss Whedon came up with a good script, but it's a shame they didn't use some of the best parts - like the ending. Jean-Pierre Jeunet; great visual director, great job first 40 minutes, loses it in the end and is slow paced at times. Cast, especially Weaver and Perlman, outstanding job. Gillis and Woodruff - spotlight grabbing hacks!

"On a final note; DarkHorse Comics has been publishing stories based on the Alien mythology for several years - storylines that are amazingly thought out, action-packed, intense and have been novelized by the Del Ray publishing house. Why hasn't Fox thought about employing those ideas for a film, when everyone else in the industry is turning to the comics for original source material? At the same time, while I've called Gillis and Woodruff hacks, it might be more a case of two kids left alone to run amuck in a candy store, and the real blame for the problems with Alien Resurrection is all Fox's fault. In either case, H.R. Giger seems to have more than ample grounds upon which to mount a lawsuit against the studio. It should be pointed out that it was Fox who screwed Roger Corman over on Frankenstein: Unbound (Corman had to arrange his own screenings of the film because Fox refused to, plus other problems), as well as Clive Barker on Nightbreed. Even Lucas has had his problems with Fox. If the Alien series is to be resurrected, then it is my opinion that it would be best served by a studio that encourages, promotes and supports the exchange of ideas between filmmakers and artists."

[Review found in the personal effects of a Joseph B. Mauceri, on a derelict spacecraft.]

"Just came back from AR. And unfortunately it was just alright. And you don't know how much that pains me to say that.

"I personally have spent over $300.00 dollars on pre AR merchandise, including every magazine with even a paragraph on the film in it. I have followed the franchise since I begged my mother to buy me the Kenner ALIEN. Thanks to sites like CA, I've watched this film grow into fruition. I read the script and for a first draft... there were so many elements that could have made this film a classic with more strive for perfecting it, working at it... instead of the 'good enough, let's start making millions' mentality which has plagued the screen for the past years more than I care to remember.

"I think the cast was superb, Sigourney being exeptional as usual, but they were given such tired dialog if any [lots of interesting parts chopped from the script] that these characters became vague and without direction. They seemed almost lost from scene to scene. Out of touch with prior elements which occured earlier. Best example being Call. She betrays her smuggler cohorts and as they try to make their escape, they seem to forget all about it. And not in the sense of, 'we forgive you' but in the sense that it never happened. Her explanation is weak for her reasons behind her actions, and the bond between Ripley and Call is more realized in interviews with Ryder and Weaver than it is on screen.

"The Newborn was such a flacid creation. I really wonder what goes through their minds when they make trash like it. Its body was a direct rip off of The Violator from Spawn and the face was like a melted baboon baby. 'Yeah, that's great... let's roll with it!' It lumbered around. Repeated the same personality trait: INSIDE THE NEWBORN 'S HEAD: 'Are you my mommy? I hate you! KILL!' I half expected Ripley to put it on a leash and take it for a walk. My dog sleeping is more formidable than this B Movie joke.

"The aliens are slow, most of the time. SLOW!!!! Can you belive it? There's an amazing CGI show of the ALIEN walking down the hall after the band of smugglers. Since when do aliens hesitate in attacking? Oh, I forgot... their part human, so they procrastonate now. ' Hmmm... well I killed one of them, maybe I should wait 20 minutes. Or is that before swimming...?' I was impressed with 80% of the CGI. But the ladder scene is weak. Blue Sky should have matched their amazing underwater effects since once it comes out of the water, it looks cheap.

"The score was such pathetic drivel. I'm so tired of the symphonic rhetoric that is rehashed with every movie... uninventive. Where's the T2 and ALIENS cutting edge, mechanical soul?. This is a SCIFI movie. There are no violins in SPACE... and when there are Jake Busey is playing one. Now that's scary. The music in both trailers had the soul of the film... a mechanical techo-pulse. It got us all going. Glad I held out on buying the score.

"Plus, one of the worst images is of the Auriga hitting earth. It looks like a cigarette being put out in an ashtray.

"I'll still see it a bunch of times because I am supportive of the franchise. But the fan base will be weakened heavily by this and the masses are going to lump it in with the summer's failures like Batman and Robin. I just hope these moneymen behind the franchise wake up and understand... they're not the one's who are creative. And nowadays, its not easy to make something impressive... but its worth it. I didn't expect to be this dissappointed. Maybe that's why I'm so angry. When something you love let's you down. The fan base for this franchise expects more... and for the money in merchandise and sites created to help the franchise stay alive, I think we deserve it.

"ALIEN RESURRECTION had sooooooooooo much potential but unfortunately... it was unrealized."

[Thanks to our own fossilized 'NeuroJockey'.]

Nov. 25

"This film is going to be a dissapointment to most of the fans of the Alien series. I was at the L.A. premiere on Thursday Nov. 20 and I can say firsthand that this film does not deliver the type of excitement and suspense that everyone is waiting for. There is not enough character development and it seems as if the comedy was forced in to this film to make up for this flaw. The opening scene is too weird and distracts the viewer from the credits, something none of the other films do. There is a noticeable jump from the beggining to just get on with the action without really trying to build a solid story. The CGI effects are great and certain scenes really impress the viewer, the only problem is that there is a lack of fluidity to the film at the beggining that could have been resolved if there had been more time spent on building up the plot, the other 3 films did this very well.

"Most of the action in this one is good but the only gripe I have is that it is not as big as what the internet script I have read could have turned this film into. After all, the Auriga is supposed to be a ship 3 miles long, so it would be acceptable if some of the sets appeared to be larger than the house that most of us live in.

"The ending of Alien Resurrection is unfortunately the biggest dis- apointment, it becomes a B-movie style ending tacked on to a A-production film. The finale is too gory and comes on so quickly that it seems as if Fox just simply ran out of money and could not afford to finish this film with the ending that it deserves. I can see the possibility of an Alien 5, but the end of this one makes me think that in the next film Ripley will become the aliens and the humans that come to get her will become her prey."

[Information obtained from the eleventh clone of 'jetsound'.]

Second review (Nov. 22)

"I saw the final screening of A4 yesterday, and I must say I was very impressed. The Euro scene referred to in the November 2 scoop has been cut away. Instead we see Call and Ripley staring out the window of the Betty. For the first time in the Alien movies, we actually see a blue sky! Also the part where Purvis' chestburster blasts through Dr. Wren's head has been somewhat cut. We don't get to see the very gory part. I don't know why, though, because there are other scenes that are way beyond anyone's imagination!"

[Embryo implantation courtesy of Christian Fowler.]

First Review (Nov. 21):

"Hey Corona Gang!

"Long time reader, first time writer. Just had a little something to write and tell you about the ABSOLUTE, FINAL, DONE, WILL-NOT-BE-CHANGED Alien Ressurection movie. I just caught a sneak preview of it last night with some friends, and frankly, I have to vent some anger/praise. I don't know whether or not you can use this since the film comes out next Wednesday, but just in case YOU, yourselves want a few spoilers, here you go:

"The opening credits start off with what you already know about, the human flesh/alien flesh melding scene. It's a little hard to tell what's going on actually, if I hadn't read your page, I would've thought it was some kind of a peach colored bubble bath. Frankly, they should've gone with the silent, ominous credits over black, built up the suspense.

"O.K. The film has deffinately been trimmed by some Fox execs. It clocks in at 1:50 hours, but it should've gone 2:15. A lot of the explaining and following up is missed by trimming it down. It'd be similar to watching Aliens without the Ripley/Burke encounter after he tries to unleash the facehuggers on her and Newt, where he explains WHY he did that. Or even if they took out the scene where they first come upon the facehuggers in the lab, and explain a little bit about them.

"Firstly, this Alien movie is VISUALLY, the absolute BEST of them all. Hands down. It's truly unbeleivable. Jean-Pierre is INCREDIBLE. It's got better visuals than Delicatesson and Lost Children put together. It's truly breathtaking. The movie picks right up where they take the queen alien out of ripley and throw Ripley in the cell. Then we meet the crew of 'pirates', who have Annalee Call tagging behind with them. Unfortunately, Ryder is COMPLETELY miscast. You know they picked her up just for a name, but she's all wrong here. Not only is Ryder a little bit too prissy to play Call, but given that a lot of Joss Whedon's characterization of her is dropped, we feel even less attached to her.

"Bottom line: the story lacks. Not necessarily the screen play's story, but the finished product just....LACKS. To quote Lethal Weapon, 'It's pretty fucking THIN!'. It starts out fine, a top of the line military company wants to 'TRAIN' the aliens and use them as military weapons. Ripley tells them they won't be able to, blah, blah, blah, the aliens break free, etc... Not this is where the problems come in. It would've REALLY helped to convinve the audience that the military was actually SERIOUS about this idea if they explained a little just HOW they were going to train the aliens, and WHAT they would use them for specifially, and WHY they need, well....ALIENS, and not nuclear weapons of some sort. And then to add on top of that, Dr. Wren never actually seems SURPRISED or EMBARRESED when the aliens break free. He's just like, 'Well, life's a bitch, guess we were wrong. We're all gonna die.'

"Let me back up. (I know my thoughts are just ALL over the place) Up until now, EVERYBODY in the audience is still hooked. They're into it. Now the first, (and only SEMI) letdown, happens when the two aliens rip apart their sibling in their cell. I was REALLY hoping for a couple of GREAT shots of CG aliens ripping the third one apart, instead Jeunet shoots it in an incomprehensible manner where for about two minutes we only constantly see the two aliens shooting their 'tongues' out at the third alien and a little bit acid flying. I swear to god, it was a complete BLUR, for like TWO minutes, not one wide angle shot. Then we see at the end the burned hole and the carcas. This leads me into one more MAJOR problem, the CG aliens are absolutely TERRIBLE!!!! Well, let me clarify, the CG aliens under water in the kitchen scene are passable, they are still OBVIOUSLY fake, but they still work. Unfortunately, in the 9-10 shots of CG aliens OUT of the water, they look GOD-AWFUL. Almost as bad as Species CG. I was thinking 'What the FUCK!' You have a $70 million movie and you can't spend an extra $5 million making the CG aliens look state-of-the-art??? I was SOOOOO pissed. There's this one shot where after the aliens have broken loose, and men from the ship go towards escape pods, and from a wide angle shot, a CG alien leaps onto the pod and climbs inside, and it some of the worst CG animation probably ever produced. The alien looked GREY, and really sloppily inserted. Then all of the shots where one of the aliens leaps out of the water onto the ladder in the kitchen, BLAH!!!! Very un-professional looking. I wonder if a French FX shots did them, 'cause ILM or Digital Domain couldn't HAVE done these. The flea in Lost Children that jumps around on people looked 10 times better than these shots.

"Now a praise, the first hour of the movie was MIND-BLOWING, un-FRIGGIN- believable. Everybody in the audience was just sighing 'Kick ass....' after almost every one of Jean-Pierre's scenes. The one that comes to mind: The basketball scene with Ripley and Jonner, leading into the fight scene: probably the most incredible visual 5 minutes of film to come out this year. And Ripley's amazing basketball shot....you can EASILY tell that she really made it. Anyway, when the military's men hold the "pirates" captive on the court because they find out Call came to kill Ripley, the pirates fight back, killing everybody in the room...except for Dr. Wren. And that too....is un-FRIGGIN-believable. Bullets POV shooting out of the gun, people being tossed right into the camera...it's MIND-BLOWING.

"Now a another critique:

"The movie left out two of the best parts of Whedon's script. (At least semi-original script) Because of these couple of missing parts, the movie really feels jagged and out of place. The first part is where the aliens have them cornered (or somewhat cornered), and they send out Call as 'bait'. This scene was great because we got to see a little bit of how the aliens thought. They wouldn't come at first because they couldn't smell the fear, then they did come, and Ripley barely pulls Call out. It would've been a great scene, and they probably shot it, but it got cut. TOO BAD!!! The second part was the 'shoot-out' scene, where the heros were driving jeeps along an indoor 'bio-dome'' type area and the aliens leap out from all over to grab them. A shot gets fired into the glass and one of the men gets sucked out, then Call and Ripley barely make it out alive just that whole section of the ship BLOWS out into space. It would've been great.

"This all leads into the last, and most detrimental criticism. The reason that 90% of the population WON'T be seeing this movie a second time: The Newborn. I don't know if you guys have seen pictures of him/her or not, but 'IT' is TERRIBLE!!!

"1) it IS scary, whoever said it's not is lying their ass off. The problem is....it's the wrong kind of scary. It isn't sci-fi alien scary. IT's cheesy straight-to-video horror scary. You had listed earlier on your page that you were glad they dropped the 'vampire' alien idea of the newborn from Whedon's original script. Well I'm here to tell you, this movie would've been three times better had they left that in. The newborn looks, simply put...NOTHING LIKE A GOD-DAMN ALIEN!!! It's head is about twice as big, it's got a little pudgy rubbery nose that sticks up, it constantly growls like a bear the whole time, and it looks like a cross between a human skull and a MONKEY!!! How does it kill IT'S victims? Well, it DOESN'T have pincers, it has about a two foot long tongue. (Oh, it also has tits and a baby black eyes) And because of these drawbacks, it simply BITES the top of it's victims heads off!!! That or twists it off with it's hands. IT friggin' SUCKS!!! The audience hated it! I guaruntee everybody who sees it will hate it too. At least anyone who has even a REMOTE idea of what the Alien series has been like. Possibly test-screening audiences were able to overlook it with the studio telling them quote 'The special effects and shots aren't all quite done yet, so don't judge too harshly.' Well now that the films done, it is FUCKED!!! The vampire alien would've been SOOOO much cooler. You see, it would've at least LOOKED like an alien, but instead had like 4 spidery legs. It would've been white (which would've been change enough) and then after whacking off the queen's head (which the CRAPPY new-born also does), it would've systematically drained all of the blood from the people hanging from the ceiling, until it got to Ripley, when it would've suddenly gotten very cozy and loving toward her. It would've been SOOOOOO great!!! Instead, a great first hour of this movie is ruined by a crappy last 45 minutes. Though I have to admit, the intimacy of the aliens is deffinately touched on more in this movie than on any previous one. (Although it still could've done more) Seeing the queen alien having contractions and labor pains was really shocking, and disturbing, but not even as much as when after she's done she looks towards her baby with almost a happy, loving grin. At this, the newborn proceeds to take his monster right head and smack her head CLEAN OFF. In one clean SWING! Then it goes straight to Ripley and slobbers all lovingly over her until the crazed, mad scientist (that guy from Deer Hunter, can't remember his name) pisses 'IT' off enough by keep chanting (in dazed voice) 'Beautiful, Beautiful, baby. Yes....look at you. So beautiful. Little baby....' etc... At this the newborn proceeds to crawl up to the guy (it's not as graceful as the other aliens) and bite the whole top of his head off. GROSS!!! Believe me, with the 'Vampire' alien idea, Whedon and Jeunet would've really had a winner! This crappy newborn is just too Bulky and massize and out of it's genre to pass.

"On another note about the aliens, we also see more of their 'bi-pedal'-ness than in any of the other movies. There's a great shot where one of them starts walking toward the heros all clumped up next to a jammed door that won't open, and we see from a low angle shot behind it as it walks towards them. Looks VERY cool. Not the clumsy human costume look that the first Alien had.

"Lastly, the Cast:

"Ripley: Good, a whole new side, certainly no Oscar nomination, but she's worth about $5 million of her $10 million dollar paycheck.

"Call: Like I said, Ryder's out of her place, but because the film doesn't spend much time on her, we don't really notice TOO much. SHould've gotten better actress. "Johner: Perlman here doing overacting galore. Still a nice prescence with some great one liners, only one of them is out of place and obvisouly forced: after Ripley torches the lab with the 1-7 specimens in it (that looked surprisingly hokey and NOT very disturbing at all), he says something along the lines of, 'I don't get. Why waste so much ammo. I don't get it. Must be a chick thing.' Should've left it out. The rest are nice though, such as when it looks like they're fucked and Ripley says she wants to get off this ship he replies (after hitting on her the first half hour of the movie), 'I'll get you OFF. (pause) I don't about off the ship though...'

"Elgyn: Michael Wincott. He's the guy that plays the captain, EXTREMLY gruff demenor), by far the most likable and fun to watch of the characters, bites the dust about an hour and twenty minutes too early. They should've traded him with DeStephano who's played by that annoying little Puerto-Rican actor who played the sniper in Clear and Present Danger.

"Also, one last thing, the 'human toothpaste' scene, came and went pretty fast. Not much of a stand out. Unfortunately, you only see for about 1/4th of a second the alien pop out of Wren's forehead, and then the camera SUPER-swish pans up to the poor guys face that was the host. You can hardly see anything at all."

[Ed. note: that's not the human toothpaste scene we were referring to. We'll post what we mean after we've seen the film this Wednesday...]

"In conclusion, by cutting out at least a half-hour's worth of stuff, the film lacked. It was really, REALLY fuckin thin. The first hour of the film got by on Jean-Pierre unbelievably genius camera angles and interest as to where the story was going, but then when all the characters lost any track of what their original motiation was (especially Wren), the film just played out into another, there's alien, let's run from alien formula movie that we've already scene 3 times. I'd REALLY like to hear what Whedon thinks of the final cut. He's probably screaming bloody murder. Most likely so is Jeunet. The whole NEW-ANGLE on the film was supposed to be the newborn, which SUCKED it as hard as an unseen MONSTER can suck. GOD-DAMN I wish I was a Fox-exec, a few simple tweaks and this film could've kicked ass. Possibly could've even been the best Alien ever.

"And lastly, lastly, not ONE frame of film contains any of the characters on Earth. It all ends while they're up in space and the newborn gets sucked out of the while, which I'm sure you already knew. It would've been SOOOOO much better if the newborn (the spidery-VAMPIRE newborn) had crashlanded with the ship somewhere in Africa, or Europe, or ANYWHERE, and they had the last to-death battle out with the futuristic harvester. The movie ends too tied up. There's literally NO room for a sequel. Not unless they want to start completely over, and pull an Aliens type thing. Bottom line is there's absolutely NO way to connect this with the next film. (If there is one)

"Because of the first hour, I give the film 3 out of 4 stars. A B minus. But with a few simple tweaks (a MAJOR one if you count the newborn) and less studio-meddling, this movie could've easily been an A - 4 star material movie. Instead, Fox won't be seeing more than $90 million out of this one. Not bad, but certainly NOT great.

"Frankly, If I had to pay, Starship Troopers, which was ALSO quite dissapointing, sounds a lot more enticing than sitting through this again. And strangely enough, despite the fact that shot for shot "Troopers" may have more violence, my stomach was sure a LOT more queasy after sitting through this one. It's a gut-wrencher. Unfortunately, a fairly dissapointing one."

[Submitted via egg sac by Kalvin.]



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