Alien: Resurrection is much different than classical Aliens. As a result many Alien-maniacs are disappointed and give it bad notes in the reviews. In my opinion one should look at the movie in a different way. It is not a clear continuation of the story, but rather a variation on the subject.
Alien 4 is not perfect, not even great, but still it is a good science fiction movie. The story is very well written. Many people criticize the idea of cloning Ripley along with the alien inside. Of course I agree that this is completely naive and unrealistic (even the general asks how it is possible), but we have to accept this as a convention. There was no other way to have Ripley back in Alien 4. Well I can imagine Ripley waking up and saying 'Hey, it was just a dream, I didn't jump into the burning lead', but this would be even more ridiculous to me. In Star Wars for example there are many naive and unrealistic things but it doesn't stop it from being a great movie. We accept them just as a convention.
Other people note that Alien 4 is not scary at all. I agree. But I still think that it wasn't supposed to be very scary. In Alien 1&2 Ripley was scared as hell and so were we. In Alien 3 she wasn't scared as much, as she knew from a point, that the Alien wouldn't kill her. We were not scared that much either. In Resurrection Ripley is not scared at all, as she is a bit of alien herself. Why should we be scared then? In my opinion this confusion, whether Ripley is more a human or a alien and who to chose, is the best feature of the movie. It is not a pure action but also a bit of psychological drama. The newborn alien is a masterpiece to me. Ripley, who has strong maternal instinct (see Aliens) feels that it has some of her DNA, that it is her own child. She has real doubts whether to kill it or not. And what is even more interesting is that she probably kills it only to save Annalee. I think she would not kill it just to save a human, which were shown in the movie as beings not really better than the aliens themselves. She did it to save the robot, who in her opinion was probably much more of worth. And that is how I actually felt while watching the movie. "The newborn alien is so cute, maybe let him kill those freaking human beings." But then I would be sorry for Annalee...
In my opinion this is a very good movie, with nice climate and many philosophical questions asked. But if you care only for good action or horror, then you might be disappointed.
Alien 4 is not perfect, not even great, but still it is a good science fiction movie. The story is very well written. Many people criticize the idea of cloning Ripley along with the alien inside. Of course I agree that this is completely naive and unrealistic (even the general asks how it is possible), but we have to accept this as a convention. There was no other way to have Ripley back in Alien 4. Well I can imagine Ripley waking up and saying 'Hey, it was just a dream, I didn't jump into the burning lead', but this would be even more ridiculous to me. In Star Wars for example there are many naive and unrealistic things but it doesn't stop it from being a great movie. We accept them just as a convention.
Other people note that Alien 4 is not scary at all. I agree. But I still think that it wasn't supposed to be very scary. In Alien 1&2 Ripley was scared as hell and so were we. In Alien 3 she wasn't scared as much, as she knew from a point, that the Alien wouldn't kill her. We were not scared that much either. In Resurrection Ripley is not scared at all, as she is a bit of alien herself. Why should we be scared then? In my opinion this confusion, whether Ripley is more a human or a alien and who to chose, is the best feature of the movie. It is not a pure action but also a bit of psychological drama. The newborn alien is a masterpiece to me. Ripley, who has strong maternal instinct (see Aliens) feels that it has some of her DNA, that it is her own child. She has real doubts whether to kill it or not. And what is even more interesting is that she probably kills it only to save Annalee. I think she would not kill it just to save a human, which were shown in the movie as beings not really better than the aliens themselves. She did it to save the robot, who in her opinion was probably much more of worth. And that is how I actually felt while watching the movie. "The newborn alien is so cute, maybe let him kill those freaking human beings." But then I would be sorry for Annalee...
In my opinion this is a very good movie, with nice climate and many philosophical questions asked. But if you care only for good action or horror, then you might be disappointed.