Wolff rating: MOSTLY HARMLESS
Plot summary: Ripley is back, cloned by the corporation 200 years after her, ah, accident at the end of movie 3. As Ripley puts it, ``She'll breed. You'll die.''
Biased, pithy comments: People had been heaping invective on Alien3, saying that it was an insult to end such a great series with such a lame film. (I won't go so far as to defend Alien3---it wasn't great, but in context it actually did provide a fitting end, as well as some strong characterization (if weak plotting)). Thus, someone (namely Sigorney Weaver) decided they could do something a little better. It was a good college try, I guess, but brought down by painful writing, indifferent characterization, spastic acting, ``stupid plot'' moments (golly, let's not even bother to run directly to the escape ship, but wander aimlessly down dark corridors---yeah, right), and boring special effects. In a way, there isn't much left to say in the Aliens universe; the best you could have hoped for was a shot-for-shot remake of Alien2, but they didn't even do that. I didn't think this was quite as insulting as some of my fellow viewers, but I had my expectations set very low. Compared to a typical MST3K sci-fi film, this is OK, but compared to its predecessors, this ain't anything worth watching.
Other Notes: Another reviewer had accused the fourth Batman movie to be the ``gayest'' film every---alive with male homoeroticism. I think this film was a definite attempt to make this film the most lesbian you could make a science fiction film without actually having real lesbians in it---we see less of the mother/daughter symbolism and a lot more of the smouldering attraction between Weaver and Ryder. I think it didn't work, though, lost in the thematic meandering of the rest of the film.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan, Michael Windott, and the miscast Dan Hedaya.
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet