Alien Resurrection

The Alien series has been uncommonly ambitious and intelligent, as Hollywood money-making machines go, and this fourth and latest entry is perhaps the most ambitious and intelligent of them all. It's also, unfortunately, the worst realized. Alien Resurrection sports the usual dank techno-organic labyrinths; and while the premise--the late Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is cloned so that scientists can retrieve the alien that had been gestating in her chest--isn't too shabby, the dialogue sounds as if it's been culled from one of those unintentionally hilarious 1950s short subjects that instructed teenagers about proper dating behavior. ("Hi, Sally. Say, is that repulsive extraterrestrial lifeform still gestating in your womb?" "Why, Tommy, don't be silly. The womb is for human babies. The alien's right here next to my sternum.") Even more troublesome are the atypically shoddy visual effects, which render what ought to have been the picture's most chilling scenes downright laughable. Weaver's creepy performance compensates to a certain extent, but even the gloomy, off-putting Alien3 is a better bet. Very optional. (M. D'Angelo)