Ripley returns to face a new Alien threat.

In Brief
With the death of Ripley on the prison planet Fiorina 161 in Alien 3 the company that hired her had lost the biological weapon they so dearly wanted. Now, 200 years into the future, they have all but perfected the cloning process and have cloned her. They don't have any interest in Ripley, they want the alien that grew in her and was destroyed with her in the furnaces of the prison. The cloning is not fool proof and after seven failed attempts they come as close as they need too, extracting the Alien from Ripley and leaving her part human part Alien. With the cloning of the Aliens well underway Ripley is left to her own devices but still imprison aboard The USM Auriga, the vessel she was 'born' in. A group of smugglers that have been providing hosts for the Aliens arrive with their latest shipment as the aliens who are not as stupid as their captives believe escape captivity and start decimating the crew. One of the smugglers, the youngest and only female, is not all she seems to be however. The ship goes into emergency mode and its crew, or whats left of them, abandons the ship which heads on auto pilot back to earth. Ripley and the smugglers are left alone aboard the ship with the ever rising number of Aliens and must join forces and find a way to leave the ship and stop it entering Earths atmosphere where the Aliens will descend upon an unsuspecting and unknowing population. With time against them and Ripley struggling with her allegiance to human or Alien she must lead this motley crue to safety.

1st Time Around
With CGI effects abundant the Alien is resurrected from the ashes and once again wreaks havoc with Ripley, as usual, in the middle. With weaver now playing an enhanced Ripley that is in tune with the Aliens this brings a fresh out look to the character which she does too good effect. She is creepy and a little menacing, Alien characteristics. The smugglers are a little over the top as 'bad - asses' and I found the Annalee (Winona Ryder) character holey unconvincing. Everyone knows the Alien franchise by now and there are few shocks in store but it does its best to be original, unfortunately falling short of the mark. Ripley is interesting as the half breed but apart from that this is a slightly above average sci/fi action romp. The film has a toned down feel to it compared to the first two films and it feels like they have tried to appeal to a wider audience. Not a bad film but not up to the high standards set from the original. Not on a par with 1 & 2 but better than 3. The Ending I found rather poor and ill thought out and there is plenty too poke at but not a bad attempt. With this the fourth outing of the Aliens and especially after the rather poor third, which this tries to improve on and does so at times, the Alien franchise would do well to leave it at this.

2nd Time Around
For Alien & sci/fi fans this is worth more than one watch but to the rest of the movie going public, i dont think so. Sigourney Weaver is good as the new Ripley but the rest are nothing special apart from maybe Ron Pearlman as Johner, the leader of the smugglers, who has a strong presents which he is known for. If its raining and there is nothing else on worth another go.

6/10