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* BadassDecay:
** Chestbursters. In the original film, the chestburster had its victim incapacitated by convulsions so violent that he nearly bit off his own tongue. In this film, apparently the effects have become so mild that you can engage in a fist fight and then stranglehold someone long enough for their skull to also be broken by the creature's emergence. On the other hand, this shows that a chestburster is strong enough to smash through a grown man's sternum and a grown man's skull ''at the same time!''. It should be noted that all the xenomorphs in this film are the result of Ripley 8's cloning so it may be that this explains it.
** The first three films all spent over an hour building up the tension of an alien infestation, reminding the viewer they are the most fearsome killing machines in the universe. In ''Resurrection'', their return is filmed with all the solemnity of Daleks reappearing on ''Series/DoctorWho''. "Oh, some more of those, then? I bet they'll '''really''' take over the galaxy for sure, this time!"
* BrokenBase:
** Whether this film is better or worse than ''Film/Alien3''. The latter was reviled upon its release but has since found more fans as time went on, while this was met with a SoOkayItsAverage response.
** Also whether the film's set up counts as an idiot plot. Keeping the aliens in the same cages for one, the military enforcers on board fleeing when they attack, and an emergency protocol that sees the ship autopilot back to Earth in the event of trouble, counts for some. On the other hand, neither the scientists nor the marines have worked with the aliens before. Them simply not thinking that the aliens would kill one of their own kind to escape, and the military not wanting to go trigger happy on creatures with acid for blood inside a spaceship is enough justification for some.
** Ultimately it may boil down to Alien 3 fans disliking this entry to the series as it undoes much of the bleakness of that film, ultimately giving Ripley her happy ending (getting her ship, crew and little girl back and finally making it to Earth). Alien and Aliens fans prefer it for the same reasons.
* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Dr. Mason Wren]] is the head [[MadScientist scientist]] of the covert military operation on the starship USS Auriga, performing illegal experiments to bring back the Xenomorphs. He clones the deceased Ellen Ripley multiple times to extract the Queen hibernating in her. Most of the clones are born mutated and die agonizing deaths, which he stores for further study. He keeps the second-to-last one [[FateWorseThanDeath alive in constant pain and agony]]. He persuades General Perez to hire a bunch of space pirates to kidnap deep space travelers while they are still sleeping inside their stasis pods, and then implants them with facehuggers while looking on with smug satisfaction. He is ready to [[BadBoss execute all of the pirates on the mere suspicion that one of them might be an infiltrator]]. When the Xenomorphs escape and they all try to get off the ship, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder he betrays the others and leaves everyone else to be killed by the Xenomorphs so he can pilot the ship back to Earth himself]]. He later takes Call hostage and threatens to kill her in a last attempt to win.
* ContestedSequel: Some view it as the worst film in the series, though ''Resurrection'' still has its fans, thanks primarily to Jeunet's unique visual style, the added humor of Joss Whedon's script, and the presence of cult actors such as Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinion and Michael Wincott. Some even find it to be [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel an improvement over]] ''Alien 3''. Whether you like it more or less than that film, it's hard to deny that it is very stylistically different from the first three films in the series, having much more of a comic-book feel than a grounded and/or realistic one. For example, it's hard to imagine one of the Colonial Marines in the second film performing a trick shot by richocheting a bullet off of three walls to hit a target behind them.
* CreepyAwesome: Ripley 8. Sigourney Weaver's grittier, more inhuman take on Ellen Ripley is generally seen as the highlight of the film.
* CryForTheDevil: The Newborn. It was a murderous abomination, but unlike the aliens, shows some emotion, and acts as a naive and childlike creature. And its death was [[CruelAndUnusualDeath long and agonizing]]. Ripley 8 showed remorse for it - then again, besides the fact it had imprinted on her as its mother she's kind of its grandmother - and even Call had to look away in dismay during the Newborn's brutal death.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Johner - an action-oriented DeadpanSnarker played by Creator/RonPerlman.
** [=DiStephano=] is getting more fans as time goes on, partly because he's played by [[Series/BreakingBad Tuco]] and for his {{Adorkable}} geeking out over weapons in the deleted scenes.
* HesJustHiding: [[spoiler:Hillard]] and [[spoiler:Christie]] respectively being dragged into or falling into the flooded corridor without any bloody, onscreen deaths can inspire hope that they might have survived and made it off the ship another way.
* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:Call's]] angry denouncement of humanity for exterminating as many androids as they could find sometime between ''3'' and ''Resurrection'' becomes a lot more nuanced with the revelation from ''Film/AlienCovenant'' that [[spoiler:the entire xenomorph species was engineered ''by'' a mad android, who wanted to use them to exterminate all existing organic life so that he could play god by repopulating the universe with new lifeforms of his own design]]. With this in mind, maybe there was a good reason ''why'' humanity decided that androids were too dangerous...
* HilariousInHindsight:
** It's now quite easy to see the Betty crew as a dry run for ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. The latter may even be Creator/JossWhedon's attempt to show what he really wanted them to be like before the ExecutiveMeddling he's complained so much about.
** [[spoiler:Call]] being referred to as a "toaster oven" nearly a decade before ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''.
** There's a reason the words, "[[Series/{{Dinosaurs}} NOT THE MOMMA!]]" will pop in your head when the Infant rejects the Queen hybrid.
** Not in the final film but the original script would have TheTeam discovering weed growing on the Auriga. Which would have been hilarious, since one of them is played by a Creator/RaymondCruz of ''Series/BreakingBad'' fame.
*** Plus, his giddy freakout upon discovering [[spoiler:Call is an android]] is exactly like his performance as Tuco.
** As noted below, the [=PlayStation=] game based on this movie introduced the (at the time) revolutionary idea of using dual analog controls as the default setting. [[https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/alien-resurrection-review/1900-2637344/ This GameSpot review]] is hilarious now for 2 reasons:
*** The first reason being the aforementioned criticism of the controls, and they suggested that they use the control scheme that ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' used - said control scheme is not only the default on pretty much every console FirstPersonShooter nowadays[[note]]to an extent, it's this on PC [=FPSs=] as well, if one is using a controller[[/note]], but ''Medal of Honor'' itself would adapt it.
*** The second reason being that the review ends by suggesting that fans wait for ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'', which at the time, had been recently announced for the Platform/PlayStation2, saying that "While no concrete details have been announced for the game yet, this is one instance where the unknown is preferable to the devil you know." Said game wound up being delayed until February 12, 2013, released on the Platform/PlayStation3[[note]]as well as the Platform/Xbox360 and Windows; a port for the Platform/WiiU was planned but eventually cancelled[[/note]], and said game was critically panned...with [=GameSpot=] [[https://www.gamespot.com/aliens-colonial-marines/reviews/ giving it a lower score]] than ''Resurrection''[[note]]''Resurrection'' got a 4.7 from [=GameSpot=]; ''Colonial Marines'' got a 4.5[[/note]]!
* HoYay: Between Johner and Vriess, which goes from subtext to text when Johner kisses Vriess at the end of the film because they both lived through all of it.
* InferredHolocaust:
** Ripley saves the day by crashing the xenomorph-filled ship into the Earth causing an impact blast hundreds of miles wide, most likely destroying the biosphere in the process. NiceJobBreakingItHero In the novelization (based on the original script) you learn that Earth was mostly screwed already, which is why one of the characters says, "Earth... what a shithole." The only people still on the planet are the ones that can't ''afford'' to leave for one of the colonies.
** Averted in the Special Edition, which adds dialogue that makes clear Call chose an unhabited area of the Earth to crash the Auriga (which would then run into ArtisticLicensePhysics, but it at least shows they gave it some thought).
* LesYay: Ripley and Call. After spending the previous three movies interacting exclusively with males and a surrogate child, Ripley wastes no time in becoming very chummy and touchy ''very'' quickly with the cute little [[spoiler:android]] girl whom she first meets when Call attempts to kill her, while Call goes from wanting her as dead as the rest of the aliens to letting Ripley stick her fingers inside of her (not like ''that'', perverts) and confiding her deepest feelings and fears [[spoiler:about not being human.]]
* MoralEventHorizon: Wren shooting Call. She survives, but he still betrays the group.
* {{Narm}}: The Newborn's death scene is so ludicrously over the top in how disgusting it is, that you'd half expect the film to stop mid-frame for the creature to [[BreakingTheFourthWall mug to the camera]] and say [[WesternAnimation/BugsBunnyGetsTheBoid "Gruesome, isn't it?"]] The mediocre special effects don't help, either.
** Breath-activated locks. They aren't even guaranteed to work flawlessly. Apparently retinas and fingerprints are just so last century.
%% ** Gediman's line "you are a beautiful butterfly" would have been justifiably ridiculous anyway, but the fact that Creator/BradDourif says it so slowly just adds to the silliness.
%% ** Gediman mirroring the alien's movements as he studies it in the cell and simulating to want to make out with the creature.
%% ** "WHAT'S IN-FUCKING-SIDE ME?!"
* NarmCharm: Purvis and his... um, shall we say "creative" way of [[spoiler:disposing of Wren by using the ChestBurster which starts ripping through his insides]]. It's [[SoBadItsGood stupid]], [[NauseaFuel disgusting]], and [[KarmicDeath very]], ''[[PayEvilUntoEvil very]]'' [[DyingMomentOfAwesome satisfying]].
* NightmareRetardant: There's a scene where a Xenomorph bops a guy in the back of the head with their in-mouth appendage, but just enough to wound them. He checks the damage while the Xenomorph stands there waiting for him patiently to finish as if to savor this moment. It's so uncharacteristic of the typical Xenomorph that it feels like parody.
* NoYay: The film features a scene where an Alien is holding Ripley in its arms and carrying her to the Queen's lair. She's not afraid of it, and embraces the creature. The sequence is shot and framed [[InterspeciesRomance as if it were a love scene]]. Now remember that the Aliens are utterly inhuman monsters that [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong face-rape people]] and have killed almost everyone that Ripley ever knew or loved. In the scene's defense however, this ''isn't'' Ripley, it's a clone that retains some, or most, her memories. And while in the deleted scene, the image on the flashcard reminding her of Newt does affect her, she is is half-alien herself, so she understandably empathizes with the creatures much more than the real Ripley ever would.
* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The Platform/PlayStation FirstPersonShooter is considered a lot more enjoyable than the movie, let alone ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines''. The game was also notable for being one of the very first console FPS to feature the dual analog scheme that would become the standard over the next decade. [[http://i.imgur.com/dQy45Js.png Look at this quote]] from the [=GameSpot=] review and try not to fall out of your chair laughing.
* SoBadItsGood: If you look at the film as a horror film in the vein of the previous franchise entries, then it isn't very good. However, if you take it as a hilarious, over-the-top, comedy spoof send up of the ''Alien'' franchise, then it is a riot. The film also features Creator/BradDourif hamming it up, with his character having goofy obsession over Xenomorphs and engaging in WindowLove with his subjects. Not to mention that Wincott, Perlman, Dourdan, etc., all bring to life character that are badass and fun to root for. Arguably, what really shifts it into this territory is Weaver, who dives into this alternate version of Ripley and is clearly having a ball being able to play the character with superhuman abilities and a creepy, DeadpanSnarker vibe.
* SpecialEffectFailure: The special effects quality takes a major nosedive from the previous three films (the third film already having taken its own nosedive), mostly due to the film's whole-hearted embrace of CGI for nearly all the special effects outside of the individual Xenomorphs. The actual Xenomorph effects ''are'' at least decent for the most part, until the Newborn shows up (granted, most of the problems with that thing were with its very concept. But the execution didn't really help at all). The kicker is the obviously CGI hand grenade that rolls down into an escape pod. Dodgy CGI on complex extraterrestrials is one thing, having a close-up on a poorly-rendered rolling grenade is another. Not helping its case are the ships, which look like obvious miniatures, or the Newborn's death scene.
* TearJerker:
** If you follow Ripley's story across the four movies, and take ''Film/Alien3'' and this movie as canon, it's pretty sad that Ripley not only lost her friends and coworkers, her love interest, her surrogate daughter, and her life to prevent the Company from getting their hands on the Queen alien inside of her, but that her whole identity is basically absorbed into the xenomorph species itself in her Ripley 8 incarnation. Though she does do the right thing by killing off the newborn alien to keep it from reaching Earth, it clearly pains her to do so.
** The human-hybrid Queen actually ''coos'' at her newborn... but the newborn [[spoiler:rejects and kills her after he's born, because he identifies more with Ripley 8 than his biological mother. It's strangely sad to realize that the Queen actually loved her child and tried to bond with it, only to get killed]]. Possibly a case of UnintentionallySympathetic?
** When you take into consideration that the Xenomorphs are not doing what they do out of malice or a particularly evil personality - it's just what they are - and that the Queen in this instance is the result of human interference and butchery of the species, it's definitely a TearJerker.
** The fact the Xenomorphs sacrifice one of their own just to escape their cell can be this for some.
** Even the newborn's [[spoiler:gruesome death is rather sad. It looks like it's begging for mercy as its innards are sucked out]].
** In a scene available on the Special Edition, Ripley 8 smiles beatifically when she is shown a picture of a little girl, remembering Newt and her own daughter. The Newborn's anguished pleading to Ripley as it dies is also oddly affecting.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Captain Elgyn (Michael Wincott) is basically Han Solo except with a more badass voice. [[spoiler:He's dead within minutes. See TooCoolToLive immediately below. This is probably a ShoutOut to Captain Dallas.]]
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Not as bad as the previous film, but many people find this film to be dim and hopeless, populated by unsympathetic characters.
* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler:The gravely-voiced head of the Betty crew Captain Elgyn is portrayed as a carefree space pirate and ladies man. He's also the first of them to die in a rather sudden and painful death.]]
* UglyCute: The Newborn Alien.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: The hybrid ''Alien Queen'', of all things. It actually coos sweetly at its offspring and expresses about as much motherly love as a Xenomorph can...[[spoiler:only for the Newborn to reject her and violently kill her in favor of Ripley 8]]. Made even worse because this is the only queen in the franchise that doesn't kill anyone (except through its eggs).
* VindicatedByHistory: [[VideoGame/AlienResurrection The video game adaptation]] for the Platform/PlayStation1 introduced the modern dual stick analog controls for FPS console games. This control scheme was one of many heavily criticized aspects of the game, which reviwers at the time found clunky and unintuitive. Dual stick analog controls would later be popularized by ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' a year later, and become the standard control scheme for console FPS.
* WheelchairWoobie: Vriess. Complete with a scene where Johner throws a knife into one of his numb legs, just to be an ass!
* TheWoobie: Hillard, since she has to watch [[spoiler:her boyfriend die in front of her]] and is clearly terrified by the whole experience. The look on her face before she dives underwater [[spoiler:and ultimately dies]] cements it.
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