Bingowings said:
Alien Resurrection was a let down but it does have some good scenes, a couple of good performances, some great production values and a rather nice soundtrack.
Alien 4 is disappointing but it's a much better film than AOTC and is as underrated as Aliens is overrated.
I've only actually seen Alien: Resurrection once. I should probably give it a second viewing and see if I still feel it is as bad as I do now.
I really want to get that Alien blu-ray set sometime, I kind of wish I could get just the trilogy with all the extras, but I guess it will give me a good opportunity to rewatch Alien 4.
I agree with you that its problem had mostly to do with tone. Tone and atmosphere are two things that have always really grabbed me about the Alien movies. Tone and atmosphere are pretty much the only things about Alien 3 I like, but the atmosphere is so perfect in that film, IMHO, that I actually really enjoy the experience every time I see it, despite its fairly lousy story. Alien 4 traded in that atmosphere we've come to expect from the Alien flicks for a goofy brand of humor, which I appreciated in Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, but just didn't work for me in the Alien universe.