Alien was a brilliant ride in the relatively new science fiction/horror genre. Then came the masterpiece sequel of man-against-monster Aliens, which made Ripley as formidable an action hero as Rambo.

Then the series took a drastic turn with the dismal Alien 3, and to save the series, Alien Resurrection not only had to score a fourth-quarter touchdown but convert the two-point score.

Despite nifty special effects, which include a spectacular underwater chase scene, the fourth installment fumbles at the goal line with dire dialogue and an incomprehensible plot.

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As fans of the series know, the surviving character of the series, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), died in the third film, and, well, ceased to become a surviving character. Or so we are led to believe.

Cloned back to life on a military ship deep in space by an immoral team of scientists to retrieve the alien seedling within her belly, Ripley is left embodying superhuman abilities. And because she gave birth to the alien queen being kept captive by the military crew of the ship, Ripley is even liked by her arch-nemesis aliens.

When the young space pirate Call (Winona Ryder) and her mercenary team of smugglers show up to sell their goods to the wicked General Perez (Dan Hedaya), a massive turnover allows the aliens to prove they cannot be tamed or manipulated.

While the military crew evacuates and the aliens run rampant over the gargantuan space ship, the small crew of pirates are left to deal with the vicious creatures. Instead of a powerful human standoff, we see these people walk toward their escape ship and run into an occasional alien while warbling extremely bad bits of verbiage.

Movies have come too far to depend on ingenious special effects to carry a flick. Audiences still need a decent script for a truly superior film even if the first half of the series is the cinematic equal of the 85 Bears.