If it's crap... We'll tell you
In Hollywood, you will hear us scream...
The Alien franchise is a gem. It's something to be treasured, despite the major flaws in the writing of the fourth entry. We treasure it because it gave us one of the most original and terrifying creatures in film history, it helped create names out of budding directors who now carry big sticks in Hollywood, and it never repeated itself. Each film has a distinct story, style, and setting, all of which create a realistic foothold to counter the nightmarish nature of the alien itself. These films, along with other examples like The Thing and Cloverfield, remind us how brilliant "monster movies" can be. This is why we treasure the Alien films, and why you should if you don't.
Fox has now decided to chip away at this treasure - not because they chose to make another Alien film, and certainly not because they chose to get Ridley Scott to return to the franchise. They are threatening the franchise because they have chosen to make this new film a prequel. It is without a doubt the most absurd decision they could have made regarding this new entry in the saga.
Why? Well, for starters, what the hell can the film possibly be about? Scott's original is about as concise as a monster movie can get in terms of establishing the monster and explaining its origins: a group of people encounter an alien organism that takes them down one by one. The great terror of the alien is its secrecy; it complements the monster's unbelievable appearance. Scott himself knew this when he made the first movie - he hid the creature as much as possible, knowing that your mind would make it scarier than it would ever be on its own. It was enough to know that this thing came from an egg buried in the darkness of another alien being's ruined ship. This knowledge acted as foreshadowing for what was in store for Sigourney Weaver and her chums. ALIEN was the perfect set up. The perfect starting point.
This prequel has no purpose. There is no need to further explain away the alien's existence, and doing so will only rob it further of the terror that it once held back in 1979. As much as I love Aliens and especially Alien3, each sequel has chipped away at the alien's scariness by either explaining a tad too much (Aliens basically shows the creature to be a space ant/termite) or showing the monster too much (Alien: Resurrection, I find thee guilty). By making a prequel to ALIEN, Fox will destroy all the mystery to this classic thing of nightmares, and the film - and the franchise - will suffer for it. Why Scott agreed to this, I have no idea.
If they had only chosen to make a sequel rather than a prequel, I would be much more optimistic. I was hoping that a great director could rebuild the franchise into something great again, but the problem is not with the franchise's origins. It's with its current state. Leave the roots of the franchise alone - that's the strongest part of the whole damn thing.
Not to mention...there's pretty much no possible way Ripley will be featured in this prequel at all (at least I hope they have enough sense to not even try to crowbar her in). So...what is there left to do? Show another random group of people get hunted down? That's repetitive and useless. Show the space jockey and all that? That would be too far out there to really appease anyone. Creating a concrete origin for the alien will be like showing exactly what made Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader - yeah, parts of it might be neat, but the overall reaction will be one of disappointment and eventual criticism.
A sequel to Alien: Resurrection with a new set of characters, without Ripley/Ripley8, set in space (not Earth), would be my suggestion for the franchise's future. A prequel will only weaken the foundation of this great creature and this treasured saga.
What do you people think?
Comment
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Comment by Shinigami64 on August 6, 2009 at 1:40am -
I don't think it's the same movie at all. It shares the same formula - one alien stalks unarmed people - but apart from that, I don't see how it is the same movie. And I already gave my opinion as to why Newt and Hicks were dropped. There was enough new and interesting things in Alien3 to make me love it.
I wouldn't say that it's the exact same movie at all, but it's not a better movie. And that's why it feels like a waste. Returning to formula isn't a new concept in sequels, and sometimes it's the better choice to make. But in the case of Alien3, not only did it piss away interesting new elements to the story that could and would have made for a different experience but in doing so it takes a safe and boring route. There really is nothing new to the movie aside from the hybrid and more accents.
As a follow-up to Aliens, it's terrible.
As a stand-alone film, I don't see anything in it that truly surpasses the original.
Still, it's better than every movie that followed.
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Comment by SpikeGhost on August 6, 2009 at 1:28am - Well you know, they only do that for the money, they don't care what the fans want. it's sad, but at least with Ridley Scott on board. it might be good. Let's hope
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Comment by Thadeus Brown on August 5, 2009 at 5:36pm - i hope the new alien remake will be good.
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Comment by David on August 4, 2009 at 10:02pm - I don't think it's the same movie at all. It shares the same formula - one alien stalks unarmed people - but apart from that, I don't see how it is the same movie. And I already gave my opinion as to why Newt and Hicks were dropped. There was enough new and interesting things in Alien3 to make me love it.
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Comment by Shinigami64 on August 4, 2009 at 3:18pm
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I absolutely love Alien3. I think it's overlooked a lot because it's so different from Aliens (although similar to Scott's original in terms of having one alien stalk a bunch of people with no guns).
The reason I hate Alien3 is that it took all of the interesting characters and development from Aliens and pissed them down the drain to make the same movie that Ridley Scott already made...only with bald people.
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Comment by Travis Pickle on August 4, 2009 at 6:21am -
If it was anyone but Ridley invoved i'd be pissed but I just want another Sci-Fi from him and If it's within the ALIEN universe he started then so be it. I totally know where you are coming from though, i wish G Lucas had left Darth Vaders origins alone! but I think Ridley Scott still has his senses intact and the good thing about him is he aint afraid to drop you into the middle of a story that doesn't lead you by the hand! the great thing about ALIEN is you have no clue what the hell these eggs or facehuggers are? so it's terrifying! If he explores the aliens homeworld or previous lifefroms like the Spacejockey then cool because it will be stuff we've never seen before and it can be scary again! just like Cameron did with the ALIEN Queen but If it was just a Re-Boot, reimagining or sequel it will be overly familiar and boring again because we've been there, done that and mixed it with Pred blood until there's nothing original left to get scared by.
anyway good read.
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Comment by Jack68 on August 4, 2009 at 3:05am -
Fair enough man. I like it when someone defends a movie that receives a lot of criticism.
So all the power to you
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Comment by David on August 4, 2009 at 1:55am
- I think you're right about the lack of character development for most of the inmates, especially since most of them looked identical with the shaved heads and all. But I mean, most of the inmates are no worse than Wierzbowski or Crowe from Aliens - they're all characters put there mainly so someone can die. But still, I have a soft spot for the movie. It has enough good qualities for me to forgive it its flaws.
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Comment by Jack68 on August 3, 2009 at 9:55pm
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Yeah I understand that... but it just seemed like such a coincidence that Hicks and Newt died and again Ripley was left by herself.
My biggest problem with the film was actually caring about the characters. I cared for the characters in the first two films. Here I couldn't care less who died. Except for the doctor...and he was killed off so quickly that it was like,,,"oh damn I was just starting to like him"....and the whole idea of one alien chasing them just seemed like "guys we have already been here". I have seen the extended cut. Some nice scenes, it still doesn't help me care about any of these guys though.
The atmosphere was great...but the story was really lacking imo
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Comment by David on August 3, 2009 at 12:17pm
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To be fair, yeah, some shots where they edit the puppet into the shot are pretty rough - the movie did come out around the time of Jurassic Park, and they didn't have nearly the same budget. So yeah, I know what you mean. But I still loved Alien3 because it was dripping in atmosphere and it made the alien really scary again, the way it was in the original film. It was Fincher's first movie, and wasn't a bad start for him.
I think a lot of people just didn't like the fact that Newt and Hicks got killed off right in the beginning, but I can see why that had to happen. Ripley needed to be on her own again for the despair of the story to really sink in. It had to make her jump into the hot lead at the end almost seem pleasant, and if she had Newt and Hicks - her surrogate daughter and lover - kicking around still, she would have given second thoughts to it. Plus, would you really have wanted to see a little girl running around a prison full of rapists and murderers?
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