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Alien (1979)


Stevil
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I watched this for the first time last night. It only took 38 years (although it came out the year I was born so some of that time doesn't count). I have seen all the other ones including Alien Vs Predator (Eurghh).

 

The opening 20 minutes are an absolute bore fest akin to Blade Runner. Ridley was fond of those long drawn out shots of nothing and it was difficult to get engaged. After they recover Kane's body it got interesting. Things started to move at pace which was nice. I loved Ian Holm as Ash although he telegraphed something was up with his face all the time. I believe the original cut was 3 hours and 10 minutes or so. You can tell where the cuts were made as it would jump from an attack by the Xenomorph to the crew discussing what happened and filling in blanks.

 

The effects are still stunning. The atmosphere they created on the ship with lights and gasses the ruggedness and workplace like utility of the place is awesome. Great work on the alien egg scene also. Möbius is a legend with his artwork.

 

The belly Alien is a little too rubbery now but I can skip past that due to the tension of the scene. I could only visualise every parody of that scene when I was watching it

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Yep, one of my favorite movies of all time. Ripley's one of my favorite characters of all time. Very progressive for 1978, too. The xenomorph is one of the most terrifying movie monsters of all time, especially in the first movie. Aliens is one of my favorite movie sequels of all time.

 

Alien 3 and beyond...well....*sigh*. I like to pretend they never happened. They screwed up Ripley's character, screwed up the xenomorph...and generally got Alien "wrong". Prometheus was the exception. It was unpopular but I liked it enough. At least it didn't leech off the franchise like the others did.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Seconded! Alien and Aliens are two of my all time favorite movies, as well, and I have to agree Alien is one of the most progressive films of its era, regardless of genre. I consider Alien more of a horror movie than sci fi, and it is one of the greatest horror films of all time.

 

While a decidedly different tone, Aliens is a great sequel, and I think it is one of the greatest sci fi films ever.

 

I hated Alien 3 when it came out, but over the years, I have gradually come to like, and now even love the movie. It is a sad ending to be sure, but had Ripley's story ended there, it probably would have been for the best.

 

In all three examples, especially Aliens and Alien 3, I prefer the extended or director's cuts.

 

Alien 4 is an entertaining, if okay movie. Elements of it are great, and I enjoy re-watching it every time, but not nearly as great as the first two. Maybe

slightly lesser than Alien 3 in my eyes. I've long believed that the crew of the Betty, or at least the basic idea, was reused by Whedon for Firefly.

 

When it comes to the Aliens VS Predator movies, I so wish they had adapted a Dark Horse comics story, instead. The first movie was not great, but not terrible like the second one, which I pretend never existed. I consider both non-canon in the Alien franchise, and at least with the first one, more of a "what if" story.

 

As for the much maligned Prometheus, I also actually liked it. It has some flaws, and I wished they had fleshed out the engineers more (and explained what their motives were), but those who criticized it for not having aliens\xenomorphs in it (or more properly, not in it enough), I think don't consider the fact that the engineer planet has the elements of those xenomorphs, and this was a story of how the xenomorphs we see later evolved to what we know. Maybe some didn't like that idea, but I thought it was an interesting story. Flawed, sure, but definitely made me want to see that story continue.

 

Which brings me to Alien Covenant. I haven't had the time to see it yet, but really look forward to it. I've heard good things about it.

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@Dana

 

She was a Lieutenant Flight Officer aboard the Nostromo and her rank and status were revoked in "Aliens" after the Hearing and restored when she agreed to return with the marines. She was 3rd in command of the Nostromo if memory serves.

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I've watched some more so I'm gonna post my thoughts below:

 

Aliens (1986) - Directors Cut

 

The tone of the opening and the explanations fit perfectly with the end of Alien. They really did a good job, an almost seemless transition.

 

Some very cool characters in this one. I have always loved Vasquez. She is just so mean and those pull-ups were cool. I also like the main bad guy Burke. He was such a company guy and even when it seemed the game was up he would try to make people see things from his or the company's point of view. It was refreshing! Bishop didn't appear to be in the movie as much as I remembered. I also recall not liking Newt when I first watched it but her story and relationship with Ripley meant so much more this time. Maybe because I'm older and have daughters of my own. I love the dropship and the ground vehicles they made from aircraft pullers. The loader suits are still awesome too.

 

I have to disagree when people say this is an action movie though. This is still very much a survival horror with some action and Sci-Fi elements. I'll go in to detail about this later.

 

Alien3 (1992) - Assembly Cut

 

Whilst not as good as the previous two it's not as bad a movie as some make out. The effects are the worst in this movie. The Alien looks like it's bright green and stuck on some shots. Also there are size discrepancies where the Alien looks small or massive in some shots. It's described as 8 feet long and sometimes it only looks about four feet! Obviously. we have a different kind of alien here too as it came from a dog (or an ox). In the Assembly Cut it's the original Ox which makes makes less sense when you see the Alien running round like a dog. Now an Ox Alien would be cool :)

 

Story wise it is essentially creating a scenario to hole everyone up against an alien. Some of the inmates are very likeable as well. Having no weapons made it interesting as the prisoners and Ripley have to think of their own ways to trap and kill the alien. I thought that Clemens was going to be an android as I couldn't remember. They even had him saying the same line as Bishop "Your hair looks nice". Speaking of Androids, I still don't know if Bishop II at the end was an android or not. HE should have been completely incapacitated after that blow and his ear hanging off made it look so much like an android injury.

 

Not sure why they changed the ending so the Queen didn't burst out of Ripler's chest. Maybe so it flowed with the fourth movie more?

 

Alien: Resurrection (1997) - Special Edition

 

I felt a certain disconnect form Ripley in this one. On one hand I could see what they tried to do because they had to mark out Ripley 8 from the original to show she was a clone. On the other, the character became so emotionless, disconnected and unempathetic that I find it hard to watch Weaver's performance at times. Couple that with the dialogue which is so full of kitschy one-liners it's almost as if Ripley was only a passenger on this ride. She is so static at times as well. She does next to nothing to help the other people survive. In some scenes she just stands and watches which is a bit of an anti-climax when she's the hero of the franchise. They also made her super-human which was a nice touch, but then failed to use any of that in the film to advance the plot apart from using some of her acidic blood to get about a little.

 

The bad scientist guy has one of the best deaths I've seen. That was so funny. But he was so one-sided and shallow I couldn't care less about him other than seeing him get what he deserved. Overall the weakest of the movies if I'm honest, but probably the best aliens so far and the most gore. I didn't much like that human-xenomorph hybrid. Why they had to give it child-like qualities was beyond me. Truly disgusting.

 

Alien Franchise in General

 

One thing I noticed watching them also closely together is that they are all the same film. Each time the characters are trapped and have to save themselves from an Alien menace. The cool part was them revealing a bit more about the Aliens as they go. We got a Queen in the second one, a hybrid in the third and examples of their intelligence in the fourth. Aliens is no more an action movie than the others. They're still trapped, they still get whittled down one by one they still have to destroy the menace at the end. I've really enjoyed watching these again. It was not a franchise I particularly enjoyed first time round but I have garnered a newer appreciation with age. Watching the first one helped me see the connections a bit more.

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