june gloom on 4/12/2007 at 17:36
That's part of why critics have cut it a lot of slack in recent years, now that it's becoming apparent that the movie's development was quite troubled.
Rogue Keeper on 5/12/2007 at 08:22
A3 is good in it's own different terms but most fans can't get over the fact that it's not just Aliens 2.0. It was a good decision not to follow the mold of Aliens (it had imitations later) and I praise Fincher for finishing his debut as good as he could, even with producers' interception. This guy deserves it for the trouble he's been through. If you realize that even William Gibson failed in making a decent script, go figure. I despised it when it came out, but meh, I was just a clueless 13 years old and fortunately later I learned to appreciate it's gloomy aesthetics. I also like Goldenthal's OST, so sad but uplifting as well.
june gloom on 5/12/2007 at 17:32
It was actually my first Alien movie (and that's what made me a fan... they fucking showed it on network TV!) In later years after I'd seen the other films it always struck me as a kind of throwback to the first movie. Not a bad thing to be, in my opinion.
Mr.Duck on 5/12/2007 at 17:50
I'm probably a softie, but I still feel sad, and find it somewhat unfair, that [SPOILER]Newt, Hicks -and- Ripley had to die (plus Bishop's deactivation),[/SPOILER] after all the shit they lived through.
Still, I guess how [SPOILER]Ripley died was a way of "getting over" her fear/trauma of the Aliens themselves.[/SPOILER]
Well, a small comfort is that the DarkHorse comics go lol at the A3 ending and decided to continue things with the whole crew.
[SPOILER]I'm pretty sure 99% of the pop here have seen A3, but I still decided to use STags, just in case ;)[/SPOILER]
DX-455 on 5/12/2007 at 18:51
Aliens is my personal favorite. It was also the 1st R-Rated movie I saw in theaters. I was 12. Scared the SHIT out of me. I had to leave for a few minutes
once and take a quick breather outside. :laff:
Anyway, it will ALWAYS be my favorite Alien movie, no matter if/when they ever release any sequel(s). I am somewhat embarrassed to say so, but I have seen it 72 times, and almost know it word-for-word. :cool:
HybridVision on 5/12/2007 at 18:54
Quote Posted by MrDuck
I'm probably a softie, but I still feel sad, and find it somewhat unfair, that [SPOILER]Newt, Hicks -and- Ripley had to die (plus Bishop's deactivation),[/SPOILER] after all the shit they lived through.
It didn't really bother me that they died, but the casual way that they were dismissed did. I mean, weren't they were ejected for unspecified reasons, as far as I remember?
And why wasn't Ripley ejected with them? It's been a while so I probably forgot something.
june gloom on 5/12/2007 at 18:59
Trying to think of the first R rated movie I ever saw in theaters... you'd think for a guy who doesn't get to go see movies very often this would be easy, but it's not.
I very tentatively want to say Gladiator.
First PG-13 movie, however, I can tell you right off was the original Jurassic Park.
Quote Posted by HybridVision
It didn't really bother me that they died, but the casual way that they were dismissed did. I mean, weren't they were ejected for unspecified reasons, as far as I remember?
And why wasn't Ripley ejected with them? It's been a while so I probably forgot something.
BZZZZZT
The sleeping chamber they were all in caught fire and was summarily jettisoned from the Sulaco. Ripley was the only survivor when it crashed on Fiorina 161.Banksie on 6/12/2007 at 02:57
Quote Posted by dethtoll
BZZZZZT
The sleeping chamber they were all in caught fire and was summarily jettisoned from the Sulaco. Ripley was the only survivor when it crashed on Fiorina 161.That said Alien 3 still ranks third in my picking because it requires Ripley to be so stupid as to
not check out the ship with a flamethrower after kicking the Queen off and then also messing with the established life-cycle of the Alien again. Huggers in an egg have never spontaneously decanted themselves to then go exploring.on the off chance a host is about. I also vehemently hated the swan dive shot towards the end of the film - pure cinematic cheese even as a I got what the subtext and point of the scene was. Just really badly done.
Which is a shame as the film does definitely have atmosphere and style. The other thing that sabotaged it at the time of theatrical release was the early teaser trailers done for the film that strongly implied the story was going to about the Aliens finally reaching Earth. To not have that after building it up in the first place is just asking for fan outrage...
I have the Alien Quadrilogy myself and have never got around to watching the directors cut of the third film. Given the discussion here I must drag it out and fix that...
Still Alien was the best of the series for me. I just love what Ripley did both cinematicly and story wise in making it a gritty lived in science fiction universe instead of the pristine cleanliness that had been the norm up to that point.
Rogue Keeper on 6/12/2007 at 08:57
The death of Newt, Hicks and Bishop is cruel, since they were so sympathetic characters and had potential for more development. But the Alien universe is a cruel one. The A3 screenplay doesn't give audience much to hope for, it dumps the audience right into depression, dirt, despair. If the keywords of Alien were 'mysterious dread', the keywords for Aliens 'thrilling shock', then the keywords for A3 are 'dirty despair'. But hey, fans of Aliens have sea of expanded universe around their film, comic books, novels, computer games, so I think they were generously compensated. That said, I like Aliens enough, but not to the point that I'd like every Alien movie to look like Aliens. Aliens is a very 'standard' American sci-fi thriller, while in Alien and Alien 3 you feel that British influence of directors, setting, overal feeling of gothic horror, the way of storytelling. I have feeling that Europeans appreciate A3 more than Americans, well maybe I'm generalizing... However the decision to hand out Resurrection to an avantgarde French director was rather doubtful. I don't know what the keywords for Resurrection would be... sick bizarreness?
It seems that Fox has decided to unoficially abandon the series, since they came with comic book pastiche Aliens vs. Predator. I'm sad that these two most dreadful alien races of late 20th century cinema have experienced this fall from grace and were reduced to childlike action toys, in proto-B flicks, with teenagers as the target audience in mind. A crossover which may look good in comic books and videogames, but on the film medium it's crap. But what we can do? The quality of Alien movies was degrading with each new installment, although good things can be found in every Alien movie. The Alien xenomorpf has been corrupted, debilitated. If there will be another Alien movie, it should be a REBOOT. Somebody serious, skilled and renown should take the stuff into his hands and redefine Alien universe from scratch - a similar thing Nolan did with Batman. Scott gives some hope, as he suggested he would like to make another Alien movie unrelated to previous films. But I don't know if it'll ever happen.
