june gloom on 6/12/2007 at 17:07
Alien Resurrection was decently directed. But no amount of good direction can save a movie from a terrible script. The plot was terrible and the characters were annoying.
Thirith on 6/12/2007 at 17:45
I honestly think that the problem was direction at least as much as writing. The tone that Jeunet brings to the proceedings is all over the place. I could imagine so much of the dialogue working better if directed differently.
june gloom on 6/12/2007 at 17:54
And I can imagine a lot of the movie being better with a different script. The whole thing felt like a bad fanfic.
Thirith on 6/12/2007 at 17:59
I agree that the script wasn't great, but it was definitely not decently directed. Jeunet seems to have been undecided whether he wanted to make a surreal comedy or a sci-fi action flick. And I definitely don't think he's great at action sequences - they may as well have asked Tim Burton to direct Alien 4.
rachel on 6/12/2007 at 18:27
I'm kinda tired of hearing all the criticism against Gibson and Whedon for "destroying" Alien and making shit scripts. Both scripts were rewritten beyond recognition after they wrote it, and although their name was still there the final product has little to do with the original work.
(Admittedly, for Whedon's A4 version I can only repeat what I heard, however I actually have Gibson's script sitting on my HD, so I do know about that one.)
In fact, I liked Gibson's script and always imagined that with some rewriting, it would make a pretty good base for a System Shock movie.
june gloom on 6/12/2007 at 19:51
Well, according to Whedon they didn't change the script very much (mostly the ending, which I think was readded for the Director's Cut), they just "did it wrong." Which is funny, because his script was terrible to begin with. You'd think doing it differently from how Whedon envisioned it would make it a better movie. Maybe Thirith is right about the directing after all (it's been quite a few years since I watched it.)
It's just an all-around shit-awful movie.
I don't hear much criticism towards Gibson- after all, his script was almost totally thrown out- they mostly only kept the barcodes on the back of the head thing, which I thought was fine (I mean it's a goddamn futuristic prison planet, duh.) While I disagree with his envisioning of the alien lifecycle, I believe his script was good regardless.
Really, they could have just stopped at Alien 3 and the series would be just about pristine. But nooo in comes Alien Resurrection (that squirting sound is a franchise being milked for all its worth) and fucking ruins everything.
rachel on 6/12/2007 at 20:00
That I agree with. The hybrid in particular must be one of the most retarded ideas put on screen ever. :rolleyes:
N'Al on 6/12/2007 at 20:49
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Really, they could have just stopped at Alien 3 and the series would be just about pristine.
Word.
Quote Posted by raph
The hybrid in particular must be one of the most retarded ideas put on screen ever.
Word.
Thing is, I normally quite like JPJ as a director, he does have a certain
je ne sais quoi, but I don't know what it is. ;) I mean, his movies are usually pretty quirky - in a good way.
But for the Aliens franchise? No fucking way! It just jars.
His only saving grace may be that PT Anderson might be an even worse Aliens director.
HybridVision on 7/12/2007 at 01:46
Ok, I just noticed the "definitive edition"s of all the Alien films were released last month (I think).
Does anyone actually know if these are different cuts of the film?
It's getting pretty insane these days when there are 3 different versions of a film being sold at the same time. I blame Lucas (although Scott did it first with Blade Runner).
Angel Dust on 7/12/2007 at 02:04
I've heard Ridley Scott went back and re-cut Alien. It wasn't massive cuts and adding extra scenes etc but just a 'tightening' of the film overall. It's a little bit shorter now.
