Neill Blomkamp's ALIEN is official!

[Scareb]

I really should do another alien marathon. I got through Alien and Aliens blu ray's no problem but then just abruptly gave up before I could throw in Alien 3. I've still never seen the directors cut.

 

[slikkerias]

I really should do another alien marathon. I got through Alien and Aliens blu ray's no problem but then just abruptly gave up before I could throw in Alien 3. I've still never seen the directors cut.

See it it's an all new and improved experience!

 

[Xenoburger_]

It's not that a mind that Hicks/Newt were killed, but at least give them a heroic death.

Ok fine, have Newt die in her sleep BUT NOT Hicks for christs sake!

Or if you want nihilistic everything sucks then really go dark and have Newt snatched from their loving arms kicking and screaming then showing her chest pop later.

If you're going dark then go all the way, not this off camera crap.

Disrespectful to the hardships we watched them survive one movie prior.

Have them take some Aliens along with them if they were going to be written off.

The aliens are more important to the films than Hicks and Newt. They had their heroic moments in Aliens, Hicks blasting dozens of aliens and being the generic action hero, and Newt being the innocent that survives the overwhelming odds. Then Alien 3 came out and reality kicked in, discarded those great heroes as trash and showed that no one's safe or worthy of a happy ending in the Alien franchise, even Ripley, and rightfully so.

 

[jye4ever]

Nah they played it safe killing them off camera while they were sleeping.

It pissed me off because it was disrespectful of their characters, not because it was dark and grim.

 

[a-dev]

As it turned out that was decidedly unsafe - the movie was hated because of it and is still hated by many to this day.

On the contrary I consider Alien 3 to be one of the bravest sequels. Look at what happened to Terminator when every film after T2 just tried to emulate and go bigger than that one. I've often wondered how the series would have fared if someone had gone smaller scale again like T1 - instead of bigger explosions bringing back the tension, fear and hopelessness.

With Alien 3 they made a film that didn't do the obvious thing but instead went back to the original with a scary setting and a single Alien that couldn't be killed until the very end in what was a pretty original sequence. I can respect Alien 3 and I consider it canon. They maintained the right feel for an Alien movie that was totally absent in Resurrection and the AvPs.

The above argument is in no way a repudiation of T2 and Aliens. I value them as highly as the originals in their respective series. They took the logical next step and 'logical' worked brilliantly as far as I'm concerned.

 

[jye4ever]

But weren't they killed off because the actors didn't return?

 

[a-dev]

Newt was always going to have to be recast anyway...unless they went with a story set well after Aliens where she'd been out of cryo-sleep for a while to account for her 6 or so years of growing up. I'd have to rewatch the Alien 3 documentary, I can't remember about Biehn. I do know his general response when asked about it is ''***k Alien 3''.

 

[Xenoburger_]

They didn't ask Biehn or Newt to return if I recall correctly.

 

[EndoSickness]

Well of course right after finding out that is character was killed by Fox.
Cause he said in there that he really thought that he´d be back, but he found out AFTER he film was made, if I remember correctly.

 

[jye4ever]

Newt was always going to have to be recast anyway...unless they went with a story set well after Aliens where she'd been out of cryo-sleep for a while to account for her 6 or so years of growing up. I'd have to rewatch the Alien 3 documentary, I can't remember about Biehn. I do know his general response when asked about it is ''***k Alien 3''.

 

[Khev]

The above argument is in no way a repudiation of T2 and Aliens. I value them as highly as the originals in their respective series. They took the logical next step and 'logical' worked brilliantly as far as I'm concerned.

Obviously we've had this conversation before but once again I don't consider ALIENS to be a direct retread of ALIEN. Yes it has some familiar beats (characters encounter facehuggers first, then a chestburster sequence, then adult aliens kill characters until one is blown out the airlock at the end) but shifting genres from "haunted house" to "Vietnam war movie" was huge IMO.

 

[a-dev]

Obviously we've had this conversation before but once again I don't consider ALIENS to be a direct retread of ALIEN. Yes it has some familiar beats (characters encounter facehuggers first, then a chestburster sequence, then adult aliens kill characters until one is blown out the airlock at the end) but shifting genres from "haunted house" to "Vietnam war movie" was huge IMO.

Agreed, I also wasn't suggesting that Aliens ''did the obvious thing''. In the particular sequence as it played out Aliens was a bold move, to totally change gears like that (and yet IMO still managing to feel like the same world). But say if Alien 3 had just copied Aliens because of how popular that was (to everyone but the '79 purists) - that would have been the obvious thing. Instead they changed gears again and based it more on the original concept in a new, scary environment.

So each of those films works for me. 4 not so much, it got too comic-booky.

 

[xipotec]

IT funny that anyone could think Alien 3 was bold and inventive blah blah blah.....

They killed off the cast from Aliens for PURE FINANCIAL REASONS.

They went with a boring set, lower grade actors they could pay pennies to, so they could spend most of the money on Weaver and the terrible (and expensive) CGI. CGI was still new then.....and that expense was the one they blew this oive on, once again forgetting that characters make a story ....not visuals.

Alien 3 is not a bad movie, but the missed opportunity with that film are astounding....

Anyone who has read the Dark Horse series knows THAT is the sequel to Aliens ......not the "art" film they thought they were making....

 

[a-dev]

I don't think the sets were boring at all And there was ample enough standout characters like Clemens, Dillon and Morse. Heck even 85 and Andrews. People just refused to give them due credit because they were so pissed about Hicks and Newt.

Nevertheless I still hope Alien '5' happens. I will treat it as an alternate Alien 3 where, if it's good, I may choose one or the other depending on my mood (or I'll choose both)

 

[Khev]

Agreed, I also wasn't suggesting that Aliens ''did the obvious thing''. In the particular sequence as it played out Aliens was a bold move, to totally change gears like that (and yet IMO still managing to feel like the same world). But say if Alien 3 had just copied Aliens because of how popular that was (to everyone but the '79 purists) - that would have been the obvious thing. Instead they changed gears again and based it more on the original concept in a new, scary environment.

So each of those films works for me. 4 not so much, it got too comic-booky.

Yes I do like the idea of the series changing genres with each new film; haunted house, war movie, prison movie, etc. They just should have had at least Hicks survive (even if he still died maybe halfway through the movie) to have a *little* more of an organic transition from one film to the next. Even Cameron treated the first 30 or so minutes of ALIENS as an "ALIEN Epilogue," gradually phasing out bits of the first film before moving on to the war stuff instead of just having the deep salvage team be the Sulaco or something.

 

[Magpie 7]

Who could've returned for A3 other than Biehn and Henn? Weaver and Henriksen both return. As for the actors, Charles Dance, Charles S. Dutton, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul McGann and Christopher Fairbank are/were all well respected character actors with far more acting credits under their belt than virtually all those portraying USCM.

Most people enjoy Aliens over the other films because it's a rollercoaster action movie whilst Alien and A3 are haunted house movies that rely on suspense.

 

[Xenoburger_]

lower grade actors they could pay pennies to

Lower grade actors? What are you smoking? The cast of A3 was 10x as talented as that of Aliens.

 

[slikkerias]

IT funny that anyone could think Alien 3 was bold and inventive blah blah blah.....

They killed off the cast from Aliens for PURE FINANCIAL REASONS.

They went with a boring set, lower grade actors they could pay pennies to, so they could spend most of the money on Weaver and the terrible (and expensive) CGI. CGI was still new then.....and that expense was the one they blew this oive on, once again forgetting that characters make a story ....not visuals.

Alien 3 is not a bad movie, but the missed opportunity with that film are astounding....

Anyone who has read the Dark Horse series knows THAT is the sequel to Aliens ......not the "art" film they thought they were making....

...I am sorry. No offense but what are you talking about?
Financial reasons? Michael Biehn and Carrie Henn wouldn't have made any difference to the budget whatsoever and Bishop was in Alien3.
Lower grade actors? These are probably some of, maybe even the most, talented cast you find in any of the Alien movies.
Expensive CGI? as we discussed earlier there is very little cgi in the movie and that isn't the main issue - they just did a terrible job integrating the shots of the puppet in the movie. But no very expensive cgi.
The budget was big enough they just didn't want to do another Aliens. They wanted to do another Alien like movie. Back to one alien and a bunch of unarmed people to play ten little Indians with.

 

[RIDDICK]

It's funny that anyone could think Alien 3 was bold and inventive...

After Cameron's film and the development hell? It definitely was.

They went with a boring set, lower grade actors they could pay pennies to

Sounds like ALIEN.

The cast of A3 was 10x as talented as that of Aliens.

so they could spend most of the money on Weaver

That's how Hollypoop works.
She was a no-one before ALIEN and became a star after Ghostbusters and ALIENS.

and the terrible CGI

There was no CGI.

Anyone who has read the Dark Horse series...

Is a tool

 

[jye4ever]

Is A3 Extended even available seperate from the box set?

I don't think so.

I've never watched the extended, only seen A3 opening night and never again, what a mess of a movie plus yes the anger.

Thinking of watching the extended....shudders.