Alien 3 and Aliens are tied for the first place, mostly because the monster is just a background for human character, and I really love that about the two. Aliens has an even longer buildup than Alien, and its very intense. Im not talking about the action, but what actually happens between the action. Alien 3 could lose the alien and still work the same, as a great, depressing drama
Second place for me would be Alien, great classic of course, with amazing dreamy visuals (backlight, haze, blue hue) which were repeated for its first sequel. I may be in minority but I dislike most of the soundtrack since it dates the movie like crazy
The Alien score...some of it is brilliant, some just never worked for me. Jerry is one of my top composers, but I agree with him that the score on this one isnt his best. Again, a lot of it is great, but it does sound 70s. Heres just one example of the often used, typical 70s cues - 2:34 to 2:53 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rkQgzVEWDo# is one of those full on 70s scores. Compare to 2:45 to 3:00 from 76's King Kong for an example -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpxPW_SB6iQ# Those are just quick and off the hat examples some out of many, they both sound 70s and for me the Goldsmith's score could be easily dated. Im a soundtrack buff and I listen to soundtracks all the time so maybe it sounds more apparent to me. Emphasis on same instruments, flute accents etc. The score contains many of the signature 70s score elements
I think its the only thing that dates the movie. Some of it is absolutely pure brilliance, like the opening titles score, and some of the horror moments, like Dallas in the vents, ejecting Kanes body, attack on Lambert and coccoon scene
Prometheus is watchable, avp is good popcorn fun, the rest: avpR and alien resurrection I hate with passion, Resurrection even more so
I hate it since I consider it a murderer of an otherwise perfect, beautiful trilogy
For me it undermined everything the series was. It was the only movie that was in a large part a spoof and in part a black comedy. I hated Ripley turning into a Marvel superpower mutant with a cliche Holywood John McClain attitude. But, everyones entitled to their own opinion, for me its one of the movies I dislike the most, if not the most and it completely ruined the series for me.
In Alien I see sets that could easily pass for interiors of an old submarine or a cargo naval ship. In Aliens I see sets that could easily pass for a power plant or cargo storage. In Alien 3 I can see sets that look like old infirmaries or led works. In Resurrection I see spaceship and futuristic Trekkie thing with silly breath locks. I dont mind if its clean, but clean doesnt mean unused and brand new like its just been taken out of a factory. Nostromo's dining room and livabale space was clean too, but the ship was for a fact an old batter ship, and it had rumbling engines, leaks and seemingly old machinery in its guts. Sulaco was the same - its liveable space was clean, but not new, not sterile and the ship was rambling all the time. We didnt see its guts. It seemed real, the dock bay, the chains etc. Auriga was your average spacey scifi ship with every corridor and room looking like its just been polished. Nostromo looked very crude and industrial in its interiors, Sulaco looked not far removed from Naval storages (docking bay) and your average mess hall (stainless steel everywhere). Auriga didnt resemble anything, it was this futuristic scifi labolatory in space with evil scientists and genetic experiments - nothing we can attach too. Not an old transporting ship, not docking bays, not flight control towers or nuclear plants. Nothing real. Used doesnt mean stained or dirty. Its about the design, the look, the feel.
If you take shots of some location on Nostromo and show to someone , that someone wouldnt tell its a scifi movie spaceship. They could think its a submarine interior for example (just an example out of many)
http://www.alienexperience.com/gallery/albums/uploads/films/alien/screenshots/Alien_04.JPG
Same with Aliens, show atmopshere processor and people would think its a power plant, show Operations, people would think its a flight control tower interior. No pone would say its obviously an atmpshere processor on a different planet or a colony communication room in a distant planet colony
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5186/aliensleretour198615g.jpg
Same with Alien3. Show some shots people would think its infermary or regular dining room instead of a space colony on other planet.
http://www.film.org.pl/images/alien3/alien3_2.jpg
Nothing like this in Resurection tho, Star Trekkie scifi all the way
http://www.alienexperience.com/gallery/albums/uploads/films/alien4/screenshots/ARez_06.JPG
http://www.alienexperience.com/gallery/albums/uploads/films/alien4/screenshots/ARez_133.JPG
The Alien trilogy I love almost equally. It had a lot of common traces, and the strong link to our reality, way of life, environments and characters was one of them, and one of the things that set this series apart form other scifi series'. It was also the first to do this, to present that blue collar environment in characters as well as designs that we can connect to, that we subconciously recognize. Resurection swept that away and reduced the series to that random and common futuristic scifi look. Even the scientists have suits like admiral suits from Star Wars
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldpob6JtFA1qe0mfoo1_500.jpg
Why the need for some whacky futuristic sterile space uniforms? Clemens had a well known gowns, yet he was over a century in the future. Thats what set the first 3 alien movies apart from other scifi. The alien series went from 2 engineers in shirts and baseball caps talking about paycheck, food and ***** on a towing cargo ship to evil scientists on a floating genetic laboratory and space pirates with custom clothes...
And Alien was set over a century from now, yet it looks like a recognizable, old machinery, clothes and everything. That was that distinctive thing about the trilogy, future that seemed like today or a past. No labs, no futuristic uniforms
The Alien trilogy I love almost equally. It had a lot of common traces, and the strong link to our reality, way of life, environments and characters was one of them, and one of the things that set this series apart form other scifi series'. It was also the first to do this, to present that blue collar environment in characters as well as designs that we can connect to, that we subconciously recognize. Resurection swept that away and reduced the series to that random and common futuristic scifi look
The Betty crew is another reason why I hate this movie. Those people look like video game characters. Tough guy with dreadlock with double guns shooting upside down like its Die Hard, handicapped funny guy with gadgets, Pearlman with muscles and one liners, and those outfits. They look and act like video game characters and Mortal Kombat rejects. The beauty of the first 3 Alien movies was that characters reflected the real characters of our times. The Nostromo crew was like a typical, next door blu collar working class neighbor. Aliens showed the Vietnam era soldiers who act like typical young draftees (I lived in a country where youre still drafted to army so I knew plenty of young draftees and the SUlaco team is a mirror reflection of them). The prisoners of Alien 3 were bold, obnoxious and pretty much acting like any slimes in prisons. The Betty crew? When we first see him its even a pose like form a video game. Theyre too colorful, visually disconnected and again, in short, theyre video game characters
Good luck finding a bunch like the Betty crew in real life. On TV maybe
People in Alien
People in Aliens
People in Alien 3
People in Res
They are like Mortal Kombat rejects/characters that would fit the video game, both visually and with their behavior. Gone are the regular, dirty convict clothes, the hawaian shirts or the US military uniform, replaced with silly designer clothes. And they were typical over the top action characters.Not to mention the eight clone of Ripley and the Queen played by Weaver, who was a superhero almost, being a mutant with superpowers with a cocky personality of Van Diesel, and we had scenes like the fancy double gun shooting straight out of Die Hard. Cmon. No reality to the characters at all, only fiction and in your face Mel Brooks type of a humor. And even the battered space is gone. Another thing is that the trilogy showed the alien only in quick cuts, as shadows or in the darkness or mist. Res shows them in full bright light and the camera focuses on them for a looong time. And the list goes on and on
Again, the real life aspect of the trilogy is completely gone. Need I mention the breath-analyzing doors and all that kind of stuff...Thank god its outside of the trilogy's storyline. WY doesnt exist, Ripley's still dead and the action happens in a very distant and over the top future
And that humor
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/lovegunner/AVP/dumb1.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/lovegunner/AVP/dumb2.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/lovegunner/AVP/dumb3.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/lovegunner/AVP/dumb4.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a277/lovegunner/AVP/dumb5.jpg
In (very) short:
-its not taking itself seriously
-the Mel brooks humor
-comic book-ish elements that could fit with X-Men, like the superstrong, Holywood tough mutant with superpowers and extra senses ( :
)
-focus is on shooting bad monsters, not on characters (about the only moment is the brief clone room scene, which is ruined anyway by yet another joke in the movie, spoken by Perlman)
-the characters are ridiculously looking and cartoony. They look like circus runaways
-Holywood cheese - the cartoon characters shooting with two guns upside down screaming. Superhero movie all the way
-aliens' mystique and name is ruined. While in other movies they were potrayed as shadowy figures that lure in the dark and are seen only for a split second, here theyre constantly shown full in broad light, and now trapped and trained like puppies
In ALien, we only see alien in the dark or in the mist. When we see him fully, its only in quick and distant cuts outside the shuttle
In Aliens, we only get to see the alien if we freeze fram as they mostly appear in the dark, as shadows and silhouettes
The alien queen even tho seen in full is in very low light in both the egg chamber (and even with the fire on the light is yellowy and not so bright) and even the loading bay is very dimly lit
In ALien 3 we see the runner in full light (althought dimmed as well) for one second in the infermary - as in other 2 movies, we only get to see him fully for a very quick cut. We do see the close closeups of its mouth sometimes, but the full body is always hidden by the orange light, darkness or mist
And here we have Resurrection in which camera focuses on the aliens like on people and we see them in a full, brightest light. No mystery, no suspense, and that way Im not scared of aliens at all since I saw this movie because I saw them as just slimy monsters, not some repulsive thing looming in the shadows. Its all about presentation. For example, this is the same design and same movement/scene. Yet lightning and presentation makes such a big difference
Anyway, the point is its one of million things which dont fit the original, serious and dark trilogy
People knew how alien looks like very well in 1979 already. The toys and posters showing detailed Giger's alien and all that. Yet in Aliens we've seen even less of the creature. And even by 1992, when everyone knew very well the alien after Aliens, we still saw it only partially hidden or in quick cuts. Res didnt care for that, there wasnt even any buildup to seeing the monster, once theyre adults - bam! we see them i full light and in long, focusing shots. And that roar...
Alien showed the creature in blinking light and mist and in the dark. Aliens showed aliens as shadows and silhouettes and the queen in a dark chamber and darkened bay. Alien 3 showed monster in quick cuts and in a mist. Res hides NOTHING and shows us everything in brightest light possible, with no quick cuts, nothing.
-music
-European style. I dont like French movies and by Jeunet own admission its a European movie with american production
-cinematography. I know the movie is crap but that doesnt mean everything has to be brown
-alien design. I mean Pumpkinhead, cause I havent seen any aliens there. Only Pumpkinheads with heads resembling ladybugs who growl like tigers. Theres no trace of the biomechanical monsters with sexual features like the penis head or vaginas and penises on the torso. Theyre now fleshy, muscular monsters
A:R is not only my most disliked movie with aliens but one of my most disliked movie in general. I even prefer the garbage that AVPR is over this because at least AVPR isnt a half parody with superhumans
Dont get me wrong, Im not saying I like AVPR, im not insane.
Im just saying that an abomination like AVPR even has a slight advantage because at least it tries to be serious and doesnt have superhumans from X-Men, John McClaine and a rock band in it. Not to mention the Pirates of the Carribean in that movie werent afraid at all. Even the gunho marines looked like they saw a ghost the entire time after the first encounter and were sweating from fear and tension. Even the big bad bold rapists and murderers were painting their pants brown once things got dicy. Yet here the tough guys who look like they escaped from a Mad max movie dont seem to care much
Its all everyones preference. I could go on forever about how much I hate A:R but I dont really want to because I dont like discussing something I dislike or dont care for at all
