Blogcritics: Comments on Alien: The Director's Cut

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 23:11:13 EST

There are a bunch of HR Giger skins for the Sims, if they ever come with an animation engine for the Sims, you could do some cool Alien stuff. After all, Alien vs. Predator is totally the result of a FPS game. One thing to look at the Alien movies is the great directors: Ridley Scott, John Cameron, David Finscher, Jean-Pierre Junet. Where the Alien series falls down is how the writers have been treated. Great writers: Dan O'Bannon, Joss Whedon, and so so on, but their input was ignored.

Comment by Tom Johnson

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:58:25 EST

The box is a must-have for me because I've always been a freak about the Alien itself. I just love the thing, I think it's one of the most brilliant creatures ever created for a movie. Choosing something created by HR Giger is fascinating - who better to develop a hellish nightmare vision like that? There seems to be a lot of alien-development footage on the set, so that makes it worth owning for me. I'd like to see 3 again, because it's been a long time and I think it might indeed hold up better than I'm imagining it. My only complaint is that it's very convenient - Ripley, alone again, stranded with a small band facing a growing army of aliens. It was still a decent movie, but it was rehashing a lot of what Aliens already took care of. Anybody seen the McFarlane figures yet? These are astounding, the massive queen especially. I'm asking Santa for these, that's for sure.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:33:31 EST

A large part of "Aliens" is about motherhood, which is where the "bitch" line comes from. In the extended cut on the dvd, there is a scene where Ripley gets a message from her (now elderly) daughter. Aliens is probably the best of the series because it leaves the first alone. Aliens 3 is, I think, vastly under-rated.

Comment by duane

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:19:50 EST

Alien and Aliens are two of my all-time favorite sci-fi/horror movies. One of the reasons why these movies are so effective is because THEY ARE SERIOUS, especially the first one --- from the opening sequence of the Nostromo with the spooky music as the title forms across the screen, to the end when Ripley and Jonesy curl up in the suspended animation pod. There are no gross impossibilities, no cowboys, no silly stereotypes, no goofy jokes, and no token zany characters, such as ruined Independence Day, for example. The crew members act like real people. They are scared when they oughta be. There is no stupid love story threading through the movie (see Armageddon, for example). The actors are not "pretty" (see Starship Troopers, for example)-- they look like real people. There are no goofy teenaged heartthrobs (see most anything these days). Women are portrayed as being intelligent, accomplished, and tough when they need to be -- no damsel in distress bullshit. Only a few other sci-fi movies are in this league, for example The Thing (1982), Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator (although Linda Hamilton played a damsel in the first one, sure). Aliens had a couple of elements that would have been better left out: the cute kid, Ripley calling the alien a "bitch" (yeah, sure), the obvious dissension in the ranks (it would have been cooler to see an absolutely first-rate elite team of space marines get the shit kicked out of them, just to further impress us with the aliens' ferocity and overwhelming superiority). Best line: "I say we nuke the site from orbit." That's right, dammit, no bullshit Star Wars dogfights. Coolest character: the pilot of the landing vehicle: "We're in the pipe, 5 by 5." She actually got imported into the computer gane Starcraft Brood Wars for being so cool. Uh oh, my geekiness is showing.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:07:57 EST

I actually saw "Alien" on its first run at the York Theater in Montreal, and it scared the crap out of me. Considering what he did with "Blade Runner", I really like Ridley Scott's re-edits because they aren't indulgent, and usually distill the movie. Though I am somewhat I don't think so about the 9 DVD box set. If it is worth anything, Joss Whedon hates Alien 4, and he wrote it. Though, if you look at it, you see where he got "Firefly" from.

Comment by Tom Johnson

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 21:10:59 EST

I never got into the comics and books that spun off the series, but I agree that the series should have progressed to the point where the Aliens were spawning on earth. How a story like that could be handled, I can't imagine, but there's millions of possibilities there. I guess we'll have to hold out hope that Cameron is serious about shooting a fifth movie that will completely ignore what happened in the third and fouth installments. And of course next summer we'll get Aliens Vs. Predator . . . it's a good comic book idea, but I'm not sure how well these two movie creatures pair together. I'm sure I'll go see it regardless.

Comment by jadester

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 20:32:05 EST

indeed. I was annoyed to find they didn't continue in Alien 3 by following the plotline of the comics/books (the aliens reach earth). The "but it would have been too expensive" thing was a poor excuse, IMO. Equally, there are some amazing one-off stories set ni the Aliens universe - something like Music Of The Spears or Labyrinth would've made a real cool 3rd or 4th film. Ah well, i can make do with the director's cut of Alien...