Final Ruling: Best Post-"Aliens" Franchise Sequel

It's like watching The Empire Strikes Back but Return of the Jedi is about a brand new set of characters who mention that The Emperor and Darth Vader have been defeated off screen.

 

Hm.... No, that comparison doesn't really work for me.

 

I've always had a little bit of a soft spot for Alien 3, and to a lesser extent Alien Resurrection. I get the reason why Alien 3 is not liked was because it undoes the power of Aliens (I still think Aliens is emotionally gratifying) but 3 saw Ripley's ultimate sacrifice. That was a pretty powerful scene.

 

I've only seen Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus. I really should check out the others some time.

 

Alien 3. But only the Assembly Cut.

I mean really, Charles Dance and Charles Dutton were the best supporting characters since Dallas in the first movie. And everything in the film is the prototype for Fincher's later works.

 

I protest, AvP are just as canon as the other four movies. Between Alien 3, Resurrection, AvP 1&2, Prometheus, and Covenant; my favorite is a tie between Prometheus and Aliem Covenant. It's hard for me to pick. Prometheus made Alien scary again, but Covenant answered the nagging question of what happens next.

 

My exclusion of them was not related to their canonical status.


It was simply because they suck so very, very badly.

 

AvP:R, i understand. Was the first AvP that bad?

 

Yes and no. It's quite entertaining, some interesting background on the Predators and xenomorphs. Some cool fight sequences. But it's let down by the fact that it needed to be marketable towards teenagers, so no gore or really intense fear-sequences. But grab a few cold beers and some snacks and it can be entertaining.

Now, if they ever need to do another AvP..... Set it somewhere in the our future, add Colonial Marines, some jungle world out there in space, and R-rated.

 

Not necessarily. You have seen all the good ones.

 

It was a condition imposed by Weaver for her to be in the movie.
No guns.
That is why we got the worst of the version of the Alien stories and not the "Ripley, Newt, Hicks return to earth and find it infested" story that had been floated before Alien 3 came out.

The Nostromo crew fashioned weapons because of the threat.
Flamethrowers aren't "guns" but they are deadly weapons.

 

IE, the story and characters had to use their brains instead. How awful.

"Aliens on Earth" itself was the worst idea floating around.

And the Prisoners used explosive chemicals and other things in the facility instead. Improvisation. Intelligence.

 

The fascinating thing about Prometheus is that it feels like he's trying to recreate Alien in a different universe. It's got the look and feel of Alien to a certain point, but up until the final moments you don't know it is is the same universe.

For pure fun, I really like AVP, and I liked the main actress who evoked a bit of Ripley but in her own way. I thought she kicked ass.

Alien 3, I hated. Didn't like the setting and didn't care much for the story. It feels like it has badly aged, and I hated what it did to some of the characters like the little girl. She brings her along and gets put into cryosleep, and one of the first things we see happening is her death. That was cold.

 

Well that's just like your opinion man.

 

Let me help you with that

 

I haven't seen it, but:



I'm gonna go with a "yes" on that one.

 

Rated R, PG-13, who cares?

 

There's a certain type of horror/suspense that belongs to the Alien movies, and a certain type of violence/gore to the Predator movies. You can't do that in a PG13 movie, so those elements that make the Alien and Predator movies weren't there. Otherwise it would be too much for the gaming/comic teenagers that according to the studio were the biggest market for this movie. They failed to see that the biggest markets where the OG Alien and Predator fans, and that a lot of the gamers and comicbook readers into those two comics and games (forgot to mention, there have been loads of comics and games focusing on AvP) are all definitely old enough for R-rated movies.

So what should have been an intensely suspenseful movie was lacking all those genuine scare-moments. I mean, look at the original Alien. It's not nearly as gory as many modern horror movies, yet I know several people who are more scared during that movie than the very predictable jumpscare/supergore 'horror' movies these days.

 

AvP should have been rated R...but that said, it still wouldn't have made that movie good. Paul W.S. Anderson only had one or two good movies in him, and AvP ain't one of 'em.