What are your 2 favorite films in the Alien film series and why ?ay why, fo

[DonIago]

Aliens, but I'm not a fan of straight-up horror, which rules out Alien for me. I've watched it up to the part where they find the eggs, if that counts, and I've read the novelization. I was also exposed to the chestburster scene at age 5, which may explain a few things.

3 committed the unforgivable (for me) act of killing Newt and Hicks (and mostly-Bishop), and I'm still baffled by the "logic" of the opening, and Resurrection was just pretty bad overall, though it had moments of not-badness (the failed Ripleys was pleasantly disturbing).

 

[Galileo7]

...
3 committed the unforgivable (for me) act of killing Newt and Hicks (and mostly-Bishop), and I'm still baffled by the "logic" of the opening, and Resurrection was just pretty bad overall, though it had moments of not-badness (the failed Ripleys was pleasantly disturbing).

Agree. James Cameron agreed too, on the audio commentary for Aliens, he stated that the deaths of both Hicks and Newt at the beginning of Alien3 did not work for him.

 

[DonIago]

If 3 was supposed to be a nihilistic film, it succeeded beyond expectations. Ripley escapes LV-426 with a sense of hope and a family of sorts, only to have the majority of them killed within the first five minutes of the sequel, the last only alive long enough to provide a plot point, and the realization that her own life has become forefeit.

 

[Timby]

If 3 was supposed to be a nihilistic film

It absolutely was. The only film in the series that's more relentless with its themes is Prometheus. With Alien3, the entire point is that death is uncaring and doesn't give a shit about how good of a person you are -- death is capricious, unpredictable, arbitrary.

 

[EmoBorg]

I like Aliens. I rewatch it every year without fail. The best movies of the series so far. It had a good mix of military science fiction and horror themes.

I also like Prometheus. It had good visuals and i kinda liked it's whole philosophy angle about us looking for our makers about finding out that they wanted to destroy us 2 000 years ago but failed. I also kinda liked the ship crew despite some of their dumb decisions.

 

[KyleRaynous]

Obviously, Alien and Aliens. The third one is a hybrid mixture of its predecessors, with some high points and a good finale but too many flaws. Resurrection has some good action scenes, but very little substance and too much gore. Prometheus started well, but was filled with dumb moments and too much repetitiveness of the first movie, although the appearance and conceptualization of the Engineers was interesting.

Which one is the best? Sometimes its hard to compare two films that are very different in their atmosphere and development. I only chose Alien for being the one that established the concept (the Xenomorph design, the concept around its biological function and origin, that memorable chestburster scene) and the one that best handled the suspense aspect.

Which is my favorite? Aliens, of course. It is exactly what I look for in a movie of these characteristics. Cameron did a great job at making a sequel that did not necessarily repeat the formula of the original move and managed to stand out on its own. The action scenes, the secondary characters with whom it is easy to have empathy. And, of course, the Queen. If something scares more than an Alien is their big bad mommy. Not to mention that vs Ripley climax confrontation (which Cameron basically repeated in Terminator 2).

 

[Captain Craig]

It seems to me the better question, which some are answering via a ranking, would've just been the following.

What is the THIRD best film in the ALIEN saga?

For me that answer is Aliens vs Predator.
I know the gestations happen fast, like they did in all of them post Alien, but I like the quasi historical slant and feel Sanna Latham(sp) is a worthy heir to Ripley as a strong female lead. I was a bit bummed she wasn't in AvP: Requiem. I was rooting for her to be the lead in an AvP trilogy(I'm still rooting for a third. Maybe after the Prequels and Predator 4)!!

 

[kirk55555]

I'd say that Alien 3 is the third best of the ones I've seen. It is hugely flawed, but I still consider it an ok movie. Alien Resurrection is watchable and not the worst thing ever (its so bizarre that I can't even dislike it, and I'm sure I'll rewatch it from time to time), but its not a good movie. I've seen at least one of the AvP movies, but its been so long that I can't remember it, and I still need to see Prometheus so I can't rank it.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Alien






Aliens

 

[JD]

Aliens Director's cut breakdown:
http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2558663

Aliens Director's cut breakdown:
http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2558663

From memory the main addition is around Ripley's daughter who died whilst she was in stasis, which adds to the bond she devolps with Newt.

Every wondered what those green boxes are when they are discussing what sruvived the dropship crash into the APC. They are rather large guns. Overall 17 or so mins are added. But the big one is the addition to Ripley's back story.

There's a terrible prologue at Hadley's Hope which establishes Newt and her family (her father leaves to investigate a strange noise or something). There's an extended sequence in which Ripley learns about her daughter. There's a bit where the Marines put out sentry guns as defense against the aliens. That's about all I can recall, but it does add like 15 minutes of junk.

Only the sequence involving Ripley's daughter is good and necessary for the film, the rest is crap, especially the prologue with Newt's family.

So it doesn't sound like it's worth checking out then? I do find the idea of actually getting to see the pre-attack colony and Newt's family, and learing about Ripley's daughter intriguing.

 

[Tosk]

So it doesn't sound like it's worth checking out then?

I personally think it's absolutely worth checking out. It's not perfect, but some of the added material is good.

 

[DonIago]

I vastly prefer the extended edition to the theatrical release. Not sure why everyone thinks the prologue with Newt's parents is so bad either. I see people saying it's bad, but not so much why they feel that way. I think it's kind of nice to see the colony before all hell breaks loose.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I vastly prefer the extended edition to the theatrical release. Not sure why everyone thinks the prologue with Newt's parents is so bad either. I see people saying it's bad, but not so much why they feel that way. I think it's kind of nice to see the colony before all hell breaks loose.

It's tenser to experience events the way Ripley does than to enter the colony with foreknowledge of what to expect there and being on the lookout for a particular little girl.

 

[DonIago]

Doesn't that really only work the first time through?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Doesn't that really only work the first time through?

And? Whodunits are that way, too. Doesn't mean they should open with a revelation of who the killer is.

 

[Tosk]

It's tenser to experience events the way Ripley does than to enter the colony with foreknowledge of what to expect there and being on the lookout for a particular little girl.

We still don't know what to expect there, or that we'll see the little girl again.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, anyway, I don't see how it adds anything to the story to know that one of Newt's parents is the first to get attacked. It just draws out the beginning.

 

[Beagleman]

I vastly prefer the extended cut, the theatrical cut feels too rushed to me.

 

[MacLeod]

It's tenser to experience events the way Ripley does than to enter the colony with foreknowledge of what to expect there and being on the lookout for a particular little girl.

But we sort of already knew what happened even without the added material. As soon as we learn the colony is on the same planet as the crashed ship found in the first movie and they've lost contact it's not unreasonable to assume that they found the ship. Now perhaps you could have droppend the scene in Hadley's hope were we seem them discussing them being told to send someone there and just leave in the bit with Newt's family so it looks like they came across the ship whilst exploring.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

But we sort of already knew what happened even without the added material.

Right. It's superfluous, which is what I said subsequently.

Now, all of what I've been posting is in answer to the calling for info posted upthread:

Not sure why everyone thinks the prologue with Newt's parents is so bad either. I see people saying it's bad, but not so much why they feel that way.

It's not intended to provoke or fuel an endless debate that no one can win.