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Personally I found it a good evolution of the film in so much as it gave one thing many wanted from seeing dark dingy aliens - getting to see them actually perform in clear good lighting.

I think in a way it was a fanservice film - you got Ripley back; you got to see the aliens fight and move in a far more dynamic way; you got that HR Giger element creep in; you got the human xeno hybrid etc...

I think its a good one-off action fanservice type film that also brought the alien franchise into the CGI and high budget era in a big way. Keeping in mind the first film was a "shoestring budget" (compared to the others) and much of the darkness was to hide the alien costume and such.

It's more of a shame that the following prequel films have taken after resurrection more so and the aliens have lost that stealth menace- then again they were far more action films and the alien has lost that element of shocking surprise that they had the first time around. Even the chest bursting scenes aren't done half as violently as in the first film; even if ther's more blood now.

Resurrection was definately alot better than Promethius - now that was a really bad movie.

Covenent was ok, but it was scary how bad the first prequal was. You can make great prequals - the Thing prequal was loving put together and crafeted to incorporate loads of little details from the first film.

I like Resurrection. I also enjoy #3.

I didn’t enjoy #2, myself. I don’t have much to add, other than to agree that Xenomorphs are scary in confined spaces, against average joes.

Like a pack of wolves. If you’re armed with a sharp stick, those wolves are scary. Or if you are armed, and they can sneak up on you, they’re scary.

But if you go into a cave, knowing what’s in there, and you’re packing military grade hardware? If you die, it’s because you screwed up real bad.

Which is why #1, 3, and to a lesser extent 4 work for me. When the convicts are running the gauntlet, because they can’t *fight* the alien, that works. When captain dork-nugget runs his clips empty instead of making a tactical retreat? That’s just terrible.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Resurrection was definitely alot better than Promethius - now that was a really bad movie.

Perhaps but Prometheus was a beautifully shot movie; it makes for great screen captures and concept art. Alien: Resurrection is more enjoyable a watch because in the end it doesn't try to be anything more than a fun action/adventure film with a bit of horror whereas Prometheus had a geologist getting lost in an alien cavern while getting high.

Watching the Making Of you can tell when the production went off the rails and it was the studio forced them to take Damon Lindelhof on to rewrite the script. His first pitch to Ridley Scott was to remove the Xenomorph from the film and of course Scott was like "hurr Ok" and had to go back and change a lot of stuff. If you've seen concept art and some pre-production work there were initially more threads tying it to Alien. Originally that guy that looks like a weird zombie thing that goes amok looked much more like he was changing into a xenomorph, for example.

I think Covenant was a lot worse than Prometheus, Prometheus at least had a hint of originality and laid the groundwork for something that could have been truly interesting. Covenant devolved back into a film that shows too much of the alien, which was a mistake, bad CGI, wasted potential all around. It felt like a big step back. The main issues I had with Prometheus were all stupid little character problems.

Ressurection was my least favorite of the original four films, but i'll still take it over most superhero films being made in modern times.

But really i've come to terms with Ridley Scott simply having gone senile or something. After his comments about BR2049 and his pompous attitude I could care less what he does next.

 LordofHats wrote:
Alien 3 was a bad movie,

It wasn't even close to being bad. On its own merits, it was okay. It's just that Alien and Aliens were so damn good it looks bad in comparison, and killing off Newt/Hicks right at the start made people all bitter and want to hate it. And it had an ending that a lot of people don't like (the protagonist's heroic sacrifice) because they wanted another 'Ripley Escapes...Again!" ending. I liked that it had the balls to have Ripley kill herself to destroy the alien queen embryo and would have properly ended the tragedy that was the trilogy of movies. Hollywood should have just done Alien4 with Winona Rider and a different script.

Also, it's better on a movie screen where the alien running on walls/ceiling can give you proper vertigo.

The thing that makes Alien resurrection acceptable as a Alien movie is that is has no actual Aliens in it. Every xenomorph is as much a human as Ripley 8 was a alien.

 Thargrim wrote:
I think Covenant was a lot worse than Prometheus, Prometheus at least had a hint of originality and laid the groundwork for something that could have been truly interesting. Covenant devolved back into a film that shows too much of the alien, which was a mistake, bad CGI, wasted potential all around. It felt like a big step back. The main issues I had with Prometheus were all stupid little character problems.

Ressurection was my least favorite of the original four films, but i'll still take it over most superhero films being made in modern times.

But really i've come to terms with Ridley Scott simply having gone senile or something. After his comments about BR2049 and his pompous attitude I could care less what he does next.

I thought there was only one character in Prometheus - David - the others are just incredably stupid plot devices. Covenant was a good "Aliens" movie, not as good as 1 or 2.

Promethius pretended to be clever which the critics (as always) fell for but just looked pretty. In fact it spent so much time pretending to be clever that it lost any kind of focus or indeed story.

The only superheor movies I can think of that were not better than Resurection in terms of plot, style, pacing and characters were Bats vs Sups (and that purely down to the sheer awfulness of Loopy Lex) and Cap America 1.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Thargrim wrote:
I think Covenant was a lot worse than Prometheus, Prometheus at least had a hint of originality and laid the groundwork for something that could have been truly interesting. Covenant devolved back into a film that shows too much of the alien, which was a mistake, bad CGI, wasted potential all around. It felt like a big step back. The main issues I had with Prometheus were all stupid little character problems.

Ressurection was my least favorite of the original four films, but i'll still take it over most superhero films being made in modern times.

But really i've come to terms with Ridley Scott simply having gone senile or something. After his comments about BR2049 and his pompous attitude I could care less what he does next.

I thought there was only one character in Prometheus - David - the others are just incredably stupid plot devices. Covenant was a good "Aliens" movie, not as good as 1 or 2.

Promethius pretended to be clever which the critics (as always) fell for but just looked pretty. In fact it spent so much time pretending to be clever that it lost any kind of focus or indeed story.

The only superheor movies I can think of that were not better than Resurection in terms of plot, style, pacing and characters were Bats vs Sups (and that purely down to the sheer awfulness of Loopy Lex) and Cap America 1.

I think the thing is I wanted to see more Giger stuff with the engineers and their homeworld, and stuff that hadn't been explored as much before. But instead we got more people getting killed and whittled down and I would have preferred it went in a weirder direction.

 Thargrim wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Thargrim wrote:
I think Covenant was a lot worse than Prometheus, Prometheus at least had a hint of originality and laid the groundwork for something that could have been truly interesting. Covenant devolved back into a film that shows too much of the alien, which was a mistake, bad CGI, wasted potential all around. It felt like a big step back. The main issues I had with Prometheus were all stupid little character problems.

Ressurection was my least favorite of the original four films, but i'll still take it over most superhero films being made in modern times.

But really i've come to terms with Ridley Scott simply having gone senile or something. After his comments about BR2049 and his pompous attitude I could care less what he does next.

I thought there was only one character in Prometheus - David - the others are just incredably stupid plot devices. Covenant was a good "Aliens" movie, not as good as 1 or 2.

Promethius pretended to be clever which the critics (as always) fell for but just looked pretty. In fact it spent so much time pretending to be clever that it lost any kind of focus or indeed story.

The only superheor movies I can think of that were not better than Resurection in terms of plot, style, pacing and characters were Bats vs Sups (and that purely down to the sheer awfulness of Loopy Lex) and Cap America 1.

I think the thing is I wanted to see more Giger stuff with the engineers and their homeworld, and stuff that hadn't been explored as much before. But instead we got more people getting killed and whittled down and I would have preferred it went in a weirder direction.

Hmm maybe - I think they were going to do that with Prometheus but then had no decent ideas about who/what the Engineers where and making a believable and actually alien society is not an easy job, making that AND making an interesting film about it is probably beyond most film makers....

I imagine that going back to a more tried and tested style was easier and it certainly makes a more coherent film - in fact Prometheus is really just the same whittling down of the humans but always in incredably stupid ways.

 Overread wrote:

I also liked that there were some almost sensual and sexual scenes in the film; especially once Ripley fell through the floor into the strange alien flooring underneath and was then carried by the alien as well as the scenes with her and the human alien hybrid. I felt that they spoke of a strong connection to G.R. Giger's artwork and many of the original themes and ideas behind his alien design.

Those bits were what made the movie stand out to me, since it felt like they were actually trying to do something new with the concepts of the franchise. Cross-species sexuality is part of what made the original so memorable, and blurring the lines between human and alien was a good move, and well-executed.

It was just a pity that it was alongside an entirely generic plot about one-note mercenaries getting picked off, which just left me thinking "Aliens did this better". The Alien was so effective in the original because it was....well, alien (to a positively Lovecraftian degree), and the characters were always one step behind trying to figure out how it bred, how its biology worked, how intelligent it was, etc. It loses a lot of effectiveness once it's a known factor.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’m not that familiar with it.

I know I’ve seen it, but only the once. Others can feel free to join in the ‘defends’ theme though!

+1 for John Carter. I loved that one.

I fear that doing requests may turn the thread on its head.

This, and in future, these threads, aren’t about revisionism or a sad attempt to be ‘the smartest, smuggest git in the room’.

They’re about challenging received opinion, and challenging peeps to watch again, without falling back on hyperbole.

So as per the quote, anyone can do them. I’m happy to provide inspiration, and to watch the slightly weedy seed I planted in Nerd consciousness blossom over time

 Mr Morden wrote:
The only superheor movies I can think of that were not better than Resurection in terms of plot, style, pacing and characters were Bats vs Sups (and that purely down to the sheer awfulness of Loopy Lex) and Cap America 1.

One thread. Was that too much to ask? One. fething. Thread. You managed to fit your "Loopy Lex" ragefit into a thread that had nothing to do with the movie.

We get it, you didn't like it. Seek help.



Moving on...




Resurrection had several good points overall, but it really didn't do much to correct the main travesty of Alien3, which is the criminal treatment of Hicks, Newt, and Bishop.

 Just Tony wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
The only superheor movies I can think of that were not better than Resurection in terms of plot, style, pacing and characters were Bats vs Sups (and that purely down to the sheer awfulness of Loopy Lex) and Cap America 1.

One thread. Was that too much to ask? One. fething. Thread. You managed to fit your "Loopy Lex" ragefit into a thread that had nothing to do with the movie.

We get it, you didn't like it. Seek help.

Moving on...

Resurrection had several good points overall, but it really didn't do much to correct the main travesty of Alien3, which is the criminal treatment of Hicks, Newt, and Bishop.

I was on topic and you don;t get to decide on my post do you? How exactly is what I said a rage fest - I don't appreciate being insulted for no reason so reported.

Right, anyways.

On with the thread, yeah?

I always liked Resurrection. Moreso than Alien 3 and the recent sequels. There are the odd plot holes (crashing something the size of the Auriga is likely to be just as disastrous to the Earth as letting the aliens out), but it’s generally fun. The actor playing the general chewed the scenery a bit too much but the prototypes for the serenity crew were good.

This movie was a great big bag of sci-fi horror fun, and enjoyed it for what it was. Never understood the hate for it.

Shallow characters. Weird tone. No real xenomorphs. Cheesy zinger line jokes "no no... Fork".

Its barely an alien movie.

still baffled as to how Wayland can make Winona bots and don't already have all the money in the galaxy, that they feel to need to start mucking about with bio-weapons

I'd Pay for a Winona bot...........(did i say that out loud?)

Kale wrote:
I'd Pay for a Winona bot...........(did i say that out loud?)

Well you are not wrong - give it ten to fifteen years and if your rich enough you will be able to get something along that line....

 Mr Morden wrote:

Kale wrote:
I'd Pay for a Winona bot...........(did i say that out loud?)

Well you are not wrong - give it ten to fifteen years and if your rich enough you will be able to get something along that line....

problem is bu then I'll have forgot why I got one and sending it to do the shopping might not end well

 Turnip Jedi wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

Kale wrote:
I'd Pay for a Winona bot...........(did i say that out loud?)

Well you are not wrong - give it ten to fifteen years and if your rich enough you will be able to get something along that line....

problem is bu then I'll have forgot why I got one and sending it to do the shopping might not end well

Again if you are rich enough then tech should be helping with that - maybe.

Although we are well behind where sci-fi films and writters thought we would be in pretty much all areas :(

Kale wrote:
I'd Pay for a Winona bot...........(did i say that out loud?)

She is severely ****able, aint she?

I always liked Resurrection. The Aliens book it felt based off (Alien Rogue) of was better but it was the closest I was going to get to it. And I loved that book as a teenager.

Bonus Points to SamusDrake for the quote!

Resurrection is not the worst Alien movie (think Alien vs Predator(s) are pretty poor). It does stand out as a little odd compared to the other main alien movies. What it does feel like is one of those movies that had a billion writing changes and doesn't feel like a whole story.
I think it suffers from that thing where some bored, stuck executives sit around a table and go
A: "how about another alien movie ?"
B: "we've done that again and it didn't work well for sales"
A: "yeah but this time they'll be...[plucks thought from the air] human-alien hybrids"
C: "wait didn't Ripley die taking the last known alien with her?"
A: "don't worry about that... there will be a rag-tag bunch of foul mouthed mercenaries"
B: "Shut up and take my money"

It feels as though one writer wanted to get certain characters in, another wanted the hybrids, another wanted hubris, another wanted Ripley back, but they all only concentrated on that one part instead of working together to make a more cohesive. Then when it comes together at the end it's a little weird.

It can at sometimes feel like a childs "and then" story where they just tag on more and more ridiculous things, and then think "oh that'll be cool" and shoehorn things in.

I recently watched Alien at the cinema when it was released as a part of the recent anniversary. I wasn't old enough to watch it originally so this was an unmissable opportunity. It was a fantastic experience and I hadn't realised how much of the movie I'd actually missed previously, especially the interactions with the crew and a lot of the sets.

There's something I haven't been able to figure out, and I hope it's not just nostalgia, but the older films seem to have a better atmosphere. I can't really describe it. There's a feel - it's probably the slightly fuzzy cameras and it not being absolutely pristine. Maybe it's the lack of CGI and the reliance on real sets and models. I don't know if it's possible to get this "feeling" again... or even if we wanted to.

Honestly?

The hallmark of a proper classic Horror Movie, whether it's SciFi or Slasher, is the first one is made on a shoestring.

To cover up cheap sets, they go for a dark, moody tone. Colours drained, lots of drips etc. Atmosphere over the jump scare.

And we can get it again. I know it's not quite up there, but try 'The Nun', part of the Conjuring story set. It's genuinely atmospheric and creepy. I'm an old hand when it comes to Horror, and it had me creeped out. Just a solid example of how to build tension, without really showing anything.

I think a better example is Sinister. Sinister did nothing but rely on a basic and freaky premise, and then used nothing but makeup, lots of scenes at night, a few well timed jump scares, and atmosphere. No fancy CGI or anything.

The Nun was just uninspired imo.

I liked what they did in the Dark Horse comics, particularly the Hive War series where a mutation leads to two separate hives of aliens going to war while humans discover that the Alien Queen produces copious quantities of the stuff that makes xenomorphs so strong and aggressive.

The comic Alien vs Predator stuff was much stronger too, and I always wondered why they didn't just film that. Maybe it was the colour palette?