re: James Cameron ruined Alien

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. I know that’s not a popular stance around here

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This may come as a surprise to you, but Aliens is widely considered one of the best films of all time, and definitely one of the best sequels of all time. Definitely top 3.

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it’s third at best for me in the franchise

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Okay now I see you are trolling.

I swear, majority of your movie takes are just being contrarian to try to be different or something.

Do you have any idea how many future films and video games it inspired because it was entirely unique at the time it was released?

Aliens is universally praised as one of the best sequels ever made, up there with ESB and The Two Towers

Go back to watching Nick Jr.

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In Alien, one of the climaxes of the movie is when they realize Bilbo is an Android and after they destroy him, they ask him if there’s any way to kill the Alien and he’s like “It’s impossible” and “it’s the perfect organism”.

Of course, he could’ve been lying, but it set up for a creative way to get rid of an “invincible” enemy by shooting it off into space.

So when I watched Aliens I was like “Oh man I wonder how they’re gonna kill a bunch of these things. You can’t shoot all of them into space”

Imagine my disappointment when it turns out any retard with a machine gun or fire can actually kill them pretty easily.

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Well, to be fair, he said they couldn't - as in a bunch of miners in space with just mining equipment. As opposed to a squad of Marines with explosive rounds designed to kill other alien creatures (they even reference being on a "bug hunt" before they encounter the Xenomorphs, so it's clear they've fought other aliens).

It's a difference between what could a regular person do vs a squad of highly armed and highly trained individuals can do.

A single xenomorph on a military base will get some kills but will eventually get taken out; a single xenomorph in an office building is going to get a huge body count and probably get away as well.


But also to the point, you're comparing a horror movie to an action horror movie. Once you add action to it, you have to give the protagonist(s) a means of fighting back.

As someone pointed out earlier, it's like comparing the first two Terminator movies. One's a horror movie, the other is an action movie. I mean, the T1000 was "unstoppable" until he wasn't, but if Skynet was able to make a hundred of those then it just wins. Consider it a suspension of disbelief (and also why Skynet doesn't just send a dozen terminators, as it's clear that going on rampant murder sprees apparently doesn't screw up the timeline for some reason).

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Alien 3. I’m in the vast minority on it but I think it’s arguably the second best of the franchise. I love it. And I’m not trolling at all. Nor do I think Aliens sucks or whatever…it’s fricking awesome. But I do prefer my Alien movies to be less action and more thriller/horror. And 3 did a great job getting back to that IMO.

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i like Alien 3 as well, specifically the assembly cut. however, i still rank it below Alien and Aliens (while remaining well above the rest of the franchise). where Alien 3 falls short for me is character development. you've got Ripley, and then you've got a dozen or so prisoners who are pretty much just interchangeable generically British characters who are just there to be Alien fodder. Clemons and Dillon to less degrees, but even those two dont have much to do other than just move the plot along.

i am, however, one of the rare fans who is totally ok with the way they killed off Hicks and Newt. it makes the film feel that much more dark, hopeless, and oppressive, which is exactly how it should be. it was a ballsy decision, and i think the right one.

I tried to find a part of your post I agreed with, and I simply could not.

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where Alien 3 falls short for me is character development. you've got Ripley, and then you've got a dozen or so prisoners who are pretty much just interchangeable generically British characters who are just there to be Alien fodder. Clemons and Dillon to less degrees, but even those two dont have much to do other than just move the plot along.

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That’s fair, but I don’t need a whole bunch of deep character development in the third act of a trilogy either. But I think the movie is definitely more centered around Ripley only, so her character is really the only important one that matters ultimately.

I’m actually currently watching it right now since it’s been years since I’ve seen it start to finish. I may revisit the thread later this afternoon.

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i am, however, one of the rare fans who is totally ok with the way they killed off Hicks and Newt. it makes the film feel that much more dark, hopeless, and oppressive, which is exactly how it should be. it was a ballsy decision, and i think the right one.

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I agree 100% with that. It’s a really good opening and completely sets the tone for a hopeless and desolate movie. I never quite understood the rage that people had towards that decision.

The black goo and Ridley Scott trying to philosophize as if he is a great intellectual ruined the Alien franchise. The new movie was good until the second it popped up then it all went to shite. There’s a reason none of it was in the marketing.

Don't people get bored of the same thing over and over?

You don't remake a movie as a sequel. It required something very different than the original.

The reason T2 is thought of as one of the best sequels ever, is because they changed the terminator dynamic completely. That was pretty smart.

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So when I watched Aliens I was like “Oh man I wonder how they’re gonna kill a bunch of these things. You can’t shoot all of them into space

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In Alien they were barely armed and had no idea what a xenonorph was. In Aliens they went in prepared to fight whatever had taken over the colony. More firepower and more people and they still got wiped out.