Neill Blomkamp Talks The (De) Evolution of Alien 3.2

[windebieste]

Scott's new direction for the prequels is much bolder and infinitely more interesting than bringing back deceased characters who's story is long over.  That's not bold.  It's certainly not interesting considering there's nowhere to take Ripley.

After all, what's she going to do?  Fight Aliens..?  ...and win?  Wut..?  How is that in any way bold or interesting? 

It's not. lol.

-Windebieste.

[Perfect-Organism]

Sigourney Weaver has the humility to recognize that the direction she took with Alien 3 was a mistake.  This is an issue for people?  This makes her a liar somehow?  Ridiculous.  It takes a big person to look back and say they goofed...

[Hudson WIlliam]

Blomkamp's dumping of Alien 3 for an Aliens fan fiction isn't a very good idea, Alien 3 (especially the work print on the Blu-ray) holds up rather well, yes it made some poor choices in killing off Hicks and Newt when they had been so invested in through Aliens, but it's a solid film made by a now incredibly respected film-maker who has mostly gone from strength to strength. It ended a trilogy rather well, it can't compare to Alien and Aliens but still stands on its own merit as a worthy entry in a well respected series.

I can't see what else would come of Blomkamp's film other than two hours of 'Hey, remember THIS?', just another nostalgia heavy cash grab with not much substance. District 9 was a very well made film and really engaging, Elysium started off well enough and quickly devolved into good looking nonsense, Chappie just wasn't very good and didn't connect. I can't see this project being in the best of hands, we don't need Ripley or Hicks back, or Newt, it's a huge universe with limitless possibilities for talented writers to put something together in. Which brings me to Covenant......

It wasn't very good. It didn't follow through on Prometheus, the last act was a mess. It started well but it had no characters of any substance, it felt like it was rushed through to meet a deadline and not given any space to breathe, to let its ideas be put to better use. I can't imagine ever watching it again, which is a shame as it's something I mention above, it's a bunch of new characters that as far as Prometheus promised - was taking us away into unexplored parts of the universe, with things we hadn't seen before - but it isn't being handled correctly, I really don't believe Ridley Scott is the right man for the job with these films, we aren't getting fully baked ideas on screen, the main discussion points for these films are the bits that aren't actually in the films, which is quite telling.

So we have on one hand, a short series of more original stories/characters that aren't fully delivering on their promise. On the other we have some concept art of an alternate universe film that looks like fan fiction and being made by a director whose output hasn't improved as he's made more films, anybody who is good at anything learns and gets better as they go along, Blomkamp seems to be going the opposite, why should he be handling an Alien film? If he really thinks he can, give him a shot at an original Alien film, whole new setting, new characters, new story, see what happens - I don't think Ridley can deliver one.

Surely we have more ways forward with this series than this.....

[windebieste]

Bah.  Of course she'll say that.    She just sees the phat paycheck at the tail end of her career. 

'ALIEN 3' wasn't a mistake for her to personalise as hers. 

...or maybe if it was.  She should come out and say so.

-Windebieste.

[Mr Sin]

I like all the critics on here bashing all these movies... Who the hell are you people to bash any of these filmmakers? Nobody! Haha.

[Corporal Hicks]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with sharing opinions - good or bad - on filmmakers and their films. As long as it's done in a mature manner, there's no issue to be taken with it. This is a place for discussion, after all.

[Kane's other son]

Blomkamp was only interested in a copy of Aliens: Weaver & Michael Biehn, pulse rilfes, "retro" technology (which was not a stylistic choice back when the first two movies were made but a reflection of that era's design language and technological limitations), colonial marines fighting the alien queen.

It's a stale vision. Fanboyism.

[LiquidMonster]

Kane's other son-Duly noted however when James Cameron says the script is "gangbusters and could be filmed tomorrow!" and with Weaver's blessing(and her finally admitting Ripley didn't get a proper ending....I'll wait for all 4 Alien 3 fans to show up and argue that) it's a shame ALIEN 5 will *most likely* never get made.

You cannot be happy with Ridley's treatment of *his* films at this point. He's burning it all to the ground. Horrible, horrible sequels. They're not scary. Terrible scripts. Excessive gore(again, not scary). He's lost his touch.

Now he wants to bring Ripley's *mom* into the series? Sorry, I'm checking out. He has successfully destroyed his franchise.

So sad.

[Corporal Hicks]

Blomkamp was only interested in a copy of Aliens: Weaver & Michael Biehn, pulse rilfes, "retro" technology (which was not a stylistic choice back when the first two movies were made but a reflection of that era's design language and technological limitations), colonial marines fighting the alien queen.

It's a stale vision. Fanboyism.

Considering how little we actually know of that Blomkamp wanted - outside of seeing some aesthetic return from Aliens and his comments about how Alien: Isolation influenced him - it's impossible to say with any definiteness.

[OmegaZilla]

I love how everyone assumes it would have been a copy of Aliens based purely on... what again? Hicks is in it? Queen?

Damn. Sure smells like 100% Aliens rehash

[newagescamartist]

Kane's other son-Duly noted however when James Cameron says the script is "gangbusters and could be filmed tomorrow!" and with Weaver's blessing(and her finally admitting Ripley didn't get a proper ending....I'll wait for all 4 Alien 3 fans to show up and argue that) it's a shame ALIEN 5 will *most likely* never get made.

You cannot be happy with Ridley's treatment of *his* films at this point. He's burning it all to the ground. Horrible, horrible sequels. They're not scary. Terrible scripts. Excessive gore(again, not scary). He's lost his touch.

Now he wants to bring Ripley's *mom* into the series? Sorry, I'm checking out. He has successfully destroyed his franchise.

So sad.

Quite a few are perfectly happy with the treatment of the prequels. I think some people forget that a lot of people enjoyed Prometheus and Covenant. It's not like Covenant is some universally hated movie. And judging it on its gore misses the point. The monster stuff doesn't drive the movie. It's the relationship between David and Walter that is the meat and potatoes of Covenant. If we're judging Covenant purely on scares it probably fails. Thank goodness it's not about scares, but rather deeper philosophical thinking and morality. I can accept that you and others didn't like the film, but it's not a universally shared opinion within the community.

I love how everyone assumes it would have been a copy of Aliens based purely on... what again? Hicks is in it? Queen?

Damn. Sure smells like 100% Aliens rehash

The concept art feeds on Aliens nostalgia, it's hard to deny that. We don't know anything about the story. I'm not assuming anything until it's either made into a movie or the story leaks.

[Perfect-Organism]

Regardless, Kane's other son basically described a recipe for sheer awesome !!!

[Kane's other son]

Kane's other son-Duly noted however when James Cameron says the script is "gangbusters and could be filmed tomorrow!" and with Weaver's blessing(and her finally admitting Ripley didn't get a proper ending....I'll wait for all 4 Alien 3 fans to show up and argue that) it's a shame ALIEN 5 will *most likely* never get made.

I would agree, had Cameron not praised Terminator Genisys a couple of summers ago.

[NeoXenoPred]

I think that Scott's bolder and Blomkamp's grittier than each other. I liked the shots and visuals of Elysium and District 9, but Ridley's Alien got some nice shots and good moments. Making Alien 3 non canon maybe just lengthening Ripley's story, so i just think that Ripley's story ended. It's good for a story to end, not like Michael Bay's Transformers which seemed to be trapped in a endless loop.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Stand back for a minute and think about how Blomkamp went about trying to get his film made while Scott was already busy doing his thing with the series. Trying to pitch a film through Instagram thinking online Aliens fanboys would make it work? He cynically used them all. Blomkamp was a complete bellend.

Carry on with the perfect imaginary Blomkamp masterpiece that exists in your own head. I mean there must be thousands of unmade Blomkamp Alien films sitting latently in empty eager skulls out there. Make up any shit you want, Blomkamp would have delivered no matter what.

Numpties

lol, he didn't "pitch the film through Instagram". He pitched the film directly to Fox long before he posted the concept art on Instagram. The reason he posted the concept art on the internet was because he didn't think he was going to do it anymore. In a IGN video interview he also sincerely denied that he posted the artwork online in order to garner public and media support for the film.

At the time Blomkamp made his pitch to Fox there wasn't much happening with regards to Prometheus 2. No-one knew if it was even still on. Besides, his film would have been an alternative sequel to Aliens, not Prometheus. He wasn't stepping on Scott's toes.