Why do some people prefer Alien over Aliens?

Started by Aliens1986fanboy, May 03, 2020, 02:03:59 AM

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Why do some people prefer Alien over Aliens? (Read 35,509 times)

Aliens1986fanboy

I for one prefer Aliens mainly because its a sci-fi action movie and its much more exciting.
However I find the original Alien pretty damn boring (I don't hate the movie though) its just not my kind of movie,
Not much happens in the original Alien as for Aliens it has quite a few things happening (once it gets going)

StrangeShape

StrangeShape

#1
Alien is more creepy, much more of a horror. Its a movie which makes the heartbeat beat louder because of fear. Aliens also has a very long buildup and just have a grander scale, and also makes the heartbeat go faster but for different reasons, mainly being intense. I dont preffer any over the other and hold them in a very very high regard equally. But some may prefer the first because of its horror atmosphere and a 2001esque shooting style. It mostly builds atmosphere. I for one absolutely hate action films sans maybe 4 which also happen to have great stories and atmosphere. Cant stand them or skip action. Some people tend to skip story to get to the action or treat story as a waitroom for action. Im the other way around

OpenMaw

Quote from: Aliens1986fanboy on May 03, 2020, 02:03:59 AM

Not much happens in the original Alien

Something happens in every scene of Alien.

They wake up, they investigate the signal, they land on the planet, they incur damage, they go to the derelict, they find the eggs, they encounter the face hugger, they try to cut it off, they realize they cant, they work on repairing the ship, and start home, Kane wakes up, He gives birth to the chest burster, they hunt the alien, it kills Brett, they devise a plan to use flamethrowers and the air shafts to flush it out of the ship, they fail, they find out the the company wants the alien, and Ash is a collaborator, they decide to blow up the ship and bail out on the shuttle, Parker and Lambert get killed while prepping to leave. Ripley sets the auto destruct, attempts to leave, is blocked by the alien, tries to stop the auto-destruct, is too late to do so, returns to the shuttle with Jonesy and launches just before the Nostromo explodes, she gets ready for hypersleep only to find the alien on board, she gets in a suit, uses gas from the shuttles support systems to flush the alien out of its hidey hole, and blows it out the godd*mn airlock. Leaves a log. The end.

Every scene has at least one major piece of plot or character in it. It's just not infused with cinnamon sugar in every bite.

As to why Alien might be preferred by some? It's the original. It's got a great score. It's beautifully shot. It's superbly acted. The original treatrical cut is just about flawless in terms of editing and pacing.

Aliens, though very very well executed, has a few more rough edges. Also the change to Alien design and concept doesn't sit right with everyone. (Even though I would say most people who take that position misunderstand at least one fundamental fact about both Alien and Aliens.)

SiL

Quote from: Aliens1986fanboy on May 03, 2020, 02:03:59 AMits just not my kind of movie,
You kind of answered your own question. Alien is a lot of people's kind of movie :)

Elmazalman

I have watched ALIEN countless times (as others here have), and it's not something I can do with ALIENS - nor its two sequels.

ALIENS, is also a classic film and an admirable sequel, but its tone and feel is something that I've never quite liked as much as the original. As another poster noted, the original film is creepy.

A major factor for me, is that the ALIENS score pales considerably before Jerry Goldsmith's for ALIEN. I know James Horner didn't have sufficient time to do it to his satisfaction, but what he turned out is generic. It still works for the film though and that's what counts.

SM

Alien is the giant upon whose shoulders everything that came after stood.

Rankles75

Always preferred the sequel myself, but the original isn't that far behind. Also features what is still the best death scene in the series (Brett).


426Buddy

Quote from: SM on May 03, 2020, 07:47:27 AM
Alien is the giant upon whose shoulders everything that came after stood.

This^

PredBabe

When I was a kid/teenager I preferred Aliens over Alien. Now though I prefer Alien. As I got older I found the characters much more relatable and then you add the horror and suspense that the movie has over any of the other titles. 

Kimo

Same as above.
When I was a kid Aliens was always my favourite, but as i got older I now prefer the first film. Why I like some aspects of the prequels, i like to ignore them when I'm watching Alien because the unknown in the first film is more terrifying. Also in my opinion, Alien has aged better then Aliens.

StrangeShape

StrangeShape

#11
I rewatched Alien for the first time in over 3 years on Alien day. Known this movie and its every shot by memory for over 2 decades, and yet I jumped. I couldnt believe I jumped. But this is how immersive Alien is. No matter how well you know the movie or how many hundreds of times youve seen it, its pacing and atmosphere pull you in like quicksands

Local Trouble

Aliens was the closest this series ever came to being a mainstream crowd-pleaser.  It's a damn fine, expertly-crafted piece of filmmaking on every level.

But Alien is still the better movie.

Elmazalman

Quote from: Rankles75 on May 03, 2020, 11:12:29 AM
Also features what is still the best death scene in the series (Brett).
Agreed. Parker & Lambert are second best in the series, imo.

Quote from: Local Trouble on May 04, 2020, 12:50:30 AM
Aliens was the closest this series ever came to being a mainstream crowd-pleaser.  It's a damn fine, expertly-crafted piece of filmmaking on every level.

But Alien is still the better movie.
Agreed. Still the best film in the series. Best cast too, and ALIEN films are all strongly cast.

Kimarhi

Like others have said, Aliens was my favorite growing up.  It might have been the single most influential film of my teens.  I have seen it hundreds of times and still love it, and can quote it from beginning to end even today.  Hudson's last stand might be my favorite movie death of all time. 

That said, Alien has slowly evolved into my favorite of the franchise because of how much more relatable it is to everyday life where corporate greed consumes you for profit.  It still has the best creature design of all time, and it has the most realistic feel in a horror movie of all time.  Even if things like LIFE are "technically" more accurate nobody cares because very few people are that technical.  Give me Parker and Brett as engineers all day everyday. 

There are times when I haven't watched Aliens in a while and re-view it where it sort of soars toward first place again, but I have now seen it so much I often spend half the film thinking about what I would've done differently and now being former military WHAT I would've done differently as a former NCO in a combat arms unit had I been in the universe.  This surprisingly takes up a majority of the thought process on any military movie now.  It's kind of wild. 

I still think Aliens has the best design aesthetic in all of the movies though.  And most EU creators agree.  It is Aliens design influence in almost every videogame and comic series based on a functional future displayed in the second movie.  Not that Alien didn't have it, Aliens just showed more vistas.  Alien isolation is really the only media in the videogames at least that very clearly chose Alien over Aliens. 




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