Quote from: MadassAlex on Apr 08, 2010, 02:01:59 AM
Pretty much like Kane's Son, then.
The original Alien had off-screen presence and it drove the plot from about half an hour in until the end.
Spike has zero off-screen presence and drives the plot, kind'a, from about halfway in, and in the Extended Cut there's a chunk where he's captured and the plot wanders for a bit.
Even when the original Alien isn't caving someone's skull in, there's still a feeling of a lurking threat, particularly towards the end. When Spike's not on-screen there's zero tension, zero worry and zero dread. It pulls one death out of its ass that's pure awesome - Clemens, but the rest of the time there's a distinct difference in tone between 'People gonna die now' and 'people gonna talk now'.
Alien, at least, manages to keep you somewhat on edge.
And then there's the bloody thing's
on-screen presence, which as of my last viewing I label as 'Surprisingly boring' (This is Spike we're talking about).
Kane's Son is like an A-list actor chewing scenery. When it's there, it dominates the scene, it makes itself known. Spike, on the other hand, comes across much more as a much cheaper monster baddie, popping up to kill someone and not much else. It doesn't chew the scenery, just heads.
Pretty specific criticism.
