I fell in love with this universe immediately, as a little kid! I first liked the Kenner toys, then read some pages of
the Alan Dean Foster Alien novelization, the chestburster scene specifically, and it was an EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE. Imagine reading this scene of extreme body horror
as a little kid. I believe I was eight or nine (around 1993-1994). I immediately wanted to know more, to read more, to see more.
Then I saw
Alien,
AlienS soon after, both on VHS.
Alien³ I first saw on TV, maybe in 1995?
I don't remember anything detailed about my perspective on these movies. I just loved them. I was enthralled, obsessed. The biomechanics haunted me, I became obsessed with H.R. Giger's work also (and in fact, pushed my parents to take me at a signature session in Paris, where I was able to gift him a fanfic and to get an artbook signed). I started drawing, writing, sculpting, playing, shooting even (with a little
caméscope)
Alien things. This universe shaped me so much as an artist, from a very young age - one of the very first sculptures I ever did was a facehugger, in paper, cardboard, glue and liquid latex.
When
Alien: Resurrection came out, it was classified "
Interdit aux moins de 12 ans" in France (NC-12). Luckily, I had just hit twelve! I was so excited! To see an
Alien movie in theater! My grandpa took me, and back then, it was an EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE. I never forgot how horrible and claustrophobic the whole sequence of the underwater trap and egg well looked, in particular, a complete trap set for our protagonists, a moment disgusting. I loved it to death.
(I remember from the start,
AlienS was the one I liked the less, but I did not have an unified model of exhaustive
AlienS criticism. I was a kid. To me
AlienS was less rad than
Alien and
Alien³, but it was STILL rad. And I found
Alien Resurrection just extraordinary.
Growing up then aging up, I gradually came to dislike
AlienS, then
Alien Resurrection, more and more, and to develop reasons behind my dislike.)
In 2003, I was 18, and I was lucky enough to see
Alien (Director's Cut) on the silver screen. I rediscovered it, such an incredible experience. It cemented my conviction that each
Alien movie is better experienced on the large screen, in a dark room full of people as captivated as you, in a kind of obscure ceremony to the impossible deities of the larger cosmos.
I never missed an
Alien movie in theaters since, and I never will, no matter how large my worries are, no matter how disastrous the reviews.
I saw
Alien vs. Predator next, and didn't like it, my first and final impression was it was a mediocre movie almost entirely devoid of inventivity. Then
AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem, which I absolutely HATED. Wrote a short article about my complete feelings on the flick,
Alien VS Predator Requiem is shit, almost directly after leaving the theater. I was so mad. I'm still mad after all this time.
Prometheus I waited like the messiah, and was in the cinema DAY ONE, and it was AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE. I loved almost every minute of it, back then my only criticism was the mutant/zombified Fifield, which I still do not like at all both in design and role in the story(I call it Hangover Fifield). The grandiose, mystical and existential themes spoken to my soul. I absolutely loved, and still love, the way these human beings embark for the vastness of space in search of meaning, and find only DEATH. They want to know their origins, their reason to be here, their fate, and the answer is they are meat, biomass, meant to be used in larger biological processes they do not and cannot understand. This is such a good science fiction tragedy.
(I'm aware of the flaws in the screenplay. They didn't spoil the experience at all for me back then, and don't spoil it for me today.)
Alien: Covenant I waited impatiently. I was dissatisfied that Ridley decided to come back to the "Alien" label and annoyed about the presence of the title creature as well, to me it was an artistic regression. In 2017 already, I was convinced the way forward for the franchise was to drift AWAY from the classical beast - feeling I recently expressed in
"The Alien is cooked": A Theory of Franchise Renaissance.
However, I still had HIGH HOPES for
Alien: Covenant. Ridley was fantastical director,
Prometheus was extraordinary, surely it would be as good as
Prometheus, just with Aliens insides, right?
I came to see it in theaters day one, as well, as a gift to myself: in 2017, I had just moved in in a new city. A present. A treat. It was the spirit in which I entered the vast, dark room and took place on a seat.
I've never been this disappointed in a movie in my life.
And finally
Alien: Romulus... Well, I watched this one day one, or almost day one. The theater wasn't very populated. It came out in France a few day before the USA, so I avoided almost all spoilers, particularly from the English-speaking Internet. An EXTREMELY LUCKY situation in this era of permanent overcommunication.
And I appreciated the movie.
It's still a very conformist movie in some ways, and too referential to my taste (I absolutely hate the way it quotes dialogues from the rest of the series), but it has great atmosphere and powerful moments.
I still don't entirely know what to think of Fede Álvarez's work. To me
Alien: Romulus is absolutely STORIES above
Alien: Covenant (let's not event talk about the
AVP movies). I have a lot of affection for the movie, I find its atmosphere powerful. But do I like it? I don't know.
Looking forwards to the next experiences in cinema. No matter how painful sometimes,
if you can see an Alien movie right in theater, right when it's released, I beg of you, GO SEE THE MOVIE. Don't wait for a Blu-ray or a simple file. Go receive the full impact of the piece. It is an unique and unforgettable moment.
