Quote from: windebieste on Sep 02, 2016, 11:40:09 PM
Quote from: SM on Sep 02, 2016, 10:49:21 PM
Aliens hits many of the same beats as Alien. In many ways its a remake hidden in a different genre.
Alien3 has an entirely different structure.
Especially towards the end of both films. Many of the plot points of 'ALIENS' mimic the original film down to last sequence of events:
After rescuing X/Y, Ripley just barely escapes in the only vehicle available. Not just that, but a nuclear detonation to boot! That's fine because Ripley and X/Y are safe now. Excellent! The movie is about to end. OH, NOES! Surprise! A giant face ripping monster has stowed away aboard their ride! Quickly, Ripley races into the closest closet to gear up. She emerges for the final confrontation with the unwelcome guest. After a brief encounter that involves opening the door to the outseid, she sends the bug out the airlock. Bam! Exciting finale delivered! Everyone lies down for a long nap and the credits roll.
Where:
X = Jones
Y = Newt
The plot path is so similar you won't even know which movie I'm talking about!
It all starts well before that, and while there's some deviation, both movies follow this essential path towards the end. I've always found the end to 'ALIENS' to be the weakest part of the movie for this reason. It's just an escalation of everything towards the end of the movie repeated from the original. It's the trappings that make it unique.
"ALIEN 3", on the other hand, is a very different movie in so many ways. At the very least it has the balls to take a different, much more original ending.
I'm all for different and challenging. Even 'ALIEN: Resurrection' is to be admired for this reason.
There's nothing 'innovative' or 'amazing' about retconning half the series just to restore deceased characters featured in movies where mortality is a crucial theme. Blomkamp may as well adorn Ripley with a superhero cape and give the Aliens rubber teeth and lemonade for blood if he pursues his current proposal and give her 'the ending she deserves'.
His whole idea is retarded - not innovative.
-Windebieste.
Indeed.
Structurally ALIENS is pretty much, scene by scene, chronologically identical to ALIEN but with tons of bells and whistles.
ALIEN: Crew goes to Acheron to investigates signal [Derelict]
ALIENS: Crew goes to Acheron to investigate (the absence of a) signal [Hadley's Hope]
ALIEN: Crew explores abandoned location [Derelict], enters a hive area and triggers the Alien [Egg/Facehugger]
ALIENS: Crew explores abandoned location [Colony], enters a hive area and triggers the Alien [Colonist/Chestburster]
ALIEN: Casualties [Kane], crew falls back, board their craft [Nostromo] and retreat [lift off]
ALIENS: Casualties [marines], crew falls back, board their craft [the APC] and retreat [drive away]
Now, here is where the two go different paths for a little bit, as ALIEN focuses on Kane and the group dynamic of the Nostromo crew, and later on the Facehugger and Kane's death. In ALIENS the Marines' line of command is cut down severely and they lack leadership, which is a also about group dynamic in a way.
In ALIEN the Alien first decimates large portions of the crew, which is then followed by the company representative's [Ash] plans being revealed after trying to kill Ripley. In ALIENS it's the other way around: the company representative's [Burke] plans are revealed after trying to kill Ripley (and Newt), which is then followed by the Aliens decimating large portions of the remaining crew. In ALIEN they try to find a way to catch and later on trap the Alien in order to survive, opposed to in ALIENS where they barricade themselves from the Aliens in order to survive.
ALIEN: Remaining crew decides to escape location [Nostromo] before it blows up [Self-Destruction sequence], preparing to board another craft [the Narcissus]. Unfortunately they run into the Alien and everyone except Ripley are incapacitated/killed. Instead of just leaving she stops by to save innocent and trapped dependent [Jones the Cat] while securing her path with a flamethrower.
ALIENS: Remaining crew decides to escape location [Hadley's Hope] before it blows up [Thermonuclear meltdown], preparing to board another craft [Dropship]. Unfortunately they run into the Aliens and everyone except Ripley are incapacitated/killed. Instead of just leaving she stops by to save innocent and trapped dependent [Newt] while securing her path with a flamethrower.
ALIEN: Ripley and survivor [Jones] escapes just in time before everything blows up. Ripley thinks that they're safe and that the Alien is dead, but finds out that it followed her on board, hiding in the evacuation craft's machinery [venting tubes]. Ripley and dependent [Newt] panic. Dependent hides while Ripley locks herself up to strap herself in a suit [spacesuit]
ALIENS: Ripley and survivors [Newt and Hicks, and I guess Bishop] escape just in time before everything blows up. Ripley thinks that they're safe and that the Aliens are dead, but finds out that it followed her on board, hiding in the evacuation craft's machinery [landing gear]. Ripley and dependent [Newt] panic. Dependent hides while Ripley locks herself up to strap herself in a suit [powerloader]
ALIEN: With the help of her suit [spacesuit] she fights the Alien and defeats it by flushing it out the airlock into space. Ripley and dependent [Jones] calm down, undress and go to sleep in their cryo tubes. The End.
ALIENS: With the help of her suit [powerloader] she fights the Alien [Queen] and defeats it by flushing it out the airlock into space. Ripley and dependent [Newt] calm down, undress and go to sleep in their cryo tubes. The End.
A3 on the other hand didn't follow the formula much, if at all. Sure, no weapons and just one single Alien, but that's pretty much it. That doesn't even make A3 superficially similar to ALIEN. It has its own structure and doesn't try to repeat what we have already seen
twice. Even A:R deviated from the formula even though it had the: "escape the epic explosion, fight the surviving Alien one last time before fooling it to suck vacuum".
