Would you welcome a film where EVERYONE dies?

[Kradan]

Oh, so Rogue One: An Aliens Story ?

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[Drukathi]

That's no heroes, no villains, no robots in the end; no one. Everyone is dead and the monster wins.

My first answer is no. But if the monster will be a main hero - why not? Alien/Engineer kills all people and synthetics and destroy/conquer a planet in the end. It will be a good film.

[SiL]

A film following the perspective of the Alien would get real boring real quick unless it's killing people the whole time.

[Drukathi]

A film following the perspective of the Alien would get real boring real quick unless it's killing people the whole time.

That's the trick - you don't need to have a Xeno perspective. Maybe sometimes. But not always. There are literally tons of movies here that work like this.

[SiL]

Where the protagonist isn't the focus of the story?

They're fairly rare.

Good ones are rarer.

[Drukathi]

Ripley is not the focus of the Alien, until the third act.

I don't get where the idea comes from that the Alien franchise is dark and miserable through and through.

Ever since Alien 3 was released, plenty of depression and oppression lovers have put the crown of nihilism on the franchise. But it was just a mediocre movie in the franchise though. On the contrary - the Alien franchise about the victory over a monster and the triumph of humanity.

[SiL]

Ripley is not the focus of the Alien, until the third act.

She's present substantially throughout the film before that, though. There is no scene she doesn't play a significant role in. Even the exploration of the derelict is counterpointed with her attempts to translate the signal.

Giving an Alien that level of screentime would result in exactly what I'm talking about.

Ever since Alien 3 was released, plenty of depression and oppression lovers have put the crown of nihilism on the franchise. But it was just a mediocre movie in the franchise though. On the contrary - the Alien franchise about the victory over a monster and the triumph of humanity.

True. What's even more frustrating is that even Alien3 is that. The whole point of that movie is that nihilism is for losers.

[Immortan Jonesy]

I'm sure it would please many of the hipster edgelords, but I imagine it would feel very unsatisfying to a mass audience.

Fair point.

Yes but, it's all in the execution ultimately, take Robert Eggers' films for example.

This ☝

Some did, sure.

But she wasn't even the last person alive. Covenant had 3 survivors.

Yup. In order to fit the criteria of the thread, there has to be no survivor, not even David. And if the script and execution are good, you are supposed to feel emotional for such deaths. You have to care. I think it would work for a standalone flick.

I clarify that I'm talking about a good movie like Blade Runner 2049 was. Not a box office hit. That would be risky. 

I liked Daniels myself.

I like Kenny Powers 

Does the audience care about Royce?

I might be in the minority, but I care 

A film following the perspective of the Alien would get real boring real quick unless it's killing people the whole time.

In Lovecraft short story The Outsider, the protagonist...

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is a monster without knowing it. Of course it is a sentient abomination and not a feral beast like the Alien. But it makes me consider...

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that short films are a better format for a story from the Alien perspective, as @Kurai says. However, I agree in that it would be boring for a full length flick.

[Wysps]

I'm sure it would please many of the hipster edgelords, but I imagine it would feel very unsatisfying to a mass audience.

Fair point.

My thoughts exactly.  Though I wouldn't mind seeing a Predator film where the Predator actually won the fight.  I don't think I'd feel the same way about an Alien film.

[SiL]

In Lovecraft short story The Outsider, the protagonist...

Spoiler

is a monster without knowing it. Of course it is a sentient abomination and not a feral beast like the Alien. But it makes me consider...

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That's super easy to get away with in literature, where you can be more selective about how information is revealed to the audience. You can't pull the same trick in film without resorting to some really corny twists or conventions.

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We follow a character we think is a person -- then at the end we see them in a mirror, and it was an Alien the whole time!

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[SuperiorIronman]

For Predator I feel like you could "Rogue One" that with the surviving team making it out only to have them all die in the end. Though I'd be interested in an Alien or Predator movie regardless where the title monster won or at least a stalemate.

Though I've had this image of a Predator movie ending kind of like in the Assassins Creed games where one of the protagonists catch up to the bad guy and they just share a moment before the bad guy dies. Though in this case a battered Predator catching up to our hero and only granting the Predator a hollow victory.

[SM]

The rebels won in Rogue One.

[SiL]

There were lots and lots of people alive at the end of Rogue One.

[SuperiorIronman]

The rebels won in Rogue One.

More like the heroes all die like in Rogue One. Like a victory is still had to some extent but the heroes of the movie are killed off at the end like it. Applying that to Alien or Predator where the heroes all die even if the Colonial Marines or OWLF show up or are still alive, in the end the main cast isn't.

[SM]

The rebels purpose was to steal the plans so they could destroy the Death Star.  Mission accomplished.

The Alien equivalent is Alien 3.