Quote from: Scorpio on Jan 03, 2018, 10:20:57 PM
I have to disagree with that, Ripley going into the hive alone with a pulse rifle/flamethrower is Rambo, not Daniels swinging underneath a spaceship.
I disagree.
The hive scene in ALIENS comes off as plausible compared to the Matrixesque stunts that happen in the crane/barge scene. Even the Powerloader vs. Queen fight (which I used to consider to be the silliest and stupidest scene and concept in any of the original movies) seems grounded in reality compared to the CGI fest in A:C. At least there is a believable progression and story arc leading to Rambo Ripley in the end of ALIENS. The behavior of the characters in A:C once they get on that barge just change completely and all the character development, tension, atmosphere and buildup were thrown out the window. That scene is just horrendous and absolutely stupid and completely unnecessary and superfluous. One could easily cut it and it would actually improve the movie tenfold as we would then just have been dealing with one Xenomorph - the one born from Oram somehow got on board the barge unnoticed and then started wrecking havoc on the Covenant. It would've turned the Xenomorph into a more potent threat for one and not some stupid beast that mistake a crane for some massive jawed creature to throw itself at.
QuoteFlashback scenes are good, because the prequels have a different structure, they explore themes and characters to a greater depth.
Flashback scenes also break the immersion of "realism" and direct the audience's way of thinking. The original movies were straightforward but had a lot of thematic dept, as well layers thanks to magnificent acting (especially ALIEN and A3), without having to write you on the nose about whatever quasi-philosophical conundrum or trope the director and writers had in mind - it was more up to the viewer to care, decide and interpret. The original movies gave you the impression of reality, cold harsh and godless, a void of meaninglessness, nothing even closely resembling to super heroes or demi-gods. The cold echoing darkness of space and the business-as-usual of man kind. The whole Weyland the Super Visionary just gets sillier and sillier every time I watch PROM and A:C, especially in combination with these bald Greek sculpturesque super human Von Daniken creator god giants and David android feeling oddly cartoony and completely out of place despite Fasbender's great acting skills.
Anyways. Flashbacks don't work in Alien movies. Then on the other hands these are prequels and a different series, but if they are aiming to connect with the originals the next entry better not drop any flashbacks.
Despite all of this criticism I kind of like A:C for what it is even though it doesn't feel anything like an Alien movie to me. In fact, the movie is enjoyable all up until the "classic" Xenomorph enters the fray as the creature simply doesn't belong in the movie and the parallel universe presented to us in PROM and A:C.
Quote from: Alionic on Jan 03, 2018, 10:52:07 PM
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Jan 03, 2018, 09:47:09 PM
If I would have edited A:C I would have cut the intro scene with Weyland and David,
Holy shit, no. This is easily one of the best parts of the movie, and it ties into the film's ending really well.
Yes, the intro scene and the ending scene tie up perfectly - i.e. they are self-satisfactory and are just there to serve each other (artistic/storytelling masturbation if you want), but they don't help out the movie when looking at it in the scope I presented in my original post.
