Favourite Alien Movie?

[judge death]

Fun and interesting someone liking resurrection that much, especielly the newborn creature. Although I hate it with passion but that is for what it did, it fit the movie and theme perfectly design wise else, lol baby fever, that was new but it was interesting see the queen have its new way of reproduction. But to me it was handled badly, in my own fanfic it would been better if it was like gediman said, amde her even deadlier: have it birth the enwborn earlier in the movie, and this time it obey the queen but is curious and start eating the cooconed humans in the nest, as Ripley escape which make the queen to react and the newborn give chase after her. Making the scene scarier, ripley not safe and its not a anti climax. Now ripley have a better reason to have call to crash the ship to stop the queen from producing more of these. What happened in the movie just made it anticlimax: ripley dont have to fear the newborn so nothing bad can happen in the end of the movie, kills the scary atmosphere or fear that existed prior. Yeah I find the sexual and reproduction/breeding themes in the alien series as one of the best parts. Also we will then avoid the newborn killing the queen.(why in hell?! are you stupid newborn, poor queen, after eveything and gets killed by her own offspring. *curses* )

Alien 3 I dont have any issue with, I go with what the bluray menu says, the queen laid an emergency egg that she placed onboard the drop ship, Ripleya  civilian have no idea of using military tech and didnt expect this to happen, bishop and hicks are out of service and no help, hence ripley dont have the codes to access sulacos programs and who knows what OS system they use, could be somethign she never has seen before, like try to use a computer program from the 70s with manual codes to change page and only way to know how, is to know it by memory. *looks at my job*

PRometheus is great looking movie but so empty on what happens, its really boring when I rewatched it, it never gets scary and for the most part not much happens, most people die from their own mistakes, not from alien creatures or could had been avoided if they behaved like humans. Not until they wake up the space engineer things start to happen and we have a creature that one can fear, before that its worms in one room and one mutated guy that they stupidly just open and welcomes in....

Covenant is so much better, we have actual threats and creatures in the movie and things happen and its scary, its feels way more like a scifi horror movie and things happen and have a story, and to me as they are colonists: I dont demand them to act as scientists so them making mistakes is fully okay in my book.
Covenant is after Alien 3 the fourth best alien movie easily.

[Cocolyte]

What stupid decisions are these ?

Okay so, there's a slew of really stupid things that the characters in Aliens do. The marines are a bunch of jokers when they should be more with it, Burke is reckless, Lt. Boxes doesn't know what he's doing for half the movie, Drake sneaks ammunition into a dangerous area, the dropship was landed dangerously close to an infested building, Ripley risked the entire human race for a little girl (polarizing-ly out of character), and NOBODY was left on the Sulaco?

How Burke being reckless makes him badly written or stupid ? He's a slimy businessman, he sees an opportunity and acts accordingly

Why do you cal Gorman Lt. Boxe-oooh,I get it. Well,the whole point of the character is that he is f**king inexperienced and it reflects how things have tendency to happen in actual military.

Drake doesn't know that he is in a dangerous area at that point because Gorman gave an order without any explanation and it is established early on that Marines don't like him very much

I thought they landed pretty far away and at this point they don't know colony is overrun with Aliens 'cause military staff thinks Ripley iis just a crazy woman

How Ripley going back for Newt endangers the entire human race exactly ? And you said it yourself, it's part of her character's development, she acts towards Newt as a mother would act towards her daughter and what mother would leave her daughter in a burning house ?

Nobody was left on Sulaco ... Ok I have nothing to counter that one, I guess that's dumb

Well so it's like I say here ⤵

I am aware that most of these things can be explained away from bad writing as they are either thematically relevant or in-character. (Vietnam War parallels for the marines, Lt. Boxes is new and chokes, Burke is selfish, Ripley is having a character arc, etc. etc.) But the thing is when you look at the big picture, you realize that ALMOST EVERYONE was acting stupid. Even if you can explain them all individually, it's still bad writing that goddamn everyone is bein' stupid.

I get they all have individual justifications. And they all individually make sense, but the product as a whole is a movie where everyone is acting like an idiot. Does that make sense? I may be struggling to communicate this point clearly. Apologies.

How Ripley going back for Newt endangers the entire human race exactly ?

It doesn't necessarily. But Ripley BELIEVES it does.

I also find the premise convoluted in itself. Ripley was in cryptosleep for decades and decades but just happened to wake up within a couple months of the Derelict being rediscovered?

Did you not watch a scene where Ripley smashes Burke against a wall ? Colonists found Derelict not by coincidence - they were sent there by Burke

Ah okay I may have missed that part. Apologies. I concede that one.

Why do you cal Gorman Lt. Boxe-oooh,I get it.

I will never stop laughing at the fact that on a planet packed with the deadliest aliens ever seen in media, this man gets taken down by.... boxes. lmfao

[SiL]

Ripley doesn't believe going back will endanger humanity. She knows she's got time to find Newt before impregnation and the whole place is exploding in the next half an hour.

[Cocolyte]

Ripley doesn't believe going back will endanger humanity. She knows she's got time to find Newt before impregnation and the whole place is exploding in the next half an hour.

Admittedly this is a grey area because we can't read Ripley's mind. I got the impression throughout the Ripley Saga though that she would take NO risks when it came to the aliens spreading. None whatsoever. And going into an active nest when there's even a chance that the person you're rescuing could be infested? That just doesn't seem very Ripley to me.

But yes. It is the climax of a character arc, so there is some narrative justification that proves a bit of merit. It's a stupid sexist character arc, but a cohesive character arc nonetheless.

[SiL]

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

[Kradan]

@Cocolyte, I get the point you're trying to make - I just happen to disagree with it completely. I don't get how that "well, individually they are all justified but put together they somehow make everybody look like idiots" logic is supposed to work. But to each their own, I guess. The thing is, you didn't like the movie, end of story and there's nothing I can do to change your mind ... at least for now

[Local Trouble]

Aliens was expertly written to depict a time-honored military tradition known as the "clusterf**k."

I still maintain that, had it not been for that "comedy of errors," the marines would have slaughtered the aliens.

[Cocolyte]

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

All I'm saying is:

Option 1 - Leave the planet behind immediately to nuclear destruction? No risk

Option 2 - Go back in for a survivor? Some risk

It just doesn't seem like Ripley to me to roll those dice even with those odds.

[Kradan]

It's a stupid sexist character arc, but a cohesive character arc nonetheless.

Now what's that even supposed to mean ?

[SiL]

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

All I'm saying is:

Option 1 - Leave the planet behind immediately to nuclear destruction? No risk

Option 2 - Go back in for a survivor? Some risk

It just doesn't seem like Ripley to me to roll those dice even with those odds.

Risk to what?

The only risk is to herself. Newt is doomed if she does nothing. The worst she can do is add herself to the list.

@Cocolyte, I get the point you're trying to make - I just happen to disagree with it completely. I don't get how that "well, individually they are all justified but put together they somehow make everybody look like idiots" logic is supposed to work. But to each their own, I guess.

Alien also operates on everybody being an idiot. Much more explicitly. I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

[Kradan]

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

All I'm saying is:

Option 1 - Leave the planet behind immediately to nuclear destruction? No risk

Option 2 - Go back in for a survivor? Some risk

It just doesn't seem like Ripley to me to roll those dice even with those odds.

Oh yeah, just leave the girl Ripley has been building a relationship with throughout the movie to die in the claws of Aliens, audience will sure love that

[BlueMarsalis79]

"If one of those things gets down here that will be all!" By going to get Newt Ripley risks it spreading and that does indeed happen. "As long as it's alive, sister, you're not gonna save any universe."

Sure it's not satisfying, but Cocolyte's technically correct, the best kind of correct. lol

[Kradan]

Alien also operates on everybody being an idiot. Much more explicitly. I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

Why Kane sticks his face into an alien egg ? Why Dallas and Lambert bring him back on board ? Why don't they make additional scans of Kane's body ? Why Brett goes to look for a cat all by himself ? Why Ripley goes to MUTHUR room all by herself ? Why Parker spends precious fuel on burning a robot ? Why Ripley spends time looking for Jonesy ?

"If one of those things gets down here that will be all!" By going to get Newt Ripley risks it spreading and that does indeed happen. "As long as it's alive, sister, you're not gonna save any universe."

Sure it's not satisfying, but Cocolyte's technically correct, the best kind of correct. lol

Is it that hard to understand how character's arc works ?

And you're bringing Alien 3 as a proof ? You mean, the biggest plothole in the entire franchise ? Lol

[BlueMarsalis79]

I am not using Alien³ as proof but just an extension of the proof that already existed in Aliens itself, that being an Alien getting onboard the Sulaco, the Queen, the spawner. 

I still maintain that, had it not been for that "comedy of errors," the marines would have slaughtered the aliens.

See that does not make them threatening to me though, or the film that exciting upon rewatch either, if any narrative involving the military requires people to mess up over and over again for the Aliens to have a shot?

Give me Aliens versus the military again but this time doing everything right and still taking causalities and then you have my money.

[Cocolyte]

This thread lol

@Cocolyte, I get the point you're trying to make - I just happen to disagree with it completely. I don't get how that "well, individually they are all justified but put together they somehow make everybody look like idiots" logic is supposed to work. But to each their own, I guess. The thing is, you didn't like the movie, end of story and there's nothing I can do to change your mind ... at least for now

You misunderstand. I do like Aliens. I LOVE Lt. Boxes' redemption hero moment and I adore the practical effects. I just don't think it's better than Alien 1 or Alien³. And I don't think it's by any definition a masterpiece. It's more like... slightly above Independence Day or something. I just want its many faults to be acknowledged, because I want moviegoers to be a more critical group.

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

All I'm saying is:

Option 1 - Leave the planet behind immediately to nuclear destruction? No risk

Option 2 - Go back in for a survivor? Some risk

It just doesn't seem like Ripley to me to roll those dice even with those odds.

Risk to what?

The only risk is to herself. Newt is doomed if she does nothing. The worst she can do is add herself to the list.

You have to admit, the Alien Queen wouldn't have gotten on the Sulaco if Ripley hadn't gone back for Newt.
@BlueMarsalis79 quotes it well ⤵

"If one of those things gets down here that will be all!" By going to get Newt Ripley risks it spreading and that does indeed happen. "As long as it's alive, sister, you're not gonna save any universe."

Sure it's not satisfying, but Cocolyte's technically correct, the best kind of correct. lol

@Cocolyte, I get the point you're trying to make - I just happen to disagree with it completely. I don't get how that "well, individually they are all justified but put together they somehow make everybody look like idiots" logic is supposed to work. But to each their own, I guess.

Alien also operates on everybody being an idiot. Much more explicitly. I'm not sure why it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

This is true. But in Alien, It's all in contrast to Ripley not acting like an idiot. And that's the key differentiator. There is no contrast being drawn in Aliens. Everyone is just foolish, reckless, and/or incompetent.

There's no risk. Impregnation took hours in the film's timeline, not the microwave bake Aliens of later movies.

Of she saw Newt with a hugger on her and still took her I'd see the point.

All I'm saying is:

Option 1 - Leave the planet behind immediately to nuclear destruction? No risk

Option 2 - Go back in for a survivor? Some risk

It just doesn't seem like Ripley to me to roll those dice even with those odds.

Oh yeah, just leave the girl Ripley has been building a relationship with throughout the movie to die in the claws of Aliens, audience will sure love that

It's not about what the audience wants. It's about what makes a good story. I actually think it would make a much more potent narrative if Ripley had to make the difficult decision of leaving Newt behind even regardless of her bonding with her. Can you imagine how heartbreaking that would be? Great tragedy.

It's a stupid sexist character arc, but a cohesive character arc nonetheless.

Now what's that even supposed to mean ?

Actually forget I said this part. I don't have the energy atm to write an essay on James Cameron's sexist way of writing women. Just... put a pin in it for now and remind me next time it comes up somewhere.