Hi
long time lurker, first time post..
I've read so much about the film on this site and others and loved the forensic dissection of every tiny drop of the very little information we've been drip fed over the last year or so. But something of my excitement is slowly ebbing away as we talk about human mutation and Jockey suits where now as the film draws closer it really ought to be growing..
And I think I've worked out why it is.
My love of ALIEN (and as like a half life, to a much lesser degree all that followed) is rooted squarely with the alien. But not just its final stage or indeed any part of its cycle but rather IT, and it's surroundings utter alieness. From the biomechanical vessel and pilot, the queesy psycho sexual body horror of the egg and hugger, the carnage of its 'birth' to the vicious singleminded relentlessness of the UTTERLY terrifying final creature (that to this day is still the beast in any of my nightmares). This specific alieness, this vicious horror, is the product of one vision. HR Gigers vision..
He may have not written the script or directed the film but can you imagine the outcome if it weren't for him? Sure Ridley is fantastic and Blade Runner remains my favourite film, but even with his direction, the cast and everyone else involved in the production the film would not still occupy that dark place in our colective conciousness if it weren't for that perfectly realised 'alieness' that Giger rendered in both concept and final physicality.
Now with Prometheus, although it has been said that he is attached to the film in some capacity, there has been very very little spoken about his involvement from Scott, Fox or any other source about what he's actually doing. You might argue that they're holding something back for some reason, but for the life of me I can't think why they would. When Fox spends however many hundreds of millions of pounds on making and marketing a project like this do you not agree that if there is anything and I mean anything that they might utilise to engender interest or excitement that they wouldn't? Why wouldn't they attach Gigers name more prominently to any of their marketing? Leaving aside the esoteric nature of his creations appeal he was after all responsible for the only Academy Award that the film received so on a purely academic level why have we not heard anymore about his involvement? You might also argue that if he was explicitly involved it would point to the inclusion of the xenomorph itself which they are clearly still teasing us with (for the record i don't care whether the actual creature appears in this movie or not I just want more of that biomechanical vision is all) but of course Giger is responsilble for the derelict and the Jockey too, so again, why not?..
I'm left with the sad realisation that he's probably only been involved more in an advisory capacity as a courtesy to his initial involvement. Or simply he's decided himself not to get involved too much because either he felt shafted by Fox after Alien3 or he's just too old to comit so much of his time and energy to a project this big...
So Prometheus, directed by a great director, with a fantastic cast, in the ALIEN universe but WITHOUT much Giger? I'm afraid that I think that I'm going to enjoy it.
But not love it....
