Favourite Alien Movie?

[Tangakkai]

A2 was really damaging, too, due to the imitators when it came to comics. What was a potentious comic series turned out to be boring, dull and derivative. A2 itself was quality, of course, but its popularity caused it to become the standard for the franchise, rather than the much more interesting A1. A1 is waiting three hours for a prawn curry at a top-notch restaurant. A2 is getting McDonald's at midnight having eaten nothing since you got up at 8am. I sure as f**k enjoyed that McDonald's, make no mistake, but the prawn curry was to die for (and lingered longer).

This argument is so far fetched... do you seriously want to blame a movie for it's cheap spin offs? It just goes to proof the unique kind of a movie if everybody wants to recreate that feel.
If you would apply this argument to every film, we might as well simply say that movies like Star Wars, Predator, ... are damaging because of the cheap imitations... yeah right -.-

as for the characterisation of Ripley in A3: What characterisations?! I agree with Valaquen here, she's just a totally different person and Aliens was just for an ass... she could have simply gone into hybersleep in Alien and immediately crash and find herself in the situation of Alien 3 without Aliens ever happening... wouldn't be a bad idea if Aliens was a bad movie... but it wasn't!!! It was a great masterpiece and there was no need to throw away the human identity and kill the supporting characters... well yeah Newt and Hicks would have been redundant on a prison planet full of killers and rapists... I know that! But then just don't set it on this planet, make a different story or simply (for me the best solution) just don't touch the franchise anymore...

The continuity was totally broken after Aliens. Breaking continuity is not a bad thing if you simply go into a totally different direction (e.g. Pred 1 and Pred 2) but to sell it as a continuous story and use the same protagonist but killing everyone around him that gave him personality is senseless and for me irritating.

I don't mean to insult anybody who likes Alien 3 after all it's not a bad movie in it self! But for me it was the beginning of the end and destroyed the franchise...

[MadassAlex]

Thing is, you kinda can blame A2 for its spin-offs since it presented a direction that was so far removed from its predecessor that those imitations could've never been inspired by A1. Like it or not, A2 is essentially a major aspect of the EU material that sucked so hard and the reason AvP has been luckluster except for the games. Not that I factor that into criticism of the film itself, but in terms of its franchise context, yeah, it was damaging thematically. There's absolutely no denying that.

As for Ripley, the loss she had at the beginning of A3 characterised her further than the previous films did. In A1, she was a middle-class, attractive white woman with a daughter (that we didn't know of, mind) and a steady job that apparently payed well enough. In A2, she was working-class, considered psychotic and had unresolved maternal issues. In A3, she had nothing to lose -- and yet still felt the desire to protect others from the Alien. When A3 rolls around, Ripley isn't just protecting herself or trying to put her daemons to rest. She goes out of her way and puts herself in danger to save the rest of humanity, beginning with lowlife scum that chose to do the wrong thing.

That is heroic. She frees herself from material and personal trappings to think of the bigger picture and does it with style. A sort of Messianic figure that sacrifices herself amongst sinners to redeem mankind from the mistakes it makes even as the Queen is ready to emerge.

When Ripley throws herself into the fire at the end of A3, she doesn't need a substitute daughter to justify heroism, she doesn't need an alpha-male to enable her warrior-spirit. She simply is a courageous hero in the most classic sense, except we've seen her development to this point and so it's justified.

[Valaquen]

Three major points:

1. Note that, at this point, Ripley hadn't gotten any in over 50 years. She'd also trusted Clemens with her body beforehand.

Well, she was unconscious, wasn't she?

Besides, imagine not getting any for 50 years. Man.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1075289/No-sex-secret-long-life-says-105-year-old-Clara-Britains-oldest-virgin.html

2. A3 was a character drama with an Alien, essentially. Watching it under that framework makes it a lot more effective. It certainly has its flaws as a monster movie, but of all the films, the characters themselves are the most interesting. Ripley is now a fully-developed character rather than an archetype or an archetype subversion.

It's probably subjectivity on our parts. Alien definitely had the most natural characters, wonderfully portrayed. In A3 I liked Dillon, Golic was mad, and err, Morse was good too. Clemens was wasted and rest were anonymous to me. With Alien and Aliens, I liked everyone, or at least knew their names.

3. Prawn curry is incredible, seriously. I am disappoint, you guys.

Okay, I'll bite, I've never even tasted prawn curry 

I don't mean to insult anybody who likes Alien 3 after all it's not a bad movie in it self! But for me it was the beginning of the end and destroyed the franchise...

I can watch Alien 3, assembly cut, and enjoy it, unlike my friends, but I just think that it could and should have been more. I dunno... an Alien rom-com?  Of the respected movies (Alien, Aliens, Alien3) it's the most inconsistent, to my eyes.

In A3, she had nothing to lose -- and yet still felt the desire to protect others from the Alien. When A3 rolls around, Ripley isn't just protecting herself or trying to put her daemons to rest. She goes out of her way and puts herself in danger to save the rest of humanity, beginning with lowlife scum that chose to do the wrong thing.

That is heroic. She frees herself from material and personal trappings to think of the bigger picture and does it with style. A sort of Messianic figure that sacrifices herself amongst sinners to redeem mankind from the mistakes it makes even as the Queen is ready to emerge.

When Ripley throws herself into the fire at the end of A3, she doesn't need a substitute daughter to justify heroism, she doesn't need an alpha-male to enable her warrior-spirit. She simply is a courageous hero in the most classic sense, except we've seen her development to this point and so it's justified.

There was a point when she discovered she was infected with an Alien, and her response was to kill herself. Understandable, but I got the feeling that she was suckered into helping the prisoners. I don't think she was guaranteed to have her life saved by WY, Bishop II messed that up, "think of what we could learn from it!" Revealed his intentions there. In the end, she had a choice: wait for the Alien to pop out and kill her, let WY remove the Alien and dispose of her, or kill herself and destroy the Xeno. Not really a sacrifice when she had nothing to gain. If WY had legitimately offered her survival, then I could see it as being more and truly heroic. With her development, I think Ripley at the end of Alien would have committed the same act, A3 didn't build that character, it took a step back on her then put her where she started. For me, it was a retread, I can see where some people can appreciate that, it's just that I didn't. Thankfully, with the new Alien movie, there'll be no Ripley.

[MadassAlex]

Thing is, WY probably could've legitimately saved her. 

Once she's free of the Alien inside her, why kill her? No-one will believe her bullshit about an 8-foot-tall space vampire that has acid for blood and is generally unpleasant.

She's also putting herself on the line before she finds out about the Alien, if I remember correctly. Finding it only increased her desperation and the haste with which she decided to act; it didn't actually influence what she did until the very end.

[Valaquen]

Thing is, WY probably could've legitimately saved her. 

Once she's free of the Alien inside her, why kill her? No-one will believe her bullshit about an 8-foot-tall space vampire that has acid for blood and is generally unpleasant.

She's also putting herself on the line before she finds out about the Alien, if I remember correctly. Finding it only increased her desperation and the haste with which she decided to act; it didn't actually influence what she did until the very end.

They could've, but I don't think they would've. Why bother stitching her up and sending her home? They're very black ops regarding the Xeno and she's a liability. Since we don't know what the outcome may have been, I suppose it's moot.

[Glazy]

He won't last long if he repeats that 6/10 for A3 

I declare him an OUTLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!

And there was me thinking I was being generous !!!

[Drago-Morph]

A sort of Messianic figure that sacrifices herself amongst sinners to redeem mankind from the mistakes it makes even as the Queen is ready to emerge.

You make Ripley sound like some sort of female Jesus. Anyway, my order goes as follows.

Alien 3
Alien
Aliens
Alien Resurrection

Now, I would like to say something in defense of Alien 3. Many people seem to think it ruined the ending of Aliens, and that the Aliens ending was a perfect way to end the franchise.

The Alien franchise is about spider crabs that attach to faces, breed by ripping out of someone's chest, is indiscriminate in killing men, women, and children, and whose adult form is an eight foot tall psycho-sexual space monster with a penis for a head.

I want you to say, with a straight face, that a family dynamic going home in what amounts to a happily ever after is a fitting end to a series about what I listed above.

Alien 3 fixed the mistake. It brought us back to the franchise, killing off the happiness moments in and giving us a bittersweet and somewhat cruel end to the franchise.

Alien 3 fixed the mistake of Aliens. It gave us an ending to the Alien franchise, not something that seems to belong in a completely series.

And before I get flamed, I absolutely adored Aliens. It just wasn't a fitting end.

[SM]

You make Ripley sound like some sort of female Jesus.

That was the intention.

They could've, but I don't think they would've. Why bother stitching her up and sending her home?

More first hand knowledge about the creature than anyone, ever.  I doubt they would've sent her home, but they would've kept her alive for as long as it served their needs.

[Basher917]

Alien isa little better than aliens while aliens is alot better than alien 3, but alien 3 is still good, a good trilogy

[DJ Pu$$yface]

Aliens. Abosolutely fantastic, it had me scared.

[StrangeShape]

And before I get flamed, I absolutely adored Aliens. It just wasn't a fitting end.

Which is interesting because Alien and Aliens have identical type of an ending visually and storywise. The story didnt conclude on a positive note - how would it when people are dead and the woman just survived a nightmare - it concluded on semi positive note. The only difference is that this time it had a full resolution to the story, not to an episode. The main character survived. Its like getting burned and being happy that the burns werent life threatening. Its NOT a happy situation. Its a better thing in a horrible situation, not a happy ending. happy ending would be not getting burned or hurt

Both movies end with the same shot. The main character/s survive. Its a bittersweet ending. In Aliens, we get two survivors (who lost their families and everyone they knew btw) and two terribly hurt, barely-survivors, all of whom barely escaped loosing almost everyone else. And wheres the rest of the crew of close to 20? Where are the saved colonists? Where are the marines that happily made it alive? There arent any, because everyone just got wasted by aliens and those who survived are either ripped in half or barely alive and scarred. Only the main-est characters survived safe from a physical standpoint - like in Alien.

[The PredBen]

I've said it many a time but Alien 3 is the best ending to the series. In Aliens it left us wondering a whats going to happen next?

While I approve of that feeling I think the Alien series deserved an ending. If we left off with Aliens we still have Weyalnd and Yutani to deal with.

I think Alien 3 did a wonderful job with the ending. Also I can remember the characters of Alien 3 as well as I do those of Alien and Aliens.

[SM]

Aliens is about Ripley and Newt - their ending is happy one all things considered.  Hicks and Bishop have no arc to speak of and are there to support and (supposedly) work against Ripley.

[The PredBen]

It was a happily ever after ending ( for now ) but it left me wondering " What about Weyland - Yutani?" and Alien 3 was a good ending.

I think many people's gripes with Alien 3 is that it killed off Newt and Hicks and to a lesser degree Bishop. I don't see this as a problem though.

[StrangeShape]

Aliens is about Ripley and Newt - their ending is happy one all things considered.

Same can be said about Ripley in Alien. She survived and got the happily ever after treatment (that is when not considering the trauma she mightve experienced after the event but I think its safe to assume the writers didnt think of that)

It was a happily ever after ending ( for now ) but it left me wondering " What about Weyland - Yutani?" and Alien 3 was a good ending.

I think many people's gripes with Alien 3 is that it killed off Newt and Hicks and to a lesser degree Bishop. I don't see this as a problem though.

Didnt bother me either. It was a great device in the story and their deaths served it very well, even tho I loved the characters. Rest of the movie was based on what happened in the beginning. Ripley basically got life sucked out of her and became almost a zombie. It affected the way she was thinking and acting. But thats a different topic.

Both Aliens and Alien 3 had more than satisfactory endings imo. Both sealed the deal.