Alien or Predator?

[Reaper117]

All respect to the Alien fans but PREDATOR is the greatest coolest and badest creature to ever hit the big screen

[Derrad]

horny atleast its somting

ok No personality but wen its horny.................. il let the rest up to u people

[DoomRulz]

What?

[SpaceMarines]

If you are referring to the creature, It didn't have any.

Giger? Kane's Son? The Alien? No personality?


Ha.

Yep. We don't see the creature either angry or sad - we just see it one time screaming in pain, alas when Ripley shoots it with the hook thingy.

I think you're getting emotion mixed up with personality.

[The PredBen]

Alien 3 vs. Alien? Is that the thread.

Both worked in different ways. I mean the aliens in Aliens didn't work as well as Mr.Giger's Alien.

[SiL]

Are you kidding me? The Runner had a ton of personality. He wasn't just an animal, or a movie monster; he was twisted. He was sadistic. His bloody smile, the mutilation of corpses, and a lot of other things. It was as if he himself was one of the psychotic criminals that the prison housed.

Watch Alien and A³ back to back. The original Alien is this unpredictable, alien thing, slow and methodical, clearly thinking while it goes about tearing people to pieces. There's a brain in there, ticking over. What it's thinking only God knows, but there's the feel that there's something there, it isn't acting on raw instinct and not everything it does seeks to serve some definitive purpose.

Spike, the dragon, the dog Alien, whatever - Sure, it doesn't kill Ripley, and follows after her and Dillon when Dillon seems to be threatening her, but for most of the movie its behaviour is entirely functional. Hell, that's being kind - all of its behaviour is entirely functional. There are no little behavioural ticks to it at all. 99.9% of its screentime involves showing up just long enough to mutilate someone, and if it isn't doing that, it's just illustrating how it won't kill Ripley.

It's like watching an Alien from Aliens, except without the numbers to make it interesting. It's just ... there. I don't find it interesting to watch. It doesn't chew scenery, it never commands the scene. Even when the original was behind Brett out of focus in the background, your attention was on it.

[Lt. Mike Harrigan]

Ok, granted "Spike" wasn't all that attention grabbing, but the Aliens in Aliens were far worse!

And their numbers didn't make them any more interesting, if anything it made them less of a threat.

[SiL]

but the Aliens in Aliens were far worse!

And? We're talking about Alien³, not Aliens.

But if you noticed, I've been mentioning the Aliens creatures. They're not far worse, they're the same. But at least they have numbers to make them feel threatening and create tension. The sea of dots on the motion tracker was singularly more frightening than anything Alien³ managed in its entire runtime.

[Drago-Morph]

Are you kidding me? The Runner had a ton of personality. He wasn't just an animal, or a movie monster; he was twisted. He was sadistic. His bloody smile, the mutilation of corpses, and a lot of other things. It was as if he himself was one of the psychotic criminals that the prison housed.

Watch Alien and A³ back to back. The original Alien is this unpredictable, alien thing, slow and methodical, clearly thinking while it goes about tearing people to pieces. There's a brain in there, ticking over. What it's thinking only God knows, but there's the feel that there's something there, it isn't acting on raw instinct and not everything it does seeks to serve some definitive purpose.

Spike, the dragon, the dog Alien, whatever - Sure, it doesn't kill Ripley, and follows after her and Dillon when Dillon seems to be threatening her, but for most of the movie its behaviour is entirely functional. Hell, that's being kind - all of its behaviour is entirely functional. There are no little behavioural ticks to it at all. 99.9% of its screentime involves showing up just long enough to mutilate someone, and if it isn't doing that, it's just illustrating how it won't kill Ripley.

It's like watching an Alien from Aliens, except without the numbers to make it interesting. It's just ... there. I don't find it interesting to watch. It doesn't chew scenery, it never commands the scene. Even when the original was behind Brett out of focus in the background, your attention was on it.

No Alien showed that kind of brutality before, or seemed to take such pleasure in its kills. Kane's Son was definitely a more powerful stage presence, but you can't deny that the Dragon had personality; maybe he was a bit cliched, but looking at him as an Alien? He was wild and violent on levels we hadn't seen, again, much like the prisoners. (The prisoner point is irrelevant to my argument but it makes the Runner seem more artsy, so I'll roll with it.)

[SM]

No Alien showed that kind of brutality before

Ripping brains out through the forehead or doing unspeakable (not to mention unfilmable) things to Lambert isn't brutal?

[SiL]

No Alien showed that kind of brutality before,

So?

or seemed to take such pleasure in its kills.

I didn't see anything resembling 'taking pleasure' in its kills, any more than the Alien that tears apart Molly's dad in AvPR did.

but you can't deny that the Dragon had personality;

Can and am.

but looking at him as an Alien?

That's where I fault him.

I watched Alien, then two days later watched A³, and the difference between the two monsters is incredible. One was an engaging movie monster. The other was something I expect to see in a direct to video monster flick. Guess which was which.

He was wild and violent on levels we hadn't seen, again, much like the prisoners.

And to bookend my post, I repeat:

So?

[DoomRulz]

I didn't see anything resembling 'taking pleasure' in its kills, any more than the Alien that tears apart Molly's dad in AvPR did.

It did grin right after it tore Murphy (?) to pieces.

[SM]

Boggs.

And don't come back till you know all their names, noob.

And the grin is subjective.

[DoomRulz]

I can't help it if they were forgettable

[SM]

Oh yes.  I now recall "unnecessary", "tolerable" coupled with "my favourite after Alien".