Alien3 & Alien Resurrection (1 Viewer)

There will be a few **SPOILERS** throughout.

I have to first say that I love all four of the ALIEN films. They are all unique in their own way, and that is just one of the many great things about this series. I love how each film goes in a new direction.

Now, I know I'm probably in the biggest minority ever here, but my favorite ALIEN film is the underrated ALIEN3. Even in its current form, I think its the best in the series, so of course I would kill to see it in its original form, which I hear the upcoming box set will include. Some people complain about how most of the survivors from the previous film are killed off in the beginning, but I thought it was a great grim beginning to kick off a grim film. Also, while the CGI is sometimes noticeable, I didn't find it to be too bad, and I just really loved this film's premise and characters. The characters in this one are probably my favorite group of characters in the series, and the premise of being stuck on a prison planet with no weapons while having to deal with a murderous creature is simply a great premise, and I thought it was executed very well, regardless of what Fincher himself thinks.

This film is also much more bleak than the others, and to me, that makes it a bit more effective than the others. Take the ending for example. Definately not a happy ending, but it is one that I feel works perfectly, and I think its bleakness is appropriate. As I stated above, I also like how the beginning killed off the other characters, as it is very appropriate for such a grim film, and I think it works very well.

I think this film is easily more than worthy of standing among the others, and I have to say that its probably one of the most underrated movies ever if you ask me.

I also must say that ALIEN RESURRECTION is also unjustly maligned, and I love it just as much as the other films as well. Jeunet takes the plot in a huge new direction with the cloning and conspiracy storyline, and I thought it was very well done, and the film turned out great. Ripley being brought back as not quite herself is quite interesting, and I also loved how they came up with an awesome alien/human hybrid with the Newborn. Very cool idea, and that alien was just awesome. While we're on the topic of groovy ideas, I also thought the dog alien in 3 was very cool as well. I love how these creatures keep changing/adapting from film to film, and it adds great new material to the mythos of the creatures.

While 3 is my favorite, I love all four films almost equally, and this is easily one of my favorite film series to ever be made. I can't wait for that Quadrilogy box set!

Now, I fully expect everyone to come to this thread and bash the hell out of these gems, but I felt like getting my opinion out there. These films are great in my eyes, and I completely disagree with the naysayers. This is one of the few film series with nothing but good films, and a fifth one would be great news to me. Say what you will, but as it stands, these two films are two of the most underrated in all of cinema if you ask me, and regardless of what anyone says, my views will never change.

Didn't we just have an Alien 3 thread a month ago, do we need another one? I think the last one covered everything.

Alien3: Ripley can't be hurt = No tension =

Repeat viewings do make it slightly better.

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Holadem

I agree completely with you, Richard, about ALIEN3. I thought it was full of tension, and I agree about it being moving. As I said, I also liked and cared about several of the other characters, such as Dutton, etc.

I do disagree about ALIEN RESURRECTION though. I don't think it negates 3's ending at all, as Ripley is cloned, and it is just a copy of her with her memory, not really her, and the clone is obviously very different than the real Ripley in both attitude and physical attributes, as remember, her blood is acid like the aliens', etc.
So the real Ripley perished in 3, and the clone is most definitely not the same at all, so I don't think it negates 3's fantastic ending.

I didn't dislike Alien Resurrection, I liked that movie, own the dts laser of it. Alien 3 on the other hand is utter crap and every copy of it should be taken and burned. The ashes should be buried and the land then salted so nothing can ever grow there again. Then there should be a memory ray used on everyone so that they forget that that crap ever took place.
WORSE SEQUEL EVER!(And this is coming from someone who saw the horror that was Batman and Robin)

I didn't say my plan was perfect.
But that isn't really Ripley but a clone of her. I tend to look at AR as a stand alone movie to enjoy on it's own. It doesn't really fit w/ the 1st two excellent films but is enjoyable none the less. Where as the fact that the director himself disowns the crap that is Alien 3 should tell you something,(And before someone chimes in I know why he disowns it... because it's crap. ) I'm still convinced people only like that film because Fincher is considered a great director now.
How can you like a film that destroys everything good that came before it??? I always thought the natural progression in the story should have been:
Alien - 1 alien against the crew.
Aliens- several aliens and a queen against the troops.
Alien 3 SHOULD have dealt with the planet where these creatures came from, let's learn more about them. Have an entire planet of aliens and queens to have to deal with. The point being it should have been bigger than the previous two, not some 1 lame alien against Ripley and a bunch of losers.
Thank God I heard Ridley Scott would like to explore this very idea!!!! Duh what a no brainer. Hopefully they'll just ignore the previous stuff including AR which I like, in favor of a REAL Aliens story.

Love Alien 3, as stated many, many times before. I rank it #2, right behind Ridley Scott's masterpiece.

Alien: Resurrection was a real mixed bag...

Direction: Loved the visuals, though the wider color palette and increased lighting didn't help in the tension department. Jeunet's almost as good with camera movement as Fincher. The grenade shot would've been a classic if the CGI was convincing; in its current form it's a great idea, poorly executed. And do I even need to mention the trap/ladder sequence? That was just plain beautiful.

Characters: Well, there was the lab scene with the previous seven attempts and.....er, moving on.

Effects/Tone: Wouldn't expect those two things to be related, would you? The gore(missing from all previous entries) was very well done, but Jeunet chose to treat it comically. I found it particularly enjoyable, but it doesn't really fit with the film. The aliens and queen were redesigned once again and it didn't help in either case. The new alien was a seriously bad idea. The earlier lab scene was great; it should've been left at that. And was it just me, or could those eggs more obviously be made of leather?

All ups and downs considered, it's an entertaining film, but not a particularly good one, and a really poor entry in the series. From a technical standpoint, the grenade and the baby being sucked out into space aside, it's top notch. Judging it apart from the series I'd give it a three out of five; as a part of the series, a two.

As to it negating Ripley's death, I'm going to agree that it did, but then any sequel would. The end of Alien 3 was pitch perfect, right up to playing Ripley's final message that she recorded at the end of the original(brilliant idea; gets me every time). I disagree with what was done to the alien mythology, but none of that happened in #3 and, after Aliens, it was the best way to end it.

BTW, Justin, there's only one CGI shot in Alien 3.

When it comes down to Alien 3 and Resurrection, I thought Alien3 was brilliant. A different pace and story to an excellent sequel in Aliens. Resurrection IMO should never had seen the light of day.

Scott

I prefer Alien(s), then Alien, then 3, the Resurrection

3 was horrible. I remember reading a quote and I agree with it saying, if Ripley is depressed and wants to die the whole movie, why should we root for her.
That pretty much says it all.

Hell this movie went through like 50 rewrites because no one could decide what to do. I dont think they even had a complete script when filming started.
They could have made just as good a movie with Newt and Hicks and I believe he ws in earlier drafts but somewhere a good story got lost. I could handle the dark ending if there was something good before it.
Like another post said, it took the struggle from Aliens and the Mother/Daughter story arch and flushed it down the toilet.

Four was an improvement but the baby Alien left much to be desired.
I loved Sigorneys portayal of the not so right Ripley but didnt think Winona added much to the movie.
Loved the look of the film though.


We can only hope that the Ridley Scott and James Cameron rumors are true and they finish this franchise off with a bang.

Alien 3 was great; AR was a let-down, IMO.

I absolutely cannot believe that there are actually people out there who BELIEVE that Alien3 is a good film...let alone rank it as their favorite in the series. What are you people, on dope?

IMO, Alien3 is a horrible film, one with zero redeeming qualities. A lame, uninvolving, BORING waste of time. You mention the word grim 3 times in your assessment of this film Justin. I will agree with you here...GRIM it is!

It had such potential, maybe if they'd stuck with the original concept they would have created something as brilliant as the first two....they didn't and it's not...WAY not.

JOn