Another one: 'Alien' prepares to be rebooted (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

My point is that they made Alien already so there's no need to make another haunted house/horror movie in outer space when they've done it right already. If they're going to make a sequel to any movie, usually the only way to do something interesting is to try to something new. I'd rather see them try something new and fail than make the same movie again.

 

[Steve Christou]

Dear Lord what a thread, Alien is about to be rebooted, one poor sod demanding Blade Runner gets remade, another suggesting giving McG directing duties, and now Ron is calling Aliens the campy sequel to Alien! [bites fist] Aliens... arguably the greatest movie sequel of all time which one critic calls "a consumate frightfest, a hi-tech house of horrors that delivers super shocks and nailbiting suspense." Which come to think of it better describes the first film.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Ok - So, I was following this thread but not chiming in...Alien is my 2nd fave movie of all time, just a peep behind Aliens - and I just happened to have rewatched both again (for the 200th + time) this weekend.

No reboot will ever diminish an original. So, if remake/reboot/prequel is in the cards - I say let 'em try.

Second, and most importantly - I wanted to put in my 2 cents on the Aliens comments.

Ron - Love your opinion - has me scratching my head, though. I first watched Aliens when I was 12 and it scared the CRAP out of me - I was tense the whole way through - and even when I rewatch it now, I feel the tension during a number of scenes - moreso now that I almost exclusively watch the Director's Cut.

Aliens is, as Travis says, the very best idea for a sequel. Rather than retreading old ground, it moves from horror to action horror, and with Cameron's script and new characters, became the mold for military/sci-fi ever since. Sure, there are onee-liners - but not in the 'going for laughs' sense, rather they are signature and memorable lines because they are uttered by memorable characters in memorable scenes.

It would have been a mistake to try and match Ridley Scott's tone, tenor and terror - so upping the pace, bringing the strength of the Ripley character to the fore and ramping up the energy, Cameron delivered an exceptional sequel. Acadamy Award nominations for Score and Best Actress aside (and VFX, Editing, Art Direction-Set Decoration, Sound, Sound Editing) - it hasn't aged today and remains, as does the masterpeice of Alien - a great, great film.

I, of course, am just a 'tad' bias given my proclivity for playing this ALOT

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

And to comment on another notion raised in this thread....Just what was so confusing about Blade Runner? Surely the lasting question of Deckard's 'humanity' was a sumptuous question to walk away with - didn't need to be 'explained' - unless there was some other element of that film which was confusing (though I am at a loss to think what?)..

Back to Alien and the reboot....

 

[Ruz-El]

I think I was the one who called Blade Runner confusing. It was just a rambling bit of a mess. What is humanity, blah blah... less talky talky more choppy choppy. I liked the visuals and when there was action it was cool, could of done without the rambling.

It would be neat if in a Alien reboot or whatever they do, they explore the whole "Human/Alien hybrid" thing from Alien Resurrection. that was a cool idea that could use more screen time. Maybe if the Aliens get back to earth!

 

[RobertR]

The problem I have with that is, moviemaking resources are finite. Time/effort/money spent on rehashing something that didn't need rehashing are resources not spent on something, new, fresh, original, creative. It's very sad that there's such a paucity of it in Hollywood.

 

[David Deeb]

I hope they remake everything. I hope they remake the 3 Stooges, the Marx Brothers and reboot Seinfeld, the Andy Griffith Show and Cheers.

I hope they remake, the remakes of the Planet of the Apes, the Pink Panther, the Little Rascals, the Honeymooners. I hope they rewrite the the remakes and recall them so they can rewrite them again and make them better.

I hope they make sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel of people being chased by monsters. Each movie can simply be more chasing. And screaming of course. And more chasing. Finally, when they "kill" it, they can make more movies by telling us in voiceover "the war is coming" so that we can have more remakes of more chasing.

Hallelujah!! It will be a neverending story!!!!! (and let's hope they remake that!).

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I know what your saying - and to an extent don't disagree - but what I look for is the interpretation of a thing. In the hands of the right resources, something dramatically new can come from something we know well. I think back to the recent example of Batman Begins...I recall some groans fearing that it would not make sense when compared to Burton's vision - but Nolan rebirthed it in an utterly intriguing and unexpected way. Admittedly, Nolan was coming in after the dreadful sequals ruined it, but I think that principle of cretive possibility with the right vision, perspective and adaptation can hold true and surprise us. And when a remake does not work - it can easily and quickly be forgotten. The original Planet of the Apes is no worse the wear for the disappointing remake...

 

[JonZ]

I never found Aliens to be scary, even seeing in the theaters as a kid. But it is one of the best action(and scifi) movies ever made.

I dont think Cameron ever meant to make it a "horror film".

A great story, with intelligent, thoughtful dialogue, masterful camera work,pacing,tension,atmosphere, action and FX and best of all - great characters.

 

[Sam Favate]

True enough. But consider that there are people out there dying for a break with brilliant ideas and scripts to sell, and the money spent on the '01 Apes could have funded several of those projects. The only reason we see so many remakes is because studios (and their marketing folks) love brand-name recognition. Very often, the movies bear no resemblance to the original movie or show (Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible) but are generic action movies with a brand name slapped on.

Alien and Aliens are masterpieces of different varieties. Aliens is only as successful as it is artistically because it is different from the first.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I can't argue with that. Studio's seem loathe to take risks on 'new' ideas. And while I see value in exploring reinterpretation, I would very much welcome studios stretching away from the seemingly safe. Warner Bros. I think have been really quite good in this regard.

But, as Hudson puts it best:
"What are we even talking about this for man, let's just bug out and call it even...". However, let's not follow Ripley's follow up suggestion:

"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit...it's the only way to be sure"

 

[RobertR]

The Batman Begins and Planet of the Apes examples prove my point, though. People welcomed Batman Begins precisely because the previous sequels were such junk. But what if they weren't? Then we would have had a series of highly regarded Batman movies PLUS one or more movies about another character (comic book character). That sounds like a much better balance sheet than junk sequels plus a better regarded one. And I'm sure you'd rather have the original Planet of the Apes plus an original, well done idea for a movie rather than what we wound up with.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I never thought aliens action was campy. It had action scenes because the story demanded it, as opposed to films today where they come up with a scene they like and write a story around it. While it wasn't "scary", it definately was a tense movie, especially when Ripley goes to save newt.

 

[JonZ]

Batman is also a 60+ year old character who has gone through many interpretations. Theres also alot to play with - a large canvas with with many characters, psychology and themes in the source material.

Not so sure the same can be said about the likes of Alien, Halloween, Predator.

How many different ways can you watch someone be stalked and killed?

Planet Of The Apes was a huge missed opportunity IMHO.

 

[Ruz-El]

Are there actually brilliant ideas and scripts out there though? Alien was at it's core a bunch of horror cliche's, but set in space. Doesn't mean it's not a good movie though. I have no problem with re-interpretations as long as the result is an entertaining movie.

 

[Tim-H.]

Guess I'm also in the 'Let 'em try' camp. How many John Carpenter movies have been remade? Doesn't diminish the originals one bit.


I can totally see someone pitching Matthew McConaughey as Sheriff Taylor, now with bronzed, glistening abs! With Jim Carrey as the lovable, bumbling Barney Fife, and Zac Efron as Opie (he can play 12, right?).

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Some may find Tony Scott's comments in the link below somewhat reassuring...

Exclusive: Tony Scott Confirms Carl Rinsch is Directing New ALIEN Movie. And it?s a PREQUEL!

 

[Steve Christou]

Alien prequel? Yay! That's more like it, so this will detail the events of where the Nostromo crew were and what they were doing before they strayed close to planetoid LV-426 and picked up the warning signal? I can't wait.

 

[Ron-P]

Very cool, hopefully it's along the lines of Alien, as for suspense and horror.

 

[WillG]

From Variety:

If this is truly the case it gives me some hope