Alien Vs. Predator - still surprisingly cool

[Desdichado]

Better than Alien3? Better than the SECOND HALF of Alien3, I'd say. Alien3 starts out really, really well, I think; the autopsy on Newt is horrifying and the realisation of just how bleak Ripley's plight (and how fragile her safety is even from the humans) is really scary and creepy. Right up to where the alien doesn't kill her. At that point, Ripley walks off into the darkness, presumably to commune with her sticky step-sister and the film turns into a great big pile of steaming pooh.

I haven't seen Alien³ since the first time I saw it, back; oh 11 years or so ago, so my memory of the details is a bit hazy. I remember being extremely disappointed, though. Perhaps because of my disappointment with it, my expectations of Alien: Resurrection weren't very high, and conversely, I like it to some extent. It still had some pretty stupid stuff, but then again, so do most movies, unfortunately.

Alien:Resurrection has Wynona Rider in it. There's that spectacularly idiotic shot, craning up from her feet to reveal 67-pound Wynona trying desperately to look resolute and intimidating, and you can't help but laugh. The whole thing is just beyond stupid, for me. It's tedious and without any coolness or sense of fun to it. Or scariness.

No, it's not really scary. More like "tragically hip" at a time when grunge fashion and "quippy angst" were in, which is a little slice of Western culture that we can hopefully leave behind us. Still, and I can't articulate well why (since I haven't seen either in many years) Alien: Ressurection didn't leave me with such a profound sense of disappointment, like its predecesor did.

So yeah, I'd say AVP was the best since Cameron's classic. I'd watch a sequel.

Same here.

 

[barsoomcore]

I can't articulate well why (since I haven't seen either in many years) Alien: Ressurection didn't leave me with such a profound sense of disappointment, like its predecesor did.

Admit it. Wynona with guns gets you hot.

 

[Joker[ZW]]

I haven't seen Alien³ since the first time I saw it, back; oh 11 years or so ago, so my memory of the details is a bit hazy. I remember being extremely disappointed, though.

I was the same way, till I got Alien:quadrilogy and got to see the making of and the director's cut.
Now I like Alien³ better than Alien:resurrection

 

[Kai Lord]

Yep. That was a nice moment.

I can see why they might have cut it (

Spoiler

as it slightly undermines the threat of aliens reaching the surface in the present day

) but it was kind of cool nonetheless.

I must admit I'm pretty surprised that we more or less agree on a film that received such maligned reviews. Usually for these types of movies we're on opposite sides.

I don't even think the PG-13 rating was lacking. I was surprised at the amount of onscreen impaling and chestbursting that ended up in the film. I would have probably assumed it was R if I didn't know the rating going in.

 

[David Howery]

have you seen the extended edition of Aliens, with the deleted scenes added back in?

 

[Viking Bastard]

I've never gotten the Resurrection hate. It's my second favourite. Definately. After Aliens.

It just felt like a natural evolution of the series, for me.

 

[Desdichado]

have you seen the extended edition of Aliens, with the deleted scenes added back in?

Absolutely. I bought it a year ago for my birthday. But those extra scenes were kinda fluffy, really. The Alien extra scenes really added something; the Aliens extra scenes were just nice.

Made the movie really long, though.

I've never gotten the Resurrection hate. It's my second favourite. Definately. After Aliens.

It just felt like a natural evolution of the series, for me.

Same here. I mean, it wasn't great and that hybrid thingy was more stupid than scary. I also thought the characters all had the wrong attitudes for a horror movie; they were trying a bit too hard to be k3wl before k3wl meant anything.

 

[Villano]

Considering the reviews it got, and after seeing the awful Resident Evil: Apocalypse, I was expecting something terrible. I was shocked to see that it wasn't just "okay", but was actually pretty good. I liked it so much, I bought a copy the day after I rented it.

I did have some problems. I watched the extended cut and I didn't really care for the opening. Also, the presence of the town kind of threw me off. After all the build up about how far out of the way the place they were going was, it turns out there's an old town there. :\

The inconsistency of the Aliens' acid blood bothered me. Some Predator weapons melted, others didn't. And what happened to all that blood that was flying around? The heroine should have been burned a dozen times.

Personally, I thought that they should have just set it in the future on a colony world. It wouldn't have affected the story and would have prevented the criticism about the Aliens being on Earth, Lance Hendrickson's characters, etc..

On the plus side, the effects were really great. Watching the Queen on her rampage, I couldn't help thinking about all the crappy CGI I've seen. I'm not just talking about the cheap "giant animals on the loose" movies on Sci-Fi, but big budget films.

Bonus points for having a black woman as the hero in an action film. That hasn't really been done since the '70s. Okay, there was Catwoman, but the less said about that the better.

I've also noticed something about the director. He's capable of some pretty good, unexpected horror moments. I noticed this in RE: Apocalypse (which he wrote). In an otherwise crappy movie, he had a few good moments in which characters die that you don't expect. The problem is that he then adds things like a cop bungee jumping out of a helicopter and Alice running head first down a building.

In AVP, he kept those things to a minimum (saving the sliding Hendrickson with the pick).

Personally, I'm looking forward to Predator VS Jason.

 

[barsoomcore]

I must admit I'm pretty surprised that we more or less agree on a film that received such maligned reviews.

You and me both, brother. We can scrap over the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, if you're feeling nostalgic.

 

[Desdichado]

Bonus points for having a black woman as the hero in an action film. That hasn't really been done since the '70s. Okay, there was Catwoman, but the less said about that the better.

[sigh] Who doesn't miss the era of blaxploitation flicks? The recent Shaft remake was a nice bit o' nostalgia.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Predator VS Jason.

I believe there was a Batman vs. Predator graphic novel. That's actually a halfway decent concept, I believe. Although I don't honestly believe anyone could pull that off as a movie without it suxx0ring major ass.