THE ALIEN FRANCHISE (1979-2004)

When they’re good, they’re great and when they’re bad they’re still good. The Alien francise (in particular the original film) feed a multitude of our fears and tickle our need for horror. Moreover, the aliens themselves are the perfect existentialist bag guys. With their inhuman, unrelenting viciousness they deliver nightmarish doom upon their victims. Besides, they look like big bugs and I hate, HATE bugs. The Alien films redefined what I call the “Pick-off film”. Pick-offs are films whose structure gather a group of relatively flat characters and put them up against an undefeatable and single-minded foe. This foe (Alien, Jason, Freddie, Predator, etc.) is usually supernatural in its/their abilities and is only concerned with consuming the gaggle of unfortunate characters. We sit back and watch as one by one the poor saps are snuffed out as our hero (usually heroine) is finally cornered and fights back. The Alien films didn’t invent this convention, it just perfected it. ALIEN (1979) The first is almost always the best and that’s the case here. A classic of both suspense and science-fiction, this film is a must-see. Ridley Scott genius is in full effect in this dark, haunting scarefest. Scott relies on the interplay of characters to build upon the tension set up by the mysterious creature set loose on a spaceship. With inspired casting (a young Sigourney Weaver in the lead, supported by Ian Holm, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Veronica Cartwright) and a thoughtful script. Scott masterfully built a film for the ages. In true horror tradition, the monster (the alien) is highly symbolic and very sexual. Ninety percent of you just said “huh?” Do you think that the jutting second mouth is just a jutting second mouth? There is a reason why it is implied that Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) is raped at the end of the film? Watch it again, you’ll see. Beyond the sex stuff, the alien also a result of capitalism. I’m a capitalist, so this irks me some but it is true. Who is the real bad guy here? The corporate suits that are giving the orders from back home. The alien is to be saved for the military-industrial complex back on Earth. The intrusion of capitalist greed is the alien in an otherwise tranquil universe…or something like that. Who cares, they built a billion dollar franchise off a metaphor complaining about big business. Ain’t that rich (pun intended.) The film itself is a remarkable feat and is worth seeing at least. ALIENS (1986) “Game over man!” James Cameron’s vision of the alien concept introduced the video game mentality to the franchise. In my opinion, this film announced the video game mentality to Hollywood. Another way of describing this is content-free filmmaking. Forgiving the horrible copies this film spawned (in both the video and film industries,) this is a huge, fun amusement park ride. Cameron had plenty of good ideas and took each one as far as he could. You have big guns and big bugs. What else in life is there? In typical Cameron fashion, most of the film is tinged green and blue and is highly stylized with a sleek yet sterile look. His characters are really caricatures, which is fine because none of them are going to make it out alive anyhow. Finally, Cameron’s female lead is a brooding, tough chick who kicks some serious butt when the chips are down. Cameron loves the woman as man concept and apparently, he’s not the only one. While very violent and certainly anti-capitalism, this film is as I said a big, fun amusement park ride. Give it a whirl and have a blast. ALIEN3 (1992) How do you follow up two hugely successful and influential films directed by two hugely successful and influential directors? You bring in the young blood and hope for the best. This movie is mostly worth the hassle. David Fincher’s (Fight Club, The Game, Panic Room) first big film shows his singular voice but the script written by a cast of a thousand drowns him out. When you’re faced with the enormous task of topping the untoppable (is that a word – hey look, I just made a word!) you can go a million directions. At times, it seems like the script is trying to do just that. Helped by solid performances by Weaver, Charles S. Dutton and Charles Dance, Fincher mixes a good blend of the previous two Alien films. Unfortunately, we’ve had this served to us before. Luckily, with the death of Ripley, this is the last of the series. ALIEN: RESURRECTION (1997) Why let the death of your heroine stop you when they’re a buck to be made? Welcome to Hollywood. This uninspired and ultimately boring bastard child of the first three movies fails on all levels. Don’t bother with this one. It doesn’t make any sense. It really does involve the alien(s) from the previous movies and the script is laughable. AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (2004) I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be about Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson. This was never made hoping to dethrone Godfather II or Citizen Kane. This wasn’t even trying to meet the mark set by any of the films this flick is derivative of. This was made to squeeze a few bucks out of older and superior product for the sake of the video game market. Yeah, criticizing this movie is like whining about the nutritional content of Ding-Dongs. But there’s something to pay attention to here. Content-free filmmaking. There really isn’t any reason this couldn’t have been done better. Again, I know this is AVP. It doesn’t matter. A little effort in story and character would have given this film what it needed - a little story and character. What we have here is an elaborate commercial for your X-Box. There is a cynicism by Hollywood making these video game movies. Movies like Van Helsing, Tomb Raider, Starship Troopers and Resident Evil are a dangerous trend. While they are obviously marketing pieces to support the more important video gaming industry, they bring something to movies that are killing the form. They are wholly without content. Nothing happens. They are like porn for the brain. They flash and scream but give you nothing but a feeling that you’ve had something you haven’t. There isn’t any characterization. In AVP we know next to nothing about any of the characters. They are barely even one-dimensional. They are there simply as props. The furniture has as much importance as the characters do. The only character with anything make him stand out (with the exception of physical traits) is a man who continually speaks of his children in a loving manner. For his effort, he is treated to two separate death scenes – one at the hands of a full-grown alien and a second by the smaller, implanting aliens. You go to films to interact on an emotional level with the characters. If you don’t do this even in the slightest, what is it you’re doing? You can expect this type of thing from a common slasher movie – and everyone acknowledges the inherent damage done by those films. When we accept this kind of thing in large release films the hope for a better film industry is dead. We have to expect more from film – even bad film. Why do I keep harping about content-free movies? I honestly think they are dangerous to people. When you have a couple of films that treat humans as slabs of meat there's no threat to society. The problem is that this cutting the connection between viewer and character is becoming commonplace in wide-release film. When the viewers are not allowed to connect emotionally with the characters the viewers then react impulsively. Perhaps I am off base, but I believe blurring that distinction trains people to become less sympathetic in real life. We learn how to deal with our world through our stories. When our stories (films) teach us to sit back and enjoy the horror, how does that translate to the street? Maybe I make too much out of things. On to looking at the nuts and bolts of the film. AVP doesn’t even give enough of the Aliens and Predators. The film wastes half of its time setting up this elaborate history to explain why the aliens and predators are on Earth. By the time we get to the reason we’re all assembled, the film is darn near over. Apparently, the producers didn’t think in a film entitled AVP: Alien Vs. Predator we might want to see a lot of aliens fighting predators. Besides, I kept thinking of the dancing alien bit from Spaceballs. RELATED REVIEWS: The Best Sci-fi movie list 50 You Gotta See Before You Die Categories: film, movie review, best scifi, alien, aliens, Sigourney Weaver