Alien, etc

Over the last few weeks I’ve rewatched all of the Alien films. I was quite surprised by some of the conclusions that I reached.

Alien (1979) – This has always been my favourite and that opinion hasn’t changed. Didn’t make as strong an impression as it did all those years ago but then it’s important to remember that just about every spaceship interior since then has been modelled on the Nostromo.

Aliens (1986) – I used to really like this, but it hasn’t aged well. Just a bunch of marines running around shooting big guns. And the addition of Newt was a terrible idea (which is why, I hope, she died before the end of the credits of the next film). Still has some good lines in it tho’.

Alien³ (1992) – A whole bunch of British actors playing prisoners and religious nuts. I don’t remember enjoying this when I first saw it, but it holds up surprisingly well. I like that we’re back to just one alien so we regain some of the tension from the first film.

Alien Resurrection (1997) – Another one that I don’t remember liking much when I first saw it. But I really enjoyed it this time round. It was written by Joss Whedon and the crew of the Betty are certainly close relations to the crew of the Firefly. You have to suspend disbelief a little (since when did cloning someone also clone parasites growing inside them) but in general it’s a nice attempt to get back to the shoot-em-up genre of Aliens without going over the top. Oh, but it all goes wrong in the last ten minutes. That human/alien hybrid was just ridiculous.