Thinking About Aliens (the movie): You have to admire its purrity

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Thinking About Aliens (the movie): You have to admire its purrity

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Sometimes you just want to be enthralled from start to finish, without thinking about the villain's motivations or how the film is a modern day metaphor for foreign policy or trickle down economics or something.

Aliens is a perfectly exquisite meal that one can enjoy over and over without it being diminished in any way. I could probably recite the script to at least half the film and yet I'm never bored of watching it. It's the cinematic equivalent of a pint of beer, you've had countless ones before but the next one is just as good. Yes it's both great food and great beer.

Also the only thing decent from the Directors Cut is the sentry scenes, the rest just screws up the pacing and overexplains stuff.

Durzel fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Mar 3, 2019

# ¿ Mar 3, 2019 05:06

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 15:51

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

etalian posted:

It's one of those games in which i could appreciate things like visual/sound design but never actually finished since playing hide&seek for the nth level got pretty annoying.

Yeah exactly. It really nails the Alien aesthetic, all the visuals and sounds are just perfect, but it's a torturous game to play. I got stuck hiding in a locker for at least 5 minutes once pretty early on, waiting for the Alien to go away, and as soon as I opened the door and moved about 2 inches it reappeared and hosed my poo poo up. Realised quite quickly after that whilst I was loving the nostalgia from the familiar sounds etc I wasn't enjoying myself at all playing it.

It is an excessively long game too, which makes the endless hide and seek premise really grate.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2019 18:19

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

LORD OF BOOTY posted:

hot take: the theatrical cut of Aliens is one of the best movies ever made, but the Special Edition basically turbofucks the movie's pacing and reduces it to mediocrity

like I don't hate Hudson's ultimate badass speech, or the sentry gun scene, but that whole bit with Newt's parents legit fucks up the structure of the movie really badly

Agreed. Theatrical cut + sentries is my perfect Aliens movie. It's super obvious that the long drawn out mining colony intro, the significantly extended scene of Ripley finding out about her daughter, even the ultimate badass speech scene just add nothing to the film. Hell even the long walk around the ship looking at lockers, etc before you see them wake up is unneeded.

Whoever thought the sentry guns scenes didn't add anything though is an idiot. At the very least it establishes that the xenomorphs have some level of intelligence, on top of being loving cool.

LORD OF BOOTY posted:

like, I'm always impressed by how well-thought-out the opening to Aliens is, in the theatrical cut. it does some really cool poo poo with giving/withholding info to make the movie play completely differently based on whether you've seen Alien prior.

if you've seen Alien prior to seeing Aliens, you know Ripley's right, and you know exactly what the marines are getting into. it gives all the stuff where Ripley's trying to tell the Company what happened a real sense of dread; you know that the Marines are going in completely unprepared, and that you're about to witness basically a total loving meat grinder. it makes the driving question of the first act "how bad are these guys gonna get their asses handed to them?"

meanwhile, if you haven't seen Alien prior, all you know is that Ripley went through some serious poo poo. the chestburster is the only direct hint you get as to what, but it's so quick you can't really tell what's happening unless you already know. instead of dread, it gives the first act a sense of mystery; you know that Ripley's not outright lying, but you have no idea if the Marines are actually right that this is "just another bug hunt," or what exactly happened at LV-426.

also, Newt's introduction in the theatrical cut is legit loving awesome; the Marines are poking around trying to figure out what happened, and then they basically just find a random traumatized kid in a vent who somehow managed to survive. and then from there, it's just this bizarre descent into Hell as we figure out that poo poo is hosed.

the Newt bit in the Special Edition directly ruins both of these things, by explicitly showing what happened to the colony way too early, and by showing Newt way too early and revealing too much about her.

You're good people, friend.

Durzel fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Mar 4, 2019

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 11:33

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

I used to think the whole "xenos learn that their blood is corrosive and kill one of their own to escape" in Alien 4 was a cool premise but as time has gone on I've tended to think it's kinda dumb. Almost as dumb as a xeno tongue punching the hot steam button for revenge. Basically Alien 4 is a pile of poo poo from start to finish.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 17:09

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

The Walrus posted:

I scrolled up after making that post and thought you guys were saying the extended Aliens is better than Theatrical and I almost had an aneurysm

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 17:42

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

skasion posted:

The scenes added in the extended version are all good, it�s their effect on the pacing and structure of the movie that is bad

Good in what sense then? Cinematically?

I actually thought the Hadleys Hope scene looked weird, almost like it was done on a smaller budget compared to the rest of the film. It is tonally completely off too with the two guys walking down the corridor vomiting exposition at the camera. The acting in that whole scene from everyone involved is seriously poor. It doesn't ruin the film but it subtracts from it more than in just pacing and structure.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 18:03

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

AvP deathmatch will always be unbeatable simply because playing as Alien you just knew how scared shitless the other guys were, so you would do stuff an AI would never be as adept at doing, like hanging on the ceiling above them for ages as they shone their torchlights around, occasionally hissing to remind them you're near.

I'm also somewhat ashamed to say that I really struggled to play the single player as Marine.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 21:43

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

CelticPredator posted:

It also picks up the sound on your mic if you�re using that. So you can actually call the alien to your location by saying whatever you want or farting

Yeah, I thought that was a cool touch but to be honest you really don't need any more help attracting the Alien to you. It's super realistic but also quite a slog from a gameplay point of view.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2019 14:01

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Applewhite posted:

Aliens was real good and I�m glad they didn�t ruin it by ever making any sequels or prequels whatsoever.

Newt and Ripley lived happily ever after.

What about Hicks eh? What does Hicks do???

Also Alien 3 did something right, and awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9kiI_iiee4

# ¿ Mar 6, 2019 11:41

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Drunken Baker posted:

My little sister and her fiance are 33 and her fiance hasn't seen Aliens or Predator and I don't approve of their upcoming marriage one bit.

You know that scene in A Clockwork Orange? That. For the full running time of both movies.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2019 13:26

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

ClothHat posted:

Look at that dirty rear end loader covered in grease stains and chipped paint. Every time I watch this I have to obsess over the prop design.

Caterpillar (their logo is visible briefly) apparently had companies calling them wanting to place orders for that cargo loader, that's how good the practical effects were.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2019 19:51

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

There used to be an Alien experience thing at an arcade in London back around 2010 where you were dropped in with some people playing as Marines, who get ambushed by Aliens, etc. Naturally it was poo poo your pants terrifying.

A mate of mine took his girlfriend there, they had only been going out for a short time. She apparently screamed the whole time and they broke up afterwards lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-aBs7TB000

# ¿ Mar 11, 2019 12:13

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Blistex posted:

First time I saw Aliens special edition with the sentry gun scene, I instantly felt a lot of the tension disappear. They had just killed a shitload of aliens, and right or not, I thought, "things are going to be easier for them now that they have only a few aliens left to deal with". It's a cool scene, but if you're watching for the first time I can see it being a bit of a tension deflater. Maybe Cameron picked up on that with test audiences? Or maybe I'm an outlier with my opinion.

Ehhh I never got the sense that the Marines felt they had a finite number of Aliens to deal with, or that they were actively trying to deal with them at all, rather just holding a weak position in desperation while their replacement exit ship was being brought down. The film did a very good job (pointedly in fact) of showing how these cocksure badasses were just brought crashing down to Earth instantly and were on the back foot from that point forwards.

I actually thought the sentry gun scene was good because it established the Xenos had some level of problem solving intelligence because they gave up trying to get in via that entrance. Showing that they aren't just mindless killing machines makes the horror and suspense that bit worse. It also contextualises the "how could they cut the power man, they're animals" line. That said, I can see how that line also has resonance if it's left up to the imagination of the audience whether they might have actually cut the power.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 01:29

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Splicer posted:

Tell them why. He told them to ditch their bullets, but not why they needed to ditch their bullets. That resulted in a worst of both worlds situation where they couldn't defend themselves but were still making on-the-spot decisions that could, and did, nuke the whole facility. Leaving their weapons intact but telling them that shots or explosions could blow the whole facility would have been a better call.

He definitely had a rabbit in the headlights moment, and I guess you could say that that's unacceptable for a CO. Apone couldn't hear him anyway so I'm not sure what good telling him the details of why they couldn't fire in there would do, and yes he should've pulled them out sooner. Besides that though I don't know why Gorman gets so much flak.

Not being military minded is freezing up in a battle the way he did enough to condemn someone? As shown they lost Apone immediately, and Hicks said "Marines we are leaving" so he took charge of things anyway. It wasn't like Gorman left them in there for an extended period of time, and he was just as unprepared for the threat and the severity of it as anyone on the ground.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 11:00

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

^^ You're right, but on reflection I think it gives the marines more power/control in the movie than I think is intended. If memory serves that scene went on for long enough for the viewer to be given the impression that there were probably a good 30-50 or so Xenos taken out by the guns.

Shut up Meg posted:

I get the point, but I don't think I agree with it.

The narrative had always been that these were clever and the perfect killing machine. That gets undermined if they take the Russian Army method of attack against the sentry guns.
You've swapped the fear from being hunted by the Terminator to a single scene where you are facing a zombie invasion: both are equally frightening, but what you are frightened of is very different.

It's a cool scene, but I think dropping it for the theatrical was the right move: ideally you would buy a 2 disc set: the first with theatrical and the second with theatrical with only this single scene added.

That's a great point and I'd never really considered it from that angle. As much as I think the scene imbues the xenos with intelligence (giving up before the guns ran out of bullets), it is as you say at the cost of appearing to turn them into zombies, and also showing that the marines could eliminate a much greater number of them than they would suffer in losses themselves.

Durzel fucked around with this message at 12:30 on Mar 18, 2019

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 12:27

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Glenn Quebec posted:

I'd like to say yeah, freezing up and getting your platoon killed is condemnable in a military scenario lmao

Ok, what could he have done given how quickly poo poo went down? Drove in the same way Ripley did? He got cut off so couldn't give them orders anyway.

He definitely has some blame, but he isn't at fault for where the colonists were and the fragility of the structure. That seems to me to be something important enough to know about that ought to have come up in the mission briefing before they had even set down? Shouldn't Burke have chipped in this pretty important info before the mission had even started, or at the very least while the marines were heading in the direction of the heat exchangers when Apone et al were still reachable on comms?

I know, it's a movie, and Gorman needed to be shown to be incompetent (two actual combat drops) but *shrug* he lost control for about a minute while the squad were annihilated, which happened even though some of them used guns anyway, etc. The outcome was assured as soon as they ended up at the colonists location.

EDIT: Just re-watched the scene again, ok he was pretty useless for an extended period of time.

Durzel fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Mar 18, 2019

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 13:25

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

Biehn's magnum opus imo.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 21:23

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

ZogrimAteMyHamster posted:

They shouldn't have had an incapable clown like Gorman, who was in way over his head (and we as the audience figure as much out when he admits the vast majority of his combat drops were simulations), calling the shots while the marines were searching the base. That would have been a good start.

What if Weyland Yutani planted Gorman knowing that he was incompetent and would likely lead to a collapse of order and lots of specimens to bring home?

e;f;b

Durzel fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Mar 19, 2019

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 13:37

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 15:51

Durzel: Nov 15, 2005

sebmojo posted:

I would actually kind of dig an effortpost analysis of what the marines should have done, tactically speaking, if anyone is up for it.

Are you talking in "this would've optimal but would've made for a poo poo movie" terms?

Not in any way militarily experienced but as was previously said they could've just thrown a drone down there as soon as they realised where the colonists were and that they wouldn't be able to use weapons there. I mean poo poo look at the future spatial mapping drones Weyland Yutani had in Prometheus, long before Aliens timeline.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2019 13:40

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Thinking About Aliens (the movie): You have to admire its purrity