I would like to preface everything that gets said later on with: I really like Aliens. That needs to be known. I think it is a fantastic movie, and under no circumstances do I want anyone to think that I don't like it, or that I am saying that I don't think very highly of it.
Whenever I voice this opinion in public everyone jumps on me about how 'it doesn't have to be the same movie as the first one'. I know that, but plot-wise it is very similar to the first one regardless.
I like that the sequel to what is essentially a cabin-in-the-woods movie in space is a war movie. Two thumbs up! I think it's great. Alien is one of my all-time favourite films, and any sort of sequel that was tonally too similar would have to be pretty good not to seem entirely unwatchable.
So, they did a great job following up a fantastic film. Aliens is a great film.
... but it is essentially about arrogant, talking-monkey, bro-dudes in space, and why that is where they are going to die.
Of the four films in the Alien franchise, it is the least reliant on the eponymous aliens for the plot. Their actual being there is important to the plot, but what I am saying is that they could be any aliens. It didn't really matter who turned up or how they got there to bust down on the 158 residents of Hadley's Hope. At no point do they need to be those specific aliens. This film could've just as easily appeared in a different franchise with no real changes to the script. Especially not to the plot.
You also could've shot it as a satire without any changes to the script.
It's still a great film.
It doesn't detract from the franchise. It just doesn't really contribute much of anything in terms of concept. It's just lots of the plot of the first film rewritten to explain how they got their again, and to accommodate the aforementioned bro-dudes.
Those bro-dudes who are in the end mostly responsible for their own demise, because they're too cool for too many of the things that people who aren't fuck-wits might tend to get involved with: quarantine; covering up of exposed skin; following orders; actually paying attention when their situation is being explained to them. Nup! Bro-dudes in space!
Still a great film.
I actually enjoy counting them off as they die. 'Good-bye, fuck-wits 1 through n'.
Hudson's diatribe about what bad-arses they are nearer the beginning gives the impression that the great many of their 'combat drops' probably took places in malls, and that a lot of the hardware he talks about probably only saw action against frenzied late-night shoppers.
These guys were clearly out of their depth.
And then they died for not listening.
And isn't that what the Alien franchise is really all about.
That and black men sacrificing themselves to save white women.
Great film. Great franchise.
Not that I condone any sort of sacrificial activities, let alone those that are racially based. Probably especially those that are racially based. It isn't a good scene to get involved in.
It's bad.
Look, some very questionable decisions were consistently made in the making of these films, and lends credence to the possibility that sections of the first script were perhaps recycled.
Some of these are disputable. It's clear that Parker isn't 'sacrificing himself'' per se, but he essentially secured his own fate in order that Lambert may live just a tiny bit longer. But, It's a trend.
Alien 3 and Prometheus are the worst (EDIT: in their race based sacrifices). They are not subtle.
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