Originally posted by Coredweller
You only have to consider one factor to realize how much better Alien 3 was. Which film was scarier? Alien: Resurrection or Alien 3? Clearly Alien 3 was scarier because it was an attempt by David Fincher to take the series back to it\'s horror roots and make it more like the first film. There was ONE alien in Alien 3, not swarms of them like in Aliens and Resurrection. It\'s better that way.
I don\'t really see how it\'s better that way. Just different. I really don\'t think there are many people that would say 1 was clearly a better movie than 2 (and vise versa). Having said that, I think the second movie did encompass everything that made the original great, just to a lesser extent and put more emphasis on the suspensful and almost confusing action sequences. The characters were also much more enjoyable, and draws the audience closer into the film (and then alienates them when the characters die). The second movie also had a richer story, IMO (the relationship between Ripley and her daughter/newt - continuing the companies greed and utter disregard for human life, the characters\' confusion, helplessness and reactions to eachother and those in authority, etc.).
The first film was definately more of a classic
horror film, in that it was all about battling the unknown. The crew had no idea what the face-hugger had done to Kane, nor what was happening to him at the table. Their utter bemusement at the creature that popped out of his chest, then discovering more and more about the alien as it developed. What I loved most was never actually seeing the alien clearly (except, IIRC, one shot when they\'re in the ducts, but that was still only the face/arms). It was suspense at it\'s finest. My point starts here, btw: The third film really did not capture this at all. The audience was all fully familiar with the aliens by this stage and any attempts to bring it back to it\'s roots would fail miserably. The alien had almost too much personality and the whole film became almost standard.
What I did really enjoy was the final attempt to lure the alien into the smelting room (or whatever it was). I thought the tunnel chase scene was very enjoyable, and highly original. What made the second so much better than the third was that it
didn\'t try and emulate the original, it just evolved in a very natural and appropriate way. How can one alien going on a killing spree
again (although, in 3 it was mjuch bigger I think..) be consindered
better than Cameron showing how truely powerful the race actually is? By having the completely overwhelm and dissect a group of "very tough hombres" who could handle anything? Also, as I touched on earlier, there were throw-backs to the original film in the second. The scene where Ripley and Newt were attacked by the face-huggers, also as the marines entered the complex, before there were any aliens shown. As the marines were first attacked - the aliens fitting in perfectly with the environment and never getting a clear view. Just because it was on a larger scale does not necessarilly remove the horror element from it.
Dammit, I could go on forever.
IMO, btw.
Oh, and 4 was just crap. Ripped off the 3 previous films horrably, and tried to get too clever and it all just imploded on itself in a great big baconfu
ck.
