I don't like scary movies. You won't find me watching It or Pet Semetary. They're not for me. But I do love science fiction. Cyberpunk, space westerns, distant galaxies populated with horrors we can barely imagine, it's all deep in my heart. So, of course, I'm willing to tolerate being scared for the Alien franchise.
Everyone has things they're scared of, truly scared of. As in, when the lights go out, the worst parts of your mind insert that fear into the darkness waiting for you. The xenomorph is mine. It's the perfect killing machine, ruthless, swarming, able to endure just about anything, even the cold vacuum of space.
At night when I can't sleep, at least part of my time is spent imagining how my wife and I would escape our apartment if xenomorphs broke in. I fully recognize that I have an active imagination. It's why I'm a writer.
And yet, I'll happily watch Alien or the somehow superior sequel Aliens. They're just prime examples of a perfect science fiction story. H.R. Giger's masterfully crafted xenomorphs, facehuggers and alien queen are true forms of horrific art. Ripley was a strong female lead in 1979 when those weren't common in the film industry. The use of models and science fiction effects are marvelous. And the deep space setting where no one can hear you scream truly makes me feel claustrophobic as I watch these movies.
My wife suffered through these films with me. She hates scary things even more than I do. But even she admits they're fantastic movies, and she loves Sigourney Weaver's badass heroine Ripley.
Why am I writing about Alien this week? Because, like Deadpool, Disney has acquired the rights to this franchise with its digestion of Fox. And the mouse likely knows this franchise is set in an infinitely expansive universe, even more so than that of Star Wars. But it also faces the same challenge as Deadpool. The Alien franchise is a hard Rated-R flick for violence, gore, and language.
Making the franchise PG-13 doesn't work well. See: the Alien vs Predator franchise. I was initially excited to watch predators fight xenomorphs, but what we got was watered-down action and a mediocre story. We deserved more. But that accursed PG-13 rating studios love to cozy up to in order to fill more theater seats limited the possibilities of what was a long-awaited franchise, ever since the predator spaceship in Predator 2 featured a xenomorph skull on its trophy wall.
Fortunately, Disney seems to understand that the Alien franchise needs to be R rated. Back in February, CEO Bob Iger confirmed R-rated films were still on the table for 21st Century Fox.
Alien and Aliens are both fantastic movies. They easily go on any list of top science fiction movies up there with Blade Runner and Predator. But the series had some stinkers, too. Alien 3 is a godforsaken mess. The night I rented that from Netflix, I actually got sick. It was probably food poisoning, but I still blame Alien 3. It's a slap in the face to everything great Aliens provided.
Alien: Resurrection is just kind of a silly joke. It's OK. I don't hate it, but only because I watch it for its B-movie-quality story and action. I mean ... we have swimming xenomorphs. It's just silly. The AvP franchise was milquetoast. Great concept. Horrible implementation.
That brings us up to the most recent entries in the franchise, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Fans seem torn on these movies. Ridley Scott was at the helm of both, but he's made some stinkers. For every Gladiator and The Martian, we get a Robin Hood and Exodus: Gods and Kings.
Fans generally seemed OK with Prometheus. They were open to expanding the Alien story and figuring out who originally made the horrific creatures that we all came to fear. It introduced some really cool stuff like the Engineers who created humans and the building blocks for xenomorphs. But it also left a lot of questions unanswered. Ridley Scott said he planned to answer those questions in a series of movies leading up to where the original Alien picks up.
And I'll say I was along for the ride. These movies gave us Michael Fassbender as the malevolent android David. He is every bit in line with Ian Holm's characters, Ash and Bishop. Both Noomi Rapace's and Katherine Waterston's characters in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were perfectly badass heroines in line with Ripley. And the worlds Ridley Scott created for the prequels mystified me to no end. I really wanted to walk through the screen and just explore.
So I'm in a lonely camp. I truly enjoyed the direction Prometheus and Alien: Covenant took the story. I think they're both really good Alien stories, even if they're not on par with the original two movies. But they deserve to exist, in my opinion, regardless of how lackluster fans found them. Apparently, people have forgotten just how bad Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection were. Compared to them, these prequels are gifts from film Heaven.
But where does it all go from here? Fox wasn't thrilled with Alien: Covenant's financial performance (even though it did OK). So Disney is reportedly rebooting the franchise, with Scott possibly producing. I'm OK with that. I meant it when I said there are just about endless directions for stories in this universe to go.
When I lived in Portland, I rode the train to work every day. I got lots of reading time in. And I picked up the Alien trilogy book series by Steve Perry. They are magnificent, perfectly translating the world of xenomorphs from the silver screen to the page. I urge every fan to pick up Aliens: Earth Hive, Aliens: Nightmare Asylum and Aliens: The Female War. They're older books, dirt cheap. These are all perfect examples of how to continue stories in this terrifying universe.
So whatever Disney chooses to do with the Alien franchise, I hope it stays R rated, horrific, and gets away from CGI and back to using more physical models of xenomorphs like the original movies. Having Ridley Scott on to produce instead of direct seems like a solid choice. Give talented directors too much leeway, and you wind up with a George Lucas. Star Wars is fantastic, but we also ended up with Ewoks and Jar Jar because other creative individuals didn't rein him in enough.
Ask any fan what their favorite Star Wars movie is, and most are bound to say The Empire Strikes Back. Why is it the best? Because for every stupid idea George Lucas had, there was Irvin Kershner in the director's chair to slap his hand. Sort out the good ideas from the bad. I fear for the franchise if Ridley Scott's left to run unchecked.
The last item on my wishlist is for Ripley to have one last hurrah while we still have Sigourney Weaver on this Earth. On the list of greatest movie lines of all time, you will find "Get away from her, you b***h!" from Aliens near the top. I pull up that clip now and again just to watch this amazing heroine step out in the mech, ready to protect adorable Newt and kick butt. I could use more of that in the future if you're reading this, Mr. Iger.
MovieStyle on 08/23/2019