Poll: Alien or Aliens?

[LightspeedJack]

Aliens...alot of stupid in that film, though.

Agreed, it has some cheesy dialogue like all Jim Cameron movies but that's part of it's charm I think, I mean who could forget the classic line, "Game over man, game over!!".

I think the main reason Alien 3 get's so much hate (besides the fact that it's not very good) is that it was following Alien and Aliens, that's a tough act to follow and Alien 3 sure was a letdown.

The biggest issue I have with it was the fact that they

Spoiler

killed Hicks and more importantly Newt

right at the beginning. I got so attached to those characters in Aliens it felt like an insult that they just had the film start with them already dead. I did think it had a great ending though (I haven't seen Ressurection yet).

 

[JediMB]

A word of warning, the fourth Alien movie is pretty bad, and the second AvP movie is fucking awful.

I don't understand how people can consider AvP2 to be worse than the first crossover film.

But maybe it's just because of the wish fulfillment. I've always wanted Xenomorphs in an actual human city. Plus, the Predalien Queen was the first bit of proper originality the series has seen since Alien 3.

The predalien queen was completely ridiculous, it made no sense. If you want originality in a series like Alien, do it with the plot and the human characters, don't fuck with an established life cycle. It makes no sense to have an Alien hive spew out some mutated freak every time they make a new movie. And yeah, they might have introduced it in a plausible way, but why the hell did it reproduce through its tongue?

Aside fro this, I also thought the human characters were more interesting in the first one, and even the predators were better. They weren't just robotic killing machines that only lived as long as the plot required as with the second crossover, they were unblooded, inexperienced warriors who were in over their heads almost as badly as the humans.

Besides the completely unknown Space Jockey, we really don't have any clue of how the Xenomorph reproductive cycle reacts to hosts originating from planets other than Earth. A dog's genome, for example, has a great deal of similarities with a human's. For some reason the new type of host made the Queen take on properties of the Face Hugger, which made it more mobile and reduced the necessity of a static nest for reproduction.

As for the characters in the first AvP, I think Legendary Frog summed it up pretty well:
"Lex, the main heroine, and... well, uh, I can't remember the rest... so let's call them Guy Who Gets Killed First, Guy Who Gets Killed Second, Girl Who Gets Killed Third, and So On And So Forth. Oh, and this guy who looks like Bishop." I would say pretty much the same thing about the Predators. There's the one that died first, the one that died second, and the one that got Face Hugged and died at the end. Didn't find the premise of the film very believable either, although the lore (as mentioned in the behind the scenes extras) was interesting.

That's not to say that the cast of AvP2 is entirely interesting, though. There was Not-Ripley and Not-Newt, the guy who got the girl, and the gotten girl who ends up dying without warning. Also, there was Dallas, whom I remember for sharing a name with an Alien character. The interesting thing about AvP2 was the larger development of things. For once it wasn't all about a group being trapped on some remote location in space (or under arctic ice), but about regular human lives going straight to hell. I suppose in a sense it's basically a zombie flick with Xenomorphs in it, but I can live with that.

 

[teebeeohh]

alien
because seeing my mum get totally freaked out when dad let me watch alien with him(he has a thing for scifi where the solution to a problem is not :NUKE EM FROM ORBIT) was truely impressive. Also well done horror>well done action

 

[JediMB]

(I haven't seen Ressurection yet).

It really doesn't have many redeeming qualities. I would sum it up with "humans are stupid, awful and self-destructive creatures."

 

[cormacd12]

RIPLLEEEY!

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I liked the setting of Alien. I liked the plot of aliens.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While both films are good, I personally prefer Aliens. The reasons is mainly for the action (shallow I know) but it also added more depth to the whole Alien universe with the technology and the Queen.

 

[Random berk]

A word of warning, the fourth Alien movie is pretty bad, and the second AvP movie is fucking awful.

I don't understand how people can consider AvP2 to be worse than the first crossover film.

But maybe it's just because of the wish fulfillment. I've always wanted Xenomorphs in an actual human city. Plus, the Predalien Queen was the first bit of proper originality the series has seen since Alien 3.

The predalien queen was completely ridiculous, it made no sense. If you want originality in a series like Alien, do it with the plot and the human characters, don't fuck with an established life cycle. It makes no sense to have an Alien hive spew out some mutated freak every time they make a new movie. And yeah, they might have introduced it in a plausible way, but why the hell did it reproduce through its tongue?

Aside fro this, I also thought the human characters were more interesting in the first one, and even the predators were better. They weren't just robotic killing machines that only lived as long as the plot required as with the second crossover, they were unblooded, inexperienced warriors who were in over their heads almost as badly as the humans.

Besides the completely unknown Space Jockey, we really don't have any clue of how the Xenomorph reproductive cycle reacts to hosts originating from planets other than Earth. A dog's genome, for example, has a great deal of similarities with a human's. For some reason the new type of host made the Queen take on properties of the Face Hugger, which made it more mobile and reduced the necessity of a static nest for reproduction.

As for the characters in the first AvP, I think Legendary Frog summed it up pretty well:
"Lex, the main heroine, and... well, uh, I can't remember the rest... so let's call them Guy Who Gets Killed First, Guy Who Gets Killed Second, Girl Who Gets Killed Third, and So On And So Forth. Oh, and this guy who looks like Bishop." I would say pretty much the same thing about the Predators. There's the one that died first, the one that died second, and the one that got Face Hugged and died at the end. Didn't find the premise of the film very believable either, although the lore (as mentioned in the behind the scenes extras) was interesting.

That's not to say that the cast of AvP2 is entirely interesting, though. There was Not-Ripley and Not-Newt, the guy who got the girl, and the gotten girl who ends up dying without warning. Also, there was Dallas, whom I remember for sharing a name with an Alien character. The interesting thing about AvP2 was the larger development of things. For once it wasn't all about a group being trapped on some remote location in space (or under arctic ice), but about regular human lives going straight to hell. I suppose in a sense it's basically a zombie flick with Xenomorphs in it, but I can live with that.

Of course, the species of the host affects the traits of the alien that hatches from it, but embryos coming from its tongue? Hatching from a predator causes this, how? I'm not buying it.

Yeah, the cast of both films were a bit weak, but I liked the heroine of the first movie, and the Italian guy. Oh, and Weyland. I didn't give a shit if any of the characters from the second one lived or died. As for the predators, its probably hard to build up a personality in a character that can't speak, but I thought their actions compared to what predators usually do revealed something of their nature. The first predator who died was too wrapped up in kiling his prey to keep an eye out for aliens. The second one, who died when an aliens blood burnt the razor net holding it down and released it, showed his inexperience, and he was probably quite stupid in the first place. The third alien cooperating with the main character may have shown his growing fear and desperation, as the situation quickly spiralled out of control. All this is compared to the predator in the next film, who just killed everything he saw until one of them killed him. He showed very little of his personality through his actions.

 

[Caligulove]

Aliens. Has everything you would want, basically being the quintessential action movie. Also, easily the most influential film of the last 30 years- especially when it comes to the gaming industry.

 

[DSK-]

I prefer Aliens to Alien. Although special mention goes to Alien because apparently when my parents went to see it on the big screen, the moment where:

Spoiler

John Hurt's chest gets opened up by an alien

My mum almost wet herself with laughter. The whole audience was pretty disgusted/wierded out by it

 

[HobbyJim]

OOOOOH, that's a toughy. I'm going to have to go with Aliens since I watched it a lot growing up with my pops. excellent flick.

 

[SpireOfFire]

aliens. one of the best movies and best action movies evar.

but alien is still an awesome classic horror movie.

its all a matter of preference, but i go with aliens.

 

[Thaius]

Aliens, for sure, though I also do love Alien.

Some people say that Alien was a masterful work of sci-fi horror whereas Aliens was a generic sci-fi action film, but that view overlooks many things. First of all, very few things about Aliens would be considered generic if Aliens hadn't done them in the first place. Pretty much anything generic about Aliens is generic because Aliens did it first.

Secondly, any good sequel to a scary movie knows it can't do the same scare twice. In the second go-around, the viewer already knows what to expect and they simply will not be scared. It's why Terminator 2 took more of an action route and now stands as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. It's why The Mummy Returns retained the wit and creepiness of the first, but focused more on action and was better off for it (CGI Scorpion-Rock aside). It's why Bioshock 2 didn't scare us as much as the first one did. And it's why Aliens is a masterpiece whereas Alien 3 is a terrible attempt to rip off of the first film. They did the right thing, unquestionably, but making Aliens more action-focused. And besides, it was a dang good action film, with a lot more to it than "shooting aliens go boom!"

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Cuz' Alien 3 starts off by undoing everything that was attained by Aliens, thus pretending like the MUCH BETTER MOVIE didn't happen. Then it proceeds to be boring for about an hour.

Concerning the actual question, I prefer Alien. It just seems more tightly structured and could actually be called a horror movie as opposed to action, which I think fits the franchise more. That said, I still like Aliens.

 

[Liudeius]

They were both horrible.
Aliens are easily killed by guns, they present 0 danger to any humans who aren't either stupid or an insane woman who thinks she is the only thing that stands between them and the annihilation of humans by fuzzy bunnies.
(Although that inconsistency of a flamethrower 1-hitting them then 50 tons of molten lead doing nothing is a bit of a problem, but seniority rules that the earlier movies are more accurate.)

The production value and plot may be ok/rather good, but having a big baddie which is that weak just ruins it for me. Bears are more dangerous than aliens if you approach them with no weapons or as roid-raging space commandos.

 

[babinro]

Alien 3 if all movies were part of the poll simply due to sheer entertainment.

Of the two, I'd give it to the original. Aliens is more entertaining from a re-watching standpoint...but the Alien is the better film.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I'm the only person I know who really dug Alien Resurrection. I thought it was great and hell of a lot more fun than Alien 3. Alien 3 = Lesser Alien , Alien 4 = Lesser Aliens, therefore Alien 4 > Alien 3. I thought Winona Ryder was adorable.

 

[Rattler5150]

I love Aliens, but I think the franchise went WAY downhill after that one, I had this idea for a long time, an alien3 reboot

1. Newt and hicks didnt die they went back to earth
2. a alien ship is found somewhere and aliens are starting to take over the earth

 

[T8B95]

Aliens was okay, but it was moving towards more of a standard alien action flick. We saw way too much of the Xenomorphs, and it made the humans look less like yummy snacks and more of a legitamite threat.

Alien on the other hand...pure, terrifying, Nothing is Scarier horror. Ripley feels more like a squishy human woman than a standard Joss Whedon action chick, and the humans are seen to be vulnerable and terrified. My fourth favourite film of all time.

Oh yeah, Ridley Scott > James Cameron.

 

[Worr Monger]

Alien is really good...

But Aliens is just so damn fun & memorable.