[Movie] Alien: Romulus

[Ihavewaffles]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...re-alien-films

Can no one hear us scream? Please Ridley, no more Alien films!

Ben Child
Thu 30 May 2019 13.47 BST

Ridley Scott has announced his intention to make a third Alien prequel. When will he and sci-fi’s other great auteurs learn to leave their franchises alone?

If a film-maker sets out on a new project with the best of intentions, is it really fair for fans to criticise them when the result of their endeavours ends up the most rotten of eggs?

Last week in this column, I asked whether, 20 years after the execrable Phantom Menace was first shown in cinemas, it might be time to forgive George Lucas. As recently as 2015, the Star Wars film-maker was still defending himself in public against critics of his second Star Wars trilogy, aghast that he should be subjected to such vilification when all he had ever wanted to do was make films.

“You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticised, and people try to make decisions about what you’re going to do before you do it,” Lucas told Vanity Fair. “And it’s not much fun. You can’t experiment. You have to do it a certain way. I don’t like that, I never did. I started out in experimental films and I want to go back to experimental films.”

It is hard to argue with this auteurist line of reasoning. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were Lucas’s movies – at least until he sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney for $4bn – and, from a certain point of view, he had every right to deliver 400-minutes-plus of self-indulgent space fantasy claptrap provided it cleaved snugly to his own creative vision. Such an argument only breaks down when you actually watch the prequel trilogy, when it becomes obvious that no amount of decent intentions can make up for the folly of Jar Jar Binks, Zebedee-Yoda and Anakin the whingeing teenage Jedi. (It is also worth noting that Lucas has not actually gone back to making interesting experimental films – or indeed any films – since.)

I was reminded of Lucas’s comments when reading Ridley Scott’s recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, to mark 40 years since the release of Alien. Discussing the 33-year gap between that and the release of Prometheus, during which he stayed away from the slasher-in-space saga, the British director revealed he had misgivings about retreading his iconic work, and that he only agreed to return when given permission to divert the series away from its roots.

“You get to the point when you say, ‘OK, it’s dead in the water,’” said Scott. “I said to them, ‘Listen, you can resurrect this, but we have to go back to scratch and go to a prequel, if you like.’ So we go to Prometheus, which was not bad actually.”

It is easy to see why Scott did not want to give us another movie about xenomorphs, preferring instead to explore how the evil space beasts got to LV-426 in the first place (and what kind of horrid race might have engineered them). Unfortunately, the Engineer race whose origins were teased in Prometheus ended up so tediously portentous on a conceptual level that even Scott managed to conveniently forget all about them by the time the sequel, Alien: Covenant, rolled around five years later.

Once again, this is where the argument in favour of directors being given free rein to experiment breaks down. For all that we, Scott’s fans, want him to be able to pursue his original vision, free from the pressure to shoehorn his films into any box, it is very hard to take when those visions finally find their way into cinemas as virtually unwatchable drivel.

The news that Scott hasn’t given up on making a third prequel (despite Covenant’s lukewarm reviews and dreadful box-office receipts) does little to discourage the view that he really should take a deep breath and walk away. Alien is such a great and groundbreaking film that no amount of redundant prequels and sequels will ever reduce its luminous majesty. It will always be there as a never-to-be-improved-upon metaphor for the icy despair and inhuman horror of deep space.

That does not mean Scott should be allowed to keep indulging his increasingly haphazard and madcap attempts to flesh out the story. Down on Earth, the fans are making noise all right, but it turns out their screams still go unheard.

---

http://www.small-screen.co.uk/ridley...venant-disney/

Scott is at his best when he’s restrained. When things aren’t easy. When people tell him no. He’s kind of been given free rein with these prequel movies, and the result is just a bit of a mess.

That said, according to Variety, they are working on the script to the third film in this prequel Alien series

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Unlike the travesty that was the new predator movie I liked the new aliens even if they weren’t great, happy for more.

[Ihavewaffles]

a truly amazing montage of the franchise put together by this guy, no dialogue, just good editing n great sound, makes the prequels look good, like how it all blends together

i know, i know, the kitteh paw intro..


Watching this made my day! The editing is a piece of art, 10/10

He has a few other videos, truly worth a visit. Must be a professional, saw the Watchmen one, this could could sell any movie..

[dirtyjokes]

after Aliens and Alien vs Predator they can pretty much do whatever with the franchise imo and I thought the two recent ones were decent

[PACOX]

Doesn't Disney own Alien now? They should just fire Scott and do their own thing.

[Lanrefni]

I'm still waiting for Judge Dredd vs Aliens,Judge Dredd vs Predator would also be acceptable.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I'm still waiting for Judge Dredd vs Aliens,Judge Dredd vs Predator would also be acceptable.

They’d have to build up dread more the one movie we got isn’t enough for such a match up I think.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

There are two Dredd films.

Well ya but both are there own thing, they really should continue from the newer dread it was such a good movie.

[SinR]

I had forgotten they made Dredd.

Can't be worse than Judge Dredd. can it?

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Covenant was so much worse than Prometheus but both sucked. Stupid writing with idiots as characters that somehow was the best of the best yet.

Didn't we know there was going to be 3 movies?

[PACOX]

I had forgotten they made Dredd.

Can't be worse than Judge Dredd. can it?

The 2nd Dredd is really good though.

[Ophenia]

Covenant was so much worse than Prometheus but both sucked. Stupid writing with idiots as characters that somehow was the best of the best yet.

Didn't we know there was going to be 3 movies?

Yeah the last one is supposed to finish the connection to Alien 1.

But honestly, I'd rather Ridley stops murdering this franchise too. Prometheus and Covenant were acceptable, if they weren't supposed to be "Alien" movies. They're random sci-fi movies, probably good on their own, but they're shitting on the whole franchise.

[BloodyAngel12]

I can recommend the Dark Horse William Gibson's Alien 3 comic which is pretty cool or the Audio drama of the same thing featuring Micheal Biehn and Lance Hernrikson who reprise thier roles as Hicks and Bishop.

[Ihavewaffles]

Is that the one with alternative script that was meant for A3?

- - - Updated - - -

Covenant was so much worse than Prometheus but both sucked. Stupid writing with idiots as characters that somehow was the best of the best yet.

Didn't we know there was going to be 3 movies?

There was meant to be 4, 3 after prometheus.

[BloodyAngel12]

Is that the one with alternative script that was meant for A3?

- - - Updated - - -



There was meant to be 4, 3 after prometheus.

Yeah it was Gibson's unused script, the onlt thing that made it into the film from the script was the prisoner barcodes and the clear plastic coats the doctor wear at the end.

[enigma77]

Revenge of the Sith is the greatest of all the Star Wars movies.

[RCA]

And you see the new Rambo movie preview, Last Blood. These remakes and double dips have no creativity, cant be that hard to create a new plot or angle...


hated the new Prometheus series for perspective...


A3 had a more fluid script but the director and the executives had an argument which created that shorted version (director left or was fired). Some holes and gaps get filled if you watch the full version, but that when the movies lost that edge imo.

[Kallisto]

Yeah the last one is supposed to finish the connection to Alien 1.

But honestly, I'd rather Ridley stops murdering this franchise too. Prometheus and Covenant were acceptable, if they weren't supposed to be "Alien" movies. They're random sci-fi movies, probably good on their own, but they're shitting on the whole franchise.

That's the point. They were not supposed to be Alien movies but their own thing in the same universe. Fan reaction to prometheus for not being Alien enough lead to the studio executives forcing covenant to have the xenomorphs in when Ridley wanted to continue the story of David and the progenitors

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I had forgotten they made Dredd.

Can't be worse than Judge Dredd. can it?

Dredd was amazing the fact it didn’t get picked up for more movies is mind blowing.

[Asphyx22]

Dredd was amazing the fact it didn’t get picked up for more movies is mind blowing.

I actually liked the new Dredd more than the original. I wish it got more sequels.