JsARCLIGHT Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 (edited) If I remember correctly, neither Alien, Aliens, nor Predator were quite the continual gorefests you're describing. It had extremely disturbing but very judicious use of imagery... the directors all knew to keep the gore to (what would be considered today) a modest minimum in order not to jade the audience, and then use it in full shocking value in key select scenes. Less is more, and I'm thinking more liberal use of blood and guts in those films would have lead to a quick desentisization and lost most of its effect. It's not the continuity it's the pacing and the content. Not every kill will be a blood spurting death and not every shot will hit... but the "high points", the memorable stuff from the movies is not the "off camera implied" death it is the in your face oh my freaking god did you see that head come apart death. In Alien you have the chestburster, then you have Brett getting his skull munched in and finally you have the gooey mini hive sequence. Then in Aliens you have yet another chestburster, all the gooey people glued into the hive and several other mini maulings topping off with Ash getting ripped in two. Predator is the chief offender of the blood and guts sprayings as almost all of the members of Dutch's team get splattered in nice gooey ways. The green berets are skinned and strung up, the shootout with the guerillas is nice and bloody, the guy with the glasses gets ripped to pieces then dangled from a tree, Jesse the body gets his chest blown into cat food, Carl Weathers gets his darn arm blown off and the bald guy gets his brains blown out. There is more gore in Predator and Alien/Aliens than there has been in almost all the movies released this year. The concept of "what you don't see bothers you more" is only appropriate in certain situations but in order to sell the monster, sell the murder or sell the action you actually do have to see the bad stuff happen. Not showing something and calling it "artful" is a cop out. People need to see the true horror of things to know the true horror. People needed to see Brett get his head torn up and lifed away by the alien to feel real fear for it. I'm not scared when someone gets killed off camera but when you see that Predator knife take off someone's head or that Alien mouth cleave a skull you silently say "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn" to yourself. The trick is that all the "good old" sci fi movies like Predator and Aliens were made in the slam-bang shoot 'em up kill 'em all '80s... back when gratuitous violence, lopped limbs, bloodspray and brains all over the place were common. Since the whole "think of the children" movement everyone has toned down most of the gore and violence in movies themselves without the stepping in of the MPAA and marketed things to kids that would have rather been made for adults as kids are the ones with the disposable incomes going to see these outrageous movies that most adults would never go see. As for Event Horizon the movie is scarry because it is CHEAP. They used sudden loud noises and jump out of nowhere scare tactics to spook the audience rather than actual menace and mood. Anyone can tone down the music then throw in a loud SSHRRREEEEEEE! or KABOINK! to make the audience jump. Those sort of things are cheap amateur tactics. The true measure of a scary movie is if you are still a little spooked when watching it the second time through. If a movie can blend the imagery, story and tension together to give you a lasting spook out then it succeeds in being truly scary. Anyone can make you jump, it takes a master to give you nightmares. Edited August 14, 2004 by JsARCLIGHT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodcat Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 I saw it, enjoyed it. Its not perfect but I had a good time. Its no Alien or Aliens, but its kind of hard to match near perfection anyhow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I saw it, enjoyed it.Its not perfect but I had a good time. Its no Alien or Aliens, but its kind of hard to match near perfection anyhow. Yeah thats how I felt. It sure beats watching Alien 3 or 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucifer Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 (edited) I just got back from watching the movie. It was supposed to be yesterday but let's say 'charley' screwed up everyone's plans.. this is my review tryin' to evade spoilers for those who want to go see it (I'd suggest you do, so u know how the world of sci-fi if going to hell in a hand basket) being a huge Fan of the AVP series i'm quite dissapointed, and I knew i would. The story is too cheezy. the effects are awsome, but the direction, plot and everything else looks like it was done by someone that never read what a sci-fi movie with those 2 bad guys on it is about. First, the story.. It's kinda like an inhert from the original AVP comic, involving the preds farming aliens on our planet and humans getting caught in the middle of it. @ the end, lots of things u fans already know make sence, but the acting sux. Try watching 'el mariachi' and u'll get an idea. the story even gets more cheezier with the usual modern-sci-fi-movie crap where there's no real mistery, fear or anything wich makes a movie unique. u know what is going to happen, there are no fights worth watching (as if there were many.. there was ONE 2minute fight and that was it), and there is no real aliens vs predator thing. nothing. nada. mayor screw-up on the plot. THE EFFECTS are preety cool. from the cloakin' devices on the preds to the aliens themselves. Nice visuals and preety cool cameras. but that's it. the whole movie is dark but no biggie. The aliens were made REALLY cool. better than the ones on Alien: Resurection. The preds... well they were SLOW. very slow. and clumsy. for those who know they are suppose to be SMART hunters, FAST hunters.. u know the drill. predators hunt in packs when taking care of aliens, and THEY ARE PREPARED. these were made like.. say, like the only two smart ones were blasted by Arnold and that cop. the rest of the siblings were slow muthas. SPOILER WARNING......................................... the bottom line.. the movie tried to make an appearance from the original AVP comic, including the "human warrior" created on the middle of the sht, wich happens to be some other girl (no japanese girl..) and the predator, wich on the comic is the 'smart' hunter. lemme tell u he is not THAT smart. in the first 10 mins of the real deal, 2 predators die in STUPID ways, and the last one, our smart warrior, is cocooned by a face hugger. the queen is there, as in the comic, manipulated to lay eggs and comune the place... but here's the problem. hmm only like 10-20 humans in the whole movie, only one survives @ the end, and ull see a sht-load of aliens (at least more than 20... say, 21?) that never actually make the cut, because of the poor implementation of fights. the pred-alien they promised you, lemme tell u: YOU WONT SEE IT. its on the very end coming out of the pred right before the staff roll. there. at least they can say they put it on the mov. You can say the aliens whooped ass in the movie, since the predator trio they sent was a team of UNARMED preds, slow and clumsy and worst of all, they lost almost every fight. aliens ruled (and i'm a pred fan.. how about that) the humans (duh) since we had about 5 armed dudes only. 3 dying FAST and then NO GUNS. just a pred and the chick making weapons out of an alien (yup, you read well) Overall... a 5 out of 10 -horrible directing/acting......1 -very bad plot/too cheezy.....1 -nicely done visuals..............3 ..............................................=5 Go see it. just to get your idea. i personally knew it was going to be a bad move for the series. For a sci-fi movie... you'' be lacking details, the horror feeling and most important, you'll know everything before it happens. Thanks for taking time to read, hope it helps. Any comments, sdf_parker@hotmail.com @ your service. -N-LCFR Edited August 15, 2004 by Lucifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightbat Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 You might want to add a few empty lines and a ***Spoiler-Warning*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucifer Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 sorry dude. fixed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anubis Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 Saw it tonight, and I enjoyed it a lot. It wasn't very smart at times, especially certain characters' decisions. No one really questioned the circumstances like they should have before they went and touched stuff. The drones grew a little too fast to be believable. Plot was predictable. The ride though was cool one the action kicked in. The pyramid's reconfiguring itself every 10 minutes was in interesting touch, made a nice maze-like hunting ground, like a big deathmatch arena. Very well done Aliens, especially the queen in there. The predators did ok, a little slower than usual, but these were 3 rookies on a right of passage really, so one badass in the bunch wasn't really a surprise. The aliens were great though this time. The vison modes on the Preds looked great in this movie. Way, way better than Alien 3 or Ressurection on any account, so I'm thankful for that at least. The little ending bonus before the credits was sweet, and I liked it when the pred gave the chick a alien head shield and tail spear. Overall: Not perfect, but an enjoyable time. "Aliens"'s claim to the throne is in no danger from this film though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hikuro Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I thought originally, the predator with the funky looking face mask was goign to be the big hero.....but was pretty sad that didn't happen....he went out with glory though,kicked the aliens ass to the very end......but the first one to go.....god damn.......that was sad! But atleast it gave an explination of just how the ancient civilizations parished...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noriko Takaya Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 Well, I just saw the movie tonight. My opinion is that it is just your average summer fare action movie. I think it may have done better with a different director and possibly an 'R' rating. Overall, I liked it for better or for worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekkaman Blade Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 A movie based off the Aliens Vs. Predator 2 game would just blow me away. If I see this, I don't think I'll take it seriously, but instead go in with lowered expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundown Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 It's not the continuity it's the pacing and the content. Not every kill will be a blood spurting death and not every shot will hit... but the "high points", the memorable stuff from the movies is not the "off camera implied" death it is the in your face oh my freaking god did you see that head come apart death. I think we're pretty much saying the same thing. I just wouldn't put Alien or Aliens in the gorefest category, not by a long shot. The memorable scenes pulled no visual punches... but what added to their effectiveness was their careful use-- quick cuts here and there, tastefully placed. The movies showed stuff that disturbed more than anything else you've ever seen, and those images were so effective that they only needed to be shown for a few seconds to stay with you for years. A real Aliens or Predator movie done justice at least requires a few of these key scenes. I guess I didn't consider the gooey hive scenes by themselves "gore" per se, and most of them were shot in darkness for effect. But they were definately money. -Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Sci-Fi Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I liked it. I've been a fan of alien and predator from the beginning, movies, comics etc. I thought this movie was pretty good, not perfect but yes alot better than part 3 or 4 of aliens. Some people in this thread assume alot, and set themsleves up for missing an entertaining movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadzone Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but I was trying to find critic reviews on this movie on yahoo however there was no letter grade given. Also, there were only three reviews written which I thought was kind of strange. Apparently, AVP did not have a wide spread critics screening and it seems like the studios were trying to avoid the guaranteed thrashing this movie would have gotten if critics did see it. Usually that means that the studio has very little confidence in the quality of the film and is hoping that the hype will bring enough people to watch the opening weekend. Considering all the bombs that were released this summer, I am surprised the studios didn't pull this stunt more often. They should have kept critics from seeing movies like Around the World in Eighty Days. It might have opened a tiny bit better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amped Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 OK, first let me say: I am a hyper-critial beeee-atch of a movie reviewer & a huge fan of the first 2 Alien flix & the 1st Predator movie (2nd one, not so much... but without it, we wouldn't have had the starting point - the Alien trophy head - for the whole AvP mythos, so it deserves credit for that much at least). Also, I would rather pluck out my eyes & place them on a plate than watch the absolute sh*t that was Aliens 3 & 4. Start the f'in film by killin' Hicks & Newt my assssss.... Alien 4 was just plain ol' frenchy filmmaker pappy-crap: all style, no substance. Yes, the director did City of Lost Children.... SO WHAT. As a person who earns my keep as a professional designer I am always offended by filmakers & fans alike who equate interesting production design with a'great' film. No. Visually interesting maybe. But still narrative pappy-crap... Soooo... having said all that... AvP was pretty entertaining. Really. Definitly suffered somewhat from the PG-13 rating, but by no means was it a total (or even partial) crap-fest! That title is reserved for crap-tacular drek like Troll 2... WATCH OUT- SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!! There are definitly things to quibble about, namely: - It is too damn rushed. They tried to fit WAY too much exposition into too limited a time frame. Oddly enough tho, it is slow to get going. I know that seems like a contradiction, but it's true! - Super-sized everything! Jee-zus!!! I thought XTREME everything had finally been fading out as a marketing gimmick. Aparantly the filmakers of AvP were not given that memo. Steriod-enhanced predators... shoulder-mounted plasma howitzers... a T-rex-sized mama queen... way too fast & inconsistent chestburster incubation (sometimes it happens within what appears to be minutes... in other cases at least an hour or more). - OK, somebody mentioned 'Corky the special-Ed Predator'. I agree! WTF?!? Why did they haveta mess with the facial proprtions??? Change for change sake? I'll tell ya why the Preds get wasted so fast! 'cause they appear to be 'tards!!!! - Predator & human sittin' in a tree... Ick, how awkward & weird can you get? OK, if that doesn't prove my standing as a card carrying supa-critical hyper-dork... well I dunno what will! Having lambasted parts of AvP, however... there are notably good parts: - The acting is pretty decent, given the rather flimsy script they had to work with. - SFX were very tight! Nice job on all the technical aspects... good costumes, CGI, etc. It's just soem of the aesthetic choices taht I took issue with, not so much their execution. - C'mon...a Predator chest-burster... how cool is that!!! - Set up for a sequel! (duh) Really, if anything I think AvP was more for fans of the game than of either specific franchise or of the comics. If you had ever played the game, you would've noticed how many scenes seemed to be directly from the game scenarios. Especially every time you saw an Alien lurking overhead or scurrying down or along a wall! Like I said in a previous post... I hope this does well enough to spawn a BETTER sequel. As it is, this was good popcorn fare. Now bring on the MARINES!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myk Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 Christ. Doesn't anyone research their subject before they make a major motion picture about it anymore? If these goons had just played the AVP games and just went with any impressions received from those games, I'm sure that the movie would have been THAT much better. What were these people thinking? I wonder if any of the crew have even watched the original movies... -As a follow up to my post in the other AVP thread, I am gathering my AVP figures, G-Taste statues and camcorder as you read this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbs357 Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 myk, I'll pay money to see what you put together. I'll just download AvP I guess. =p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F360° Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 does anyone remember how long it takes for a Alien to pop out of someones chest after the victim becomes a host? at least a couple of Hours right? And it takes another couple of hours before the little Alien to become a big one right? I'm asking these questions because they seem to pop out pretty quick and then get's full grown just as fast. Spoilers???!!! There's only 3 Predators, all of them feels kinda chubby/stupid and they don't move as fast. unlikey the first and second Predator movies. They started hunting humans first instead of the suppose Aliens, which is stupid since that was not the reason they came all this way to EARTH for. I mean don't the Girl even care that the predators kill all the Human gards and drill crew on top? Oh while on the subject of the Human GIRL,, she sure don't look and act like what she suppose to be, somekind of "snow exploretation expert". I mean her cell phone's ringer was pretty loud and at a high pitch too. That could cause problems And her safety guilde lines is just a basic field trip one. She's really not that useful on this trip except going down the tunnel. AS for the predator,, why does their claws melt?? their knife and spinners seems to do just fine. Was it a defect? Oh, why was the Queen chain in some metal that's meltable by her own acid? And their shoulder weapons, if they were orginally suppose to use them on the hunt then shouldn't they already be carring them already? If not then why does the lockdown only began after the gun was lifted from their container. it's not like they have to go through Aliens to get these weapons? Overall, this movie is the worse Predator movie for me, But if you consider about ALIENS then it's a ok movie. I mean it did show "Wayland" which was resposiable for the exploration event of the first Alien movie, and takes a roll that funding the trip for the second movie and long with the 3rd one. They also show founder face that looks like the antroid in "ALIENS" and that finger stabing with the pen just to remind you a bit was cool too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbs357 Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 A movie based off the Aliens Vs. Predator 2 game would just blow me away. Oh I've been saying that since I first played the demo of that game all those years ago. That game has NEVER left my harddrive since I bought it. The acting in it was better than most of the movies I've seen lately. Truly a great peice of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gui Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 What were these people thinking? Obviously, simply making money... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fulcy Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 does anyone remember how long it takes for a Alien to pop out of someones chest after the victim becomes a host? at least a couple of Hours right? And it takes another couple of hours before the little Alien to become a big one right?I'm asking these questions because they seem to pop out pretty quick and then get's full grown just as fast. Spoilers???!!! There's only 3 Predators, all of them feels kinda chubby/stupid and they don't move as fast. unlikey the first and second Predator movies. They started hunting humans first instead of the suppose Aliens, which is stupid since that was not the reason they came all this way to EARTH for. I mean don't the Girl even care that the predators kill all the Human gards and drill crew on top? Oh while on the subject of the Human GIRL,, she sure don't look and act like what she suppose to be, somekind of "snow exploretation expert". I mean her cell phone's ringer was pretty loud and at a high pitch too. That could cause problems And her safety guilde lines is just a basic field trip one. She's really not that useful on this trip except going down the tunnel. AS for the predator,, why does their claws melt?? their knife and spinners seems to do just fine. Was it a defect? Oh, why was the Queen chain in some metal that's meltable by her own acid? And their shoulder weapons, if they were orginally suppose to use them on the hunt then shouldn't they already be carring them already? If not then why does the lockdown only began after the gun was lifted from their container. it's not like they have to go through Aliens to get these weapons? Overall, this movie is the worse Predator movie for me, But if you consider about ALIENS then it's a ok movie. I mean it did show "Wayland" which was resposiable for the exploration event of the first Alien movie, and takes a roll that funding the trip for the second movie and long with the 3rd one. They also show founder face that looks like the antroid in "ALIENS" and that finger stabing with the pen just to remind you a bit was cool too. SPOILER ALERT - well, maybe. Let me try and answer some of your questions for you - I read the AVP book, well, because I wanted to see if the movie was going to suck or not. The book was ok, but from what I am hearing, there were some differences. First off, there were 5 predators who came here to go through their 'right of passage' or whatever. They came to earth to prove they were men... The weird thing was, the alien-predator hybrid makes an appearance, of sorts. One of the extra predators that apparently wasn't in the movie, gets impregnated - a few aliens overpower him, and hold him down till he's impregnated. Then Scar and Lex run into him on the way out of the pyramids - before the chest burster comes out, and Scar puts them out of their misery. What I can't get though - there is no reference in the book to Scar being impregnated - he's always fighting, and being one of the main characters, the action never really leaves him - yet they still have the alien-predator hybrid burst out of him in the last scene - kinda queer, I think. I would think that the predator's sense of honor would make him take his own life, so that he doesn't dishonor himself by 'giving birth' to such a monstrosity. What was inferred from the book - you were only allowed to the surface with blade weapons - you had to earn the right to use the laser weapons, and apparently the humans screwed everything up by opening the box they were stored in. The predators killed the people on the surface, as far as I can tell, to limit the number of possible aliens they'd run into - limit the number of hosts, you limit the number of aliens. However - they seem to ignore this fact later on in the book, where the author repeatedly makes references to the alien swarms containing hundreds of aliens - which is impossible, there should be AT MOST 20 or so. The book says nothing about the queen's blood being able to eat through the chains. The only way the queen is freed is by the alien drones chewing and eating her flesh, to weaken the points at which she is restrained. Sigh - I had high hopes for this movie. They really should have gone after the Aliens vs. Predator - the deadliest of the species plot line, instead of trying to tie these two franchises together, and giving explanations and a foundation for what happens in Alien and Aliens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I think we're pretty much saying the same thing. I just wouldn't put Alien or Aliens in the gorefest category, not by a long shot. The memorable scenes pulled no visual punches... but what added to their effectiveness was their careful use-- quick cuts here and there, tastefully placed. The movies showed stuff that disturbed more than anything else you've ever seen, and those images were so effective that they only needed to be shown for a few seconds to stay with you for years. A real Aliens or Predator movie done justice at least requires a few of these key scenes.I guess I didn't consider the gooey hive scenes by themselves "gore" per se, and most of them were shot in darkness for effect. But they were definately money. -Al We are saying pretty much the same things in the end. My original point was that movies like these need the snippits of gore and blood to keep the fear of the monster/killer in the audience and that editing those out in benefit of a younger audience base destroys it's credibility as a monster movie. If everything happens off camera then the aliens and predator could be playing canasta for all we know. The audience has to see the death up close to get a real fear for the monsters. As for the reviews of AVP I have read two in local papers and two online... all four were negative reviews of the movie. From what I have seen they are not giving wide critic screenings for AVP for the same reason Pluto Nash did not get any critical screening, the studio fears critical panning will keep people away from the movie. Word of mouth has become the death bell or mealticket for modern movies and if a flick has a positive "spin" going on then it will stay active at the box office for weeks... but if it has poor word of mouth and a lot of dissappointed people coming out of the theaters then expect it to hit video release in a few short months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 (edited) I saw it, enjoyed it.Its not perfect but I had a good time. Its no Alien or Aliens, but its kind of hard to match near perfection anyhow. Yeah thats how I felt. It sure beats watching Alien 3 or 4. Aliens 3 - the Chrono Cross of the Alien line. Ugh, it still pains me to remember Aliens 3 is the first movie I paid cash-in-hand to see. I so kicked my brother's arse for suggesting that! Edited August 15, 2004 by Wes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anubis Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 AvP2 fopr the PC was so awesome. I hope they continue the plot for a 3rd one like the ending implied. Best Aliens game to date. Another one I liked was the old arcade game with the 4 playable characters. That was pretty fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GobotFool Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 If I remember correctly, neither Alien, Aliens, nor Predator were quite the continual gorefests you're describing. It had extremely disturbing but very judicious use of imagery... the directors all knew to keep the gore to (what would be considered today) a modest minimum in order not to jade the audience, and then use it in full shocking value in key select scenes. Less is more, and I'm thinking more liberal use of blood and guts in those films would have lead to a quick desentisization and lost most of its effect. It's not the continuity it's the pacing and the content. Not every kill will be a blood spurting death and not every shot will hit... but the "high points", the memorable stuff from the movies is not the "off camera implied" death it is the in your face oh my freaking god did you see that head come apart death. In Alien you have the chestburster, then you have Brett getting his skull munched in and finally you have the gooey mini hive sequence. Then in Aliens you have yet another chestburster, all the gooey people glued into the hive and several other mini maulings topping off with Ash getting ripped in two. Predator is the chief offender of the blood and guts sprayings as almost all of the members of Dutch's team get splattered in nice gooey ways. The green berets are skinned and strung up, the shootout with the guerillas is nice and bloody, the guy with the glasses gets ripped to pieces then dangled from a tree, Jesse the body gets his chest blown into cat food, Carl Weathers gets his darn arm blown off and the bald guy gets his brains blown out. There is more gore in Predator and Alien/Aliens than there has been in almost all the movies released this year. The concept of "what you don't see bothers you more" is only appropriate in certain situations but in order to sell the monster, sell the murder or sell the action you actually do have to see the bad stuff happen. Not showing something and calling it "artful" is a cop out. People need to see the true horror of things to know the true horror. People needed to see Brett get his head torn up and lifed away by the alien to feel real fear for it. I'm not scared when someone gets killed off camera but when you see that Predator knife take off someone's head or that Alien mouth cleave a skull you silently say "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn" to yourself. I don't know about the need for visual pay off. The scene where the alien, ummmmm violated that gal with its tail was really disturbing and that all took place off screen. (thank god!) Perhaps its just me but most of the memorable scenes in Alien were not the gore, it was the anticipation for the strike that was worse. Like when Captain Dallas was in the dark tunnel with the little motion sensor beeping. Maybe its the claustraphobic in me that makes that scene so scary. The two mentioned scenes still send shivers up my back and I've watched Aliens more times than I can count. I will partially agree though, a good director will know when to imply violence, and when to show violence. PS. It has been a long time since I have seen either predator movie but I don't remember the predator ever decapitating anyone on screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 Implied violence only goes so far though. In Alien you had to see Kane's chest explode and Brett get his head bit in half in order to have an apreciation for how deadly the Alien is. After you show how grusome the monster or killer is then you can use the off camera deaths and "implied" deaths all you want. The deaths of Dallas, Lambert and Parker can then be all mood as your mind imagines worse deaths than what you saw... but in order for that to take place you need a starting point, some visceral image to shock your subconsious into creating that fear. The "Visual payoff" is needed at first to create the power of the later off camera and implied effects. A killer that is never seen at work cannot have the same appreciation of one that is caught in the act. As for the Predator decapitating people that was something I myself wanted to see. Outside of stabbing Carl Weathers and hoisting him aloft those stupid claws are more or less hood ornaments than actual combat weapons... plus a double blade cannot properly decapitate, the physics of it are just wrong. Most of the killing the Predator did was with his beam cannon rather than his own hands in the first movie but at least you saw the results of those beam cannon hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uxi Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I saw it yesterday and thought it was ok. I don't really see the Predator that the Governator being beat as being super dexterous compared to the "Scar" Predator or 2 his much more easily slain compadres. Especially considering their rookies who had to earn their spurs. I did question the number of alien drones but didn't really mind it. I WOULD have preferred they had this movie with no dialogue. Just 2 hours of carnage. I'm gonna ignore the minor quibbles like the Predator gun being too big, etc because 1) they're not indicative of what trained/experienced/proven Predators would use , 2) No good frame of reference for the comparison, and 3) it strays too close to fan boi territory. I cringe at the thought of Colonial Marines if they're going to be anything like the undisciplined 'tards from the Aliens movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NERV Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I don't know about the need for visual pay off. The scene where the alien, ummmmm violated that gal with its tail was really disturbing and that all took place off screen. (thank god!) what? i dont rmeber that? which movie was it in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 The "violation" happened in the first movie, Alien. It is 100% implied and not shown. Basically you have a paralyzed from fear Lambert standing and screaming her annoying head off as the camera shot shows the alien tower over her from about five to eight feet away. His tail moves (somehow) along the floor and is shown coming up between her legs. But in all honesty I always assumed that was so the tail would grab her from behind and pull her to him so he could bite her head apart like he did Brett... but then again the muffled grunts and breathing of Lambert heard over the ship's intercom seem to indicate otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsu legato Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 (edited) I cringe at the thought of Colonial Marines if they're going to be anything like the undisciplined 'tards from the Aliens movie. Hey, Hicks and Drake were pretty cool. Besides, most of the infantry types I've encountered around here had more in common with Hudson than you'd want to believe, so Cameron might not have been too far off in his depiction. Edited August 15, 2004 by bsu legato Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holytoledo69 Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 I don't know about the need for visual pay off. The scene where the alien, ummmmm violated that gal with its tail was really disturbing and that all took place off screen. (thank god!) what? i dont rmeber that? which movie was it in? perhaps it was a director's cut of one of the alien(s) movies? Anyways I got a couple of questons. (people who havent seen this movie please move on) 1.) Do you guys remember when the very 1st pred got offed by the aliens tail? was it just me or did it seem like the alien was cloaked also? or was it because it touched the predator and was some how affected by its claoking feild? (gosh what a nerdy question) 2.) The Queen fell into the frozen depths, do you think weylands company will some how retrieve it? I think it may be still alive, I mean it was frozen for like a hundred years before it was thawed out to lay eggs. This is a prequel to alien isn't it? so I think this gives them fore-knowledge of the existance of the xenomorph. Thats why the crew and the ore of the nostromo were expendable..they wanted it as a bio weapon.. Speaking of which.. do the androids (of the past films) insides sorta remind you of alien guts? Its possible thats where they got the technology to build these androids... after all the xenomorphs (aliens) are bio-mechanical. Umm.. let me stop now cuz you guys are looking at me funny hehehehe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GobotFool Posted August 15, 2004 Share Posted August 15, 2004 (edited) I don't know about the need for visual pay off. The scene where the alien, ummmmm violated that gal with its tail was really disturbing and that all took place off screen. (thank god!) what? i dont rmeber that? which movie was it in? perhaps it was a director's cut of one of the alien(s) movies? It's in the 1st movie. In all truth it's only implied and is never directly stated. How you choose the read the scene is entirely up to how sick your mind is. however if you want a really good explanation for the under the surface sexuality in aliens look no further than here... http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=108 *warning, if you've never heard this interpretation before it will change how you look at alien face huggers forever* Edited August 15, 2004 by GobotFool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mellow Yellow Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 I don't know about the need for visual pay off. The scene where the alien, ummmmm violated that gal with its tail was really disturbing and that all took place off screen. (thank god!) what? i dont rmeber that? which movie was it in? perhaps it was a director's cut of one of the alien(s) movies? It's in the 1st movie. In all truth it's only implied and is never directly stated. How you choose the read the scene is entirely up to how sick your mind is. however if you want a really good explanation for the under the surface sexuality in aliens look no further than here... http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=108 *warning, if you've never heard this interpretation before it will change how you look at alien face huggers forever* Bwahahaha, that comic is hilarious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UN Spacy Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Well I guess it did pretty good for itself. Movie-goers were easy prey for a double dose of space invaders. The sci-fi smackdown "Alien vs. Predator," featuring the creatures of the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises, debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie with $38.25 million, studio estimates showed Sunday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Any movie can open big in this day and age... the proof of it being a contender is if it stays high at the box office. Pretty much every big budget flick that has come out this summer has fizzled after the first two weeks and my guess is that AVP will do the same. I find it strange that a while back it was one or perhaps two $100+ million epics come a summer but now there are like 10... and most of them are barely breaking even in the box office. I wonder if hollywood will learn it's lesson finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingNor Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 (edited) k, in the original alien movie.. there are some things to remember. giger only worked on the original alien movie. the original alien didn't have a tail. the "tail" was on the front of the costume in the crotch.. soooooooo..... anyway, another thing to remember is that giger never intended for the aliens to have a queen, the way it works is the egg launches the face hugger, which becomes a chest buster, which becomes a adult, which mutilates people (but doesn't kill) and drags them off to make them into eggs. asexual reproduction, no queen. very weird. Edited August 16, 2004 by KingNor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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