My first experience with Alien Trilogy was very fractured. And what I mean by that is that I haven't seen the films in chronological order, and I discovered them years apart.
Fairly often I notice online that the younger generation attributes admiring some of the sci fi classics to nostalgia. Even some directors do it, trying to cover their own inability to create an instant classic or at least a great and admired film. What some claim is that the hardcore fans of some films hold them in such high esteem because of the way they felt when they were young. That the wow factor they had seeing it as kids is psychologically engraved in them, therefore they tend to see the film through their young-selves' eyes. While it sounds plausible and perhaps is true in some instances, I disagree its the only reason for loving a movie, and at least in my case it is completely not true at all.
Ridley Scott's Alien is not nostalgic for me, so my opinion on it isn't tainted by strong childhood first impressions. I haven't seen it as a kid, and in comparison to all the other scifi classics I watched, this one I saw relatively late. By late I mean in my early to mid teens, but by the time I saw 1979's Alien I already seen all the other sci fi milestones years prior.
The Alien Trilogy I saw backwards. The only film from the trilogy that I did see as a kid and that left a lasting impression on me was Alien 3 when it first hit the VHS shelves in 1993. It was all over European magazines ( I grew up in Europe till my late teens) and was prominently featured in VHS rental places. I was way too young to watch it, but my much older siblings had to see it and didn't mind me ( or see me) taking a peak. I still think the film is terrifying, and I was naturally absolutely horrified back then at such young age. Certainly I would never let my children see it. For me it was the scariest thing I've ever seen on a television, and you know, I think even today that its atmosphere of dread and terror is matched only by few other films. Its choir-driven, eerie, nearly Satanic sounding music from Elliot Goldenthal is absolutely phenomenal and is largely responsible for the film's creepiness and horror feel. The music is itself plain scary, and parts of it remind me of the creepiest pieces of 2001's score
Then there's the whole nihilistic vibe. Everything in that film is dirty. We're in an environment which is a maggot and grease covered, leaking, rotting cellar. Nearly every character is a bald, British rapist or murderer and there's death and helplessness all over the film. And the Alien itself? Perhaps others have a different view on it because of a different perspective, but if Alien 3 is your introduction to the monster, it is both terrifying and creepy. Its head resembled a back of a giant, slimy beetle, and you knew if it's in the scene, everyone else in the scene with it will be dead in seconds. It was ferocious and visually panic inducing.
Beginning the series with the third part could be confusing though. For one, the movie doesn't make it clear how one gets infected if you're completely unfamiliar with the mythology, and you don't really know what the facehugger really is. That problem itself creates domino effect of confusion throughout the film, but again, only IF you have a complete zero knowledge on the alien monster and its biology. There's no point in listing or explaining how and what it makes confusing, but in short, after seeing it, I thought the contact with alien or its saliva either results in becoming infected/impregnated or, of course, sudden death,. Sort of like Zombie's bite
Another interesting thing about starting the series with Alien 3 is that you don't know who the people are in the beginning (the sleeping crew of Sulaco), and what are they survivors of. It was like seeing the Marie Celeste ship drifting in haunted, cold space with unconscious survivors of who knows what. For me, that unknown, and that aspect in itself was chilling. At the time I preferred not to know, as it would break the mystery and eerie mystique for me. Even the name of the ship sounded creepy, like something evil in Latin.
Not long after Alien 3 came out, I got my hands on the original Aliens vs Predator Trade Paperback comic book, and I absolutely loved it, and found out all the Alien biology from it. Still, I did not wish to go back and watch the first two films. One reason was that I didn't want to, from my point of view, see a prequel to the story I considered perfectly petrifying as a standalone, and another reason really was that I thought I'd be just too terrified if the first two were as blood chilling as the third one. I chickened out
Flash forward to 1997, when the abomination that would be the 4th film is announced, and knowing I'll be seeing it in theaters out of curiosity (hated and still do, the cheat of bringing Weaver back after Ripley's arc and story had been finished in Alien 3, and the whole idea of forcefully continuing something that has been clearly and neatly wrapped up as a trilogy, even if originally not intended to be one), I decided to watch Alien 3 again to refresh my memory. Once I saw it, I figured hey, well why not just go deeper backwards and see the other ones too. So since I rewatched Alien 3 and it was freshly on my mind, I decided to rent Aliens
My first experiences with Aliens prove that HOW you watch a film makes all the difference in how you're enjoying it. Movies should be watched as intended, on a big screen, uninterrupted, with clear and loud sound. Unfortunately to watch Aliens I only had a short window of time that day, right before a scheduled meeting with friends, and watched it in the middle of the day, with sun glaring on the screen of a small tv, and loud noises of the city and commotion outside coming through the windows in the middle of a summer. I remember being shocked when I saw the credits and saw James Cameron listed as a director. He was my favorite director due to the Terminator films but didn't know/forgot he also directed Aliens. And if you're shocked how someone could not know filmography of his favorite director, in an era pre-internet, and in Europe, all we had were magazines, and while I did read that he directed Aliens, it was many years prior and it slipped my mind for that moment. Stan Winston I was also a huge fan of for Terminator and Jurassic films, so I was thrilled.
However, watching a movie with crappy tinny sound, on a small tv with sun glare, and the voices of traffic, road work, people vacuuming cars and kids playing soccer outside, I only thought of it as a very good action movie, but that was all I thought of it, and haven't really linger on it much then.
Alien, the first film I saw with my friend, and we did both got quiet and grabbed by it, but I remember that the ending credit music seemed jarringly out of place and dated for me at the time. Well, I still think it's very dated, but I don't think it's out of place. The film was scary and left you with a downbeat feeling, but it was a different kind of 'scary' then Alien 3.
Very soon after, I saw the 4th film in theaters, and it ruined the entire series for me so much, and did not fit with the others so much that I just couldn't look at the Alien series again. It was as if someone had thrown a piece of crap into a pool. You get out of the pool. It was the opposite of what the first three films were even while being different from each other (See HERE). It was ludicrous. That was 1997
Then in 2001 Director's Cut of Alien came out and was making press, and I saw the theatrical cut in a video store around the time. Since I was in a mood for some Kubriesque, quiet and slow film, I decided to grab it and watch it that night. Boy, did that film floored me that evening. I became completely immersed in the original Alien. I loved its look, feel, designs. Since I was attending an Art School then, and everyone there had plenty of piercings, dark clothes and worshipped H.R. Giger, I borrowed Giger's Alien book and was seduced by it. I didn't even care to see the other ones again, right there and then for a time being I became an Alien purist.
I was fascinated by the mystery/mystique aspect of it. I remember thinking how great it was not seeing the egg layer, leaving it for imagination, how terrifying it was to think the egg layer could have been dormant somewhere further in that giant cave underneath the Derelict. I would have been crushed if I'd found out about the Eggmorphing scene then. I loved the idea of the alien species being awakened after millions of years on a fossilized ship. The whole Jockey skeleton, which was an impossible creature grown into and over the machinery. It was so unique and Lovecraftian and eerie. And Giger's designs of course, especially the alien. I loved that it was a combination of industrial pipes, mechanical parts and a skeleton, with those Gigerian phallic and vaginesque designs on its abdomen
And then I joined some obscure and small online group of Alien purists and listened to how the sequels are completely unlike it, changed the alien design to insects etc. I was quite shocked short time later, since I haven't rewatched the sequels yet, to find out the first sequel retained the exact same design of the first film (with minor alterations such as fingers etc), and that the makers of the original movie did not hate the second film, just the opposite. Those purists were completely misinformed and plain wrong in nearly every aspect. Soon after reading on the subject I realized what those people read into the first film was never the intention of any of the filmmakers to begin with, and I figured all that propaganda of the 'holier than thou", self -proclaimed fine art specialists.
Many years has passed and the "trilogy" made it into my collection in a DVD form (later, BluRay) and I enjoyed them all (The three films) and the terrific features that came with it, but it wasn't after some years ago that I had such an immersive experience with all three, and enjoyed them like I had never before. And now with a different perspective of being much older, a husband and a father, it was almost like watching them for the first time even though I knew them by memory for years, if that makes sense. I could quote Alien since mid 90s, and I jumped! I jumped when the medical instrument got knocked off when Ripley, Ash and Dallas were looking for the facehugger. That's how fully transported I was by that picture.
The obvious great visuals and designs aside, one of the things that Alien has going for it is making it all real. Very real. The people, their attire, their talk. But also the ship - it keeps rumbling nearly all the time we hear engines at different volume levels, and it (intentionally) sounds like a heartbeat. Everything is rusty, leaking and it's all a "future retro" look. In many movies, even more recent ones, spaceship cockpits are either comic booky or feel like a set. Here, the entire ship is "alive" all the time. Even in quieter places, you hear all those strange, ambient noises (those specific ones were designed by Ben Burtt of Star Wars fame)
The movie also masters the feel of loneliness and isolation. It's slow and "quiet" so to speak. Very slow, and very quiet. The soundtrack itself isn't really a horror soundtrack, some of it is very calm, very soothing but uneasy at the same time. For example, the shot of Nostromo and its massive oil refinery approaching the planetoid shows how actually small Nostromo and its payload is in the vast, dark universe, and the track playing during it underlines the visual - the feeling of vast spaces that are devoid of any life, feeling of being small in a huge universe, of being alone. The film almost makes you feel like there's nobody in the entire universe, it masters that feel.
Alien is also one of only two movies that gave me a nightmare, particularly Lambert's encounter with the Alien. Veronica Cartwright, who I had honor meeting few years back, plays the role of terror and hysteria so good, it makes you panic as well. I remember thinking how it would feel to be in her shoes and suddenly see a giant, gleaming black thing "staring at you in silence". Just like for her, it would have been paralyzing fear. And that's another example of realism. There's so many movies where people act so heroic in the face of unbelievable things, but here the reaction is genuine and how most likely a real human being would react. The catatonic fear
Also, the scene with Dallas in the vents I think is masterfully done and for me it is the scariest scene ever made.
Then week later Aliens...boy, I forgot how incredibly intense and muscle tensing it is, especially after a really long break in viewing. Was surprised my wife loved it as much as she did, since she naturally hates action movies she said the characters were very distinct and the movie was like experiencing an emergency landing. After finally seeing it the right way, on a large screen with a great sound and focused, it was like what Roger Ebert described - it was so intense my gut was hurting and I was literally exhausted after it was finished. Actually, my wife described it better, likening the experience of watching Aliens to an emergency landing on a plane, which is in my opinion, spot on!
The tension in that film is built to unbearable level, and then when you think it's dialed to the 10, the intensity and tension gauge still goes up.
The idea of the motion tracker, and one that gives out a more intense and faster beeping when something approaches is one of the most masterful elements of this film. It's a fantastic device used brilliantly throughout the film, even in the first part of the film which is this huge, very long buildup. The film is a pit of water that at some point comes to a boiling point, but it takes its time.
The first time I saw the Sentry Guns scene, that nearly gave me a heart attack. I can't really say how long I stopped breathing for during that whole sequence. And that was some time after I had already seen the theatrical cut. And at some point I was watching the film with someone who has a heart condition, and she actually asked to pause for one minute after the facehugger med lab scene. She said she couldn't stand the tension that's elevated to insane level and have to calm down
Ever since my second viewing of the film years prior, I was always wowed by the Expressionist imagery of Aliens - the cold blue light, the extremely contrasting lighting, with lots of silhouettes and shadows. Aliens is full of hazy, strongly backlit, blue imagery. It's all very dream-like, and goes along with the visuals from the first film. I just love this visual style and that imagery has always been my favorite. It's pure art, and if I have to pick my favorite aspect of the film, it's the imagery.
I remember literally saying out loud "wow" when the camera first revealed the Queen and panned up, even back in the days. Not only the visual design with the backlight is beautiful, but also how real she seems and how well framed and constructed this shot is, again, not to mention the stylistic look. So the imagery I was always blown away by, and still think it's one of the most stunning looking films ever, and this shot is one of the best ones.
It is now my favorite, and even though it isn't a very unique or original opinion, well, the heck with it, just like almost everyone else, I do like Aliens most.
Then week later Alien 3, which had been my favorite by a notch since I first saw it back when it first hit vhs, and the one that got me into all this. I gotta say though, that after reviewing the three, My wife didn't like Alien 3 at all and was shocked when I told her its my favorite. She said Ripley feels like a different character and it doesn't grab you in any way like the first two did, that it somehow didn't connect with the viewer
And ironically, as an older folk, I see Alien 3 for what it is - it's story is very flawed and has a few shortcomings, but I still think the music and the mood of it is fantastic and eerie like only few other films. For me, Alien 3 is a product of its time in a unique way - it reflects the music of its time. Alien 3 is grunge. It's a full on grunge "music" with even similar palette to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video, and with Ripley sporting the Sinead O'Connor look. I still love the film, but my favorite of the trilogy it is not. Not anymore
I see it's flaws mostly in two areas. One is in the alien mythology - there's no consistency to what has been established in prior films - in the theatrical cut, one facehugger lays two embryos, the alien that bursts out from the chest is not in larva form, the alien does not have any MO, it kills everything instead of gathering hosts for the incoming queen etc. The other area is the typical Hollywood coincidentalism - it just so happens that the EEV falls in such way that its Ripley that's the only survivor, and while some others are horrifically smashed she doesn't even have a fracture. And it just happens that in the vast universe the EEV is ejected near a colonized planet and falls right to the colony's doorsteps out of the entire planet (there IS an explanation for it in the novelization though). The film also has no buildup at all, as oppose to the other two films, and also it's the first one where the audience is ahead of the characters
Most people criticize it for the lack of characterization or the choice of the characters. I think as far as characterization, the prisoners, or at least those who have a bigger role, are very distinctive and well defined, which is a feat in itself when everyone is bald and wears practically the same thing. As far as the issue of how one can root for brutal criminals, well, you don't have to and you'll still experience tension and fear. While those are indeed horrible people, the movie puts you in their shoes, or at least right next to them, so naturally you'll still be afraid of creeping the corridors with them and hearing sounds almost as much as if you're there
Then of course is the beginning of the film which caused decades lasting outrage. I think it's a valid criticism, however with me coming in with Alien 3 first I have different perspective and I think as horrific as what happens in the beginning is, it does tear your heart out and squeezes your stomach, defining instantly the nihilistic and merciless tone of the film
Some people also say it's a retread of the first film, which I strongly disagree with. The idea of one alien and no weapons around is just about the only thing that Alien and Alien 3 have in common, and in grand scheme of things, a very surface similarity. Aside from the fact that there's one alien, Alien 3 is completely different on every level. The cinematography is different, it abandons the expressionist backlit style of the first one (the second continued the original style too taking it a bit further), the story structure is completely different - again, while in both Alien and Aliens we only know as much as the characters, in Alien 3 we are always ahead of them, for example, we see the alien being born, we know it's there, we know what happened on Sulaco, we know before anyone else that the alien starts its killings, etc etc. Also, in the first two movies, nothing happens for over an hour into the film - both movies are pretty much one very long buildup into a single, multilayered climax. Alien 3 has the more conventional pacing - it starts with a bang and goes from action to no action, action to no action. And plenty more to that.
The single monster killing people in space IS the main, or rather, only focus in the original Alien, it's what the first movie is all about. Alien 3 could be without the alien and the movie wouldn't really change much. Ripley crash landing on EEV with the others dead in the crash, contemplating, landing on depressing planet with a lot of other wasted lives, and terminally ill to that. Alien 3 isn't about monster killing people, it's a depressing character drama
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