The Alien games have had somewhat of an iffy legacy.

So we’re trying not to get too excited about Aliens: Colinial Marines.

But then SEGA go and release trailers like this.

The bleeping! The scuttling! The acid! The flamethrowers!

We pretty much wet ourselves.

Before all the talk of Ridley Scott returning to the world of Blade Runner for a sequelprequelrebootremakewhoknows a far greater prospect was already being worked on in deepest, darkest Pinewood as Scott was formulating his return to the cinematic landscape of a film which made his name: his Alienverse movie Prometheus.

Reports from Comic-Con of the screening of footage from the film were almost universally positive and while we’ve  heard rumblings that a trailer is imminent we only have a vague plot synopsis and  a handful of images this far. In some ways I’d prefer it if we could all enter the cinemas in June next year knowing nothing about it at all – and that’s clearly an option open to everyone and we each make our choice, but I have the feeling that this one will be better enjoyed that way. Oh well – having said all that here’s what looks like being the first poster for the film!

Alien Prequel News were sent this by someone who is either a well-placed fan or a talented artist looking to see how far his creation flies around the world, and they are claiming the exclusive look at the first poster. They have been very solid in the past and there’s nothing to say it isn’t the official poster and the tagline (which is ‘The search for our beginning could lead to our end’) smacks of being the perfect marketing tease for the film given the synopsis we’ve seen. I’m hoping this may force Fox to bring forward to release of the poster/trailer combo which is rumoured to be just around the corner.

Here’s the poster, which can be clicked to made clearer, though be warned – it’s not that much clearer…

John Carpenter may well be the master of horror filmmaking, but that’s not to say that someone else can’t tackle his esteemed previous work. In fact, Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr’s 2011 version of The Thing could be argued as a brave career choice, considering the 1982 film’s cult following. Not to be confused as a remake of the first, but a prequel – both based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, whichever way you look at it, van Heijningen Jr’s new film is certain to spark similar debate over its genetics ideas.

Just to confuse matters, this prequel is set in 1982, and sees American paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) recruited by scientists Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) and assistant Adam Finch (Eric Christian Olsen) to join a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across a crashed extraterrestrial spaceship buried beneath the ice of Antarctica. Its passenger, an alien creature frozen in a block of ice, is taken back to their base, Thule Station, where Dr. Halvorson decides to drill into the ice to take a tissue sample, despite Kate’s protests. In turn, this frees the thing from the ice and triggers a frightening chain of events. The mystery parasite suddenly mimics everything it touches, spurning paranoia among Thule’s inhabitants as to who is infected in the struggle to survive.

The 2011 film certainly feels like a remake, down to the room that contains the frozen alien life form and the endless corridors and exits of Thule Station that could signal danger at any moment. However the suicide at the outpost and the fleeing Alaskan Malamute at the end and suggest otherwise, supposedly matching up events to the start of Carpenter’s film. The unforgiving Antarctic setting still brings the required chills and sense of complete isolation, which Carpenter’s film did so well to enhance the characters’ paranoia.

However, what is missing is the terrifying and unnerving feeling of anybody at the outpost being infected by the virus or a clone of themselves, after van Heijningen Jr makes Kate the ‘trusted’ protagonist in his film who is supposedly ‘clean’. In doing so, the paranoia felt this time around is naturally lessened, making it an altogether different film. Hence, it’s more like Kate’s personal witch-hunt to find the next victim/culprit and contain the thing, rather than the complete fear of the unknown and subsequent chaos of Carpenter’s film. As much as Winstead is compelling as the smart and courageous young paleontologist, it could be argued why does a Norwegian scientific team need an inexperienced American graduate to do the job, which is when new plot holes form.

The bemusing original concept of a virus that mimics a person is given some screen-time thought for fans – but it’s still not clear enough. In the first film we know the thing absorbs and imitates cells, but it still doesn’t answer just how a person becomes infected in the first place – short of the obvious one-on-one contact where the thing penetrates its victim. Is it airborne too: There seems to be a lack of consistency, considering who gets sick and who doesn’t. In van Heijningen Jr’s defence, he does flag the issue of how the inorganic material can’t be replicated, but how does this explain the clones being fully dressed or fully functional as the people they imitate? Is it a lazy way out to say, “Well, that’s the mystery of sci-fi”?

This film favours a mixture of CGI and old-fashioned effects to recreate the thing that don’t always marry in parts and seem a little effects-heavy in others. However, the design of the tentacled biomass with its ‘vaginal denata’, morphing into all kinds of body shapes is still fascinating to witness, if less scary than the original after exposure to many Alien-styled films. There are also obvious, strong references to the latter, even down to shots of Winstead peering around a corner – strikingly similar to Sigourney Weaver as Ripley.

Indeed, we get a look at the vast expanse of the buried alien spacecraft in this film that mirrors many other sci-fi films in design, and short of being the place where a brief battle takes, and to possibly trigger post-viewing debate about how the frozen alien suffered the same fate as the humans, detracts from Carpenter’s authentic claustrophobia and paranoia, plus adds very little to the mystery of the virus. It merely feels like a muse for van Heijningen Jr and writing team to pay homage to their sci-fi legends, rather than adding anything new to this prequel’s narrative to enhance our prior knowledge.

That said, and without necessarily having seen Carpenter’s 1982 version, van Heijningen Jr’s The Thing still works as a perfectly watchable contemporary sci-fi thriller on the surface by creating enough entertaining scares, and with its strong-willed protagonist at the helm trying to stop the bloody body count – even if it loses out on cult-classic status. Considering the success of other recent Scandanaivan horror films like TrollHunter (Trolljegeren), Rare Exports and Let The Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), van Heijningen Jr could have angled for that distinct European, non-Hollywood edge by making a totally Norwegian-language film that ties in with the narrative of the sequel, and gives an even greater sense of entrapment by language barrier, as well as by the actual menace. If nothing else, such films suggest audiences are more than willing to invest in subtitled films to gain a real feeling of disorienting terror.

***~~ (3/5)

Not the greatest quality I’m afraid but the first stills nonetheless from the brand new Ridley Scott movie, Prometheus. The images come from Entertainment Weekly via Firstshowing (via Bloody Disgusting and Dread Central). In the images, we get our first look at Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba as well as the huge giant head which looks to me like Marlon Brando?!

Also starring in the movie are Guy Pearce and Ben Foster. We can expect the movie 1st June 2012.

“Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”

Check out the images below which you can click to enlarge. Am I wrong about the Brando image?!

Ridley Scott’s return to the world of science fiction with Prometheus is something that is immensely anticipated next year, and that anticipation is even further heightened by the fact that we know so little about the project.

If you’ve missed our coverage of the film so far, you can catch up on it all here, including the first two images from the film that both looked pretty damn awesome, but didn’t really help our understanding of what it would be about.

That understanding has now slightly been improved with the release of an updated plot synopsis courtesy of the film’s Facebook page, via CinemaBlend.com, that lets us in on a little more detail of what we can expect. The synopsis as we have known it up until know has read,

“Visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott returns to the genre he helped define, creating an original science fiction epic set in the most dangerous corners of the universe. The film takes a team of scientists and explorers on a thrilling journey that will test their physical and mental limits and strand them on a distant world, where they will discover the answers to our most profound questions and to life’s ultimate mystery.”

And the new updated version now gives is a little more to go on,

“Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”

A third of the description is still dedicated to Scott and his well-established credits, with a nod to his earlier sci-fi films, but we do get the interesting notion of the film exploring the origins of mankind on Earth, and a battle for the future of the human race.

Prometheus has been co-written by Jon Spaihts (the upcoming The Darkest Hour) and Damon Lindelof (co-creator of TV’s Lost, and co-writer on the forthcoming Star Trek sequel), and will have an all-star cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, and Patrick Wilson.

This was a film that was always going to be immense – Scott no doubt wouldn’t (potentially) return to the world of his Alien films if it wasn’t worth revisiting – but reading that synopsis makes me look forward to its release even more. Prometheus is set to come out on 8th June next year, and will almost definitely be one of the biggest films of 2012, and quite possibly Scott’s career.

On the 5th August, Super 8 will finally hit our shores, riding on a wave of critical praise from the other side of the Atlantic. Its combination of eighties youthful nostalgia (Stand by Me, Goonies) and Spielgburg-esque science fiction (Close Encounters, E.T) looks set to titillate young and old alike. However, Super 8 also acts to highlight the growing trend of modern Science Fiction taking its influences from the past. Whilst seemingly going against the grain of the genre’s forward thinking philosophy,  it’s a welcome relief from the recent influx of movies which have forgone the subtle underlying warnings which made Science Fiction such a stalwart of seventies and eighties cinema .

Unlike other genres of film this speculative, science based medium of entertainment isn’t bound to any particular era, period or location, allowing film makers a free reign when it comes to storytelling. However, as the genre has progressed through the years certain elements have become evocative of this explosive and thoughtful strand of cinema. As well as the spacecrafts, robots and other technological advances we’ve come to associate with these films, Science Fiction has often been used as a tool to explore political and social issues as well as more philosophical issues such our inheritably destructive human behaviour.
Despite becoming a mainstay of the silent era, by the time the fifties were upon us Science Fiction had faded to little more than cheap jovial entertainment consisting mainly of low-budget B movies who’s plot and premises where almost as flimsy as the cardboard set designs they were filmed on.

It wasn’t until 1957 and the beginnings of the Space Race that Science Fiction began to be taken seriously again. Ever since the dawn of time man has looked up and stared at the stars, but during the cold war there was a growing sense of marvel towards the universe that was clearly reflected within cinema. From Stanley Kubrick’s spectacular 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968), New Wave darling Jean-Luc Godard’s desolately bleak Alphaville (1965), Tarkovsky’s sombre masterpiece Solaris (1972) to Chalton Heston’s surprisingly powerful performance in Soylent Green (1973), Science Fiction was beginning to grow a brain whilst simultaneously reflecting the social issues of a public which had plenty to feel disenfranchised about amidst this period of escalated fear.

Then a film came along which changed the game forever. Love it or hate it, there’s little doubt that the Star Wars trilogy took Science Fiction from a small committed audience of art house devotees and movie geeks and exploded it upon a mass audience. Smart and technically assured classics such as Terminator, Alien and Blade Runner may well have struggled to get financing beforehand but with every studio in Hollywood desperate to get a piece of the action the genre began to be taken seriously again by those who’s interest had been peaked by its new found commercial success.

It resulted in a flurry of Intelligent and exhilarating films which achieved a fine balance between mirroring social concerns and being universally enjoyable slices of entertainment. Despite the overwhelming success of Star Wars and George Lucas’s new found fame there was one man who became synonymous with this 2nd golden age of Sci-Fi.

Somehow managing to channel into the core themes of Science Fiction whilst injecting a commercially successful formula into his films, Steven Spielberg created several of the most loved films of the eighties and helped reignite this once sneered upon genre. His involvement in Super8 has sparked excitement that a bright new future is about to evolve, using this once successful template to break away from the current reliance on CGI effects and comic book adaptations in what has so far resulted in little more than superficial escapism of little depth or importance.

If successful, Super 8 will join a host of other films which are attempting to conjure up the same magic approach which worked so well in previous years. Attack the Block (2010) with its various references to eighties cinema is probably the most recent example of a film which managed to capture the nostalgically enjoyable themes from the past whilst transcending mere plagiarism and gaining its own identity through a subtle use of social satire which prevented it from feeling like a throw back or pastiche of a better time. Paul (2010) managed to transfer the E.T template to an older audience who had grown up on a diet of these Spielberg epics and whilst perhaps not the success many would have hoped for, it certainly showed signs of promising new direction.

Duncan Jones seems to be attempting to singlehandedly resusatate the genre’s more thoughtful approach so far delighting us with both Moon (2009) and Source Code (2011). Moon was set in a space station not dissimilar from those seen in Alien and Solaris (cold and sterile but with a eerie haunting quality), whilst GERTY, Sam Bell’s talking droid assistant, looked like the result of a bizarre cross breeding exercise between 2001:A Space Odyssey’s H.A.L and Robby the robot from Forbidden Planet. The same subtle evocation is also noticeable with Source Code which seems like a lovingly experimental amalgamation of Total Recall, Quantum Leap and Groundhog Day, yet somehow they both managed to show that whilst Science Fiction may well be 99% regurgitated material installed to add an air of familiarity to an otherwise outlandish genre, if you use that remaining 1% well enough you can still create something wonderfully unique and enjoyable.

It doesn’t stop there either, this year we still have re-imaginations of The Thing and Planet of the Apes to look forward to whilst Ridley Scott is putting the final touches to his Alien prequel Prometheus.
With the last ten years of Science Fiction failing to capture young imaginations due to its overly stylised and superficial reliance on visual effects, let’s pray that Super 8 continues this budding new approach of reinventing this golden era of cinema. Despite its futurist settings and apparent quest for knowledge, Science Fiction has always worked best when it stood as a social commentary, reflecting our concerns and fears as to which way society is heading. Indeed “Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes” hopefully Hollywood will heed notice and once again start creating the socially important Science Fiction films we so richly deserve.

Written by Patrick Gamble

Ah, the Colonial Marines.

Traditionally about as lucky and useful as a Red Shirt in Star Trek.

Their gaming exploits have traditionally been just as unlucky, and while 2010′s Alien Vs. Predator was at least passably entertaining, fans are still awaiting that classic Xenomorph-blasting bloodbath.

Which is why we’re more than a little excited for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

And why this trailer doesn’t give that much away, it has one notable mention for fans of the movies – is that the back-stabbing Burke from Aliens is back?

While a deleted scene suggests otherwise, we never saw him properly die in the original movie.

Let fanboy speculation begin.

In the six months since the first solid details emerged from Ridley Scott’s rumoured Alien prequel we’ve had a number of updates, not least the gathering together of an excellent ensemble cast to bring Alienverse sci-fi epic Prometheus to the big screen.

Slash Film have bought together some of the tidbits from around the internet and there’s a breif and cryptic comment from Michael Fassbender which point vaguely to the tale Scott will be telling.

Metro New York asked him about the line between the Alien films and Scott’s new venture, then gives a clue on the plot.

The thing is, it’s not a prequel. It definitely is separate. It is a separate story, but there are threads that connect the stories.

Well Prometheus is basically a Greek god that stole fire from the gods so that he could give humans equal footing with them. And then he got sort of tied up to a tree or rock and then an eagle comes down and eats his liver each day and it regrows and he eats it, regrows so figure it out. How can you tie that into space?

Michael Fassbender will be playing an Android alongside Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and the film is shooting now. Slashfilm have a set picture of a green screen on a heavily guarded set which isn’t worth a click, and there’s bound to be more speculation about what exactly Scott is cooking up. Fassbender will be blonde for the part though, and the only reason I mention it is because he gave the following choice quote to the Wall Street Journal,

I look like a 10-pound rent boy

Exciting times ahead! The Pinewood Studios website is reporting (with a nod to their Twitter account) that production has begun on Ridley Scott’s Prometheus which confirms our earlier report stating the movie was shooting in the UK and not in Canada.

This will be the fifth film of Scott’s to use the facility. He made the first Alien there, 1985’s Legend, the underrated White Squall and (ahem) Robin Hood. The site has a quote from the filmmaker about his support of the studio:

“It’s my heritage, my personal heritage, I film everywhere in the world and I think all things considered what we have to offer here are as good as anything you’re going to get in Hollywood.”

Pinewood Studios recently played host to the Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady which recently completed its shoot. It’s heartening to know that Scott is back there working on similar material to the film which propelled him to the A-list.

Here’s hoping lightening can strike twice.

While it is unlikely we will know the full story behind Ridley Scott’s Prometheus until it is safely gestating in cinemas (he is, after all, master of the slow reveal), it appears that despite recent comments suggesting that the film would be a departure from the Alien franchise’s existing mythology – it is in fact set to cover similar ground. The same ground, actually.

Not only has Michael Fassbender been cast as a Bishop-esque android,  Sky’s insiders have revealed that the film will feature H. R. Giger’s titular xenomorphs in a prominent role as well. According to their unnamed source:

“They’ve built the ‘space jockey’ cockpit at Pinewood as seen in the original Alien film, so it definitely takes place in the same world as Alien”

“Despite that press release that seemed to indicate there were no aliens in the movie, the familiar HR Giger-style aliens do appear. Big ones apparently.”

It appear’s that Scott’s previous assurances that “keen fans will recognise strands of Alien’s DNA” were more literal than originally thought as the plot is believed to hinge on the discovery of alien genetic code: perhaps even located on the alien’s homeworld. The insider continued:

“Part of the film will be shot in Morocco. I’ve heard that some sort of archaeological dig where they discover alien DNA takes place there and that DNA gives them the coordinates for an alien world. I’ve also heard Morocco is being used for alien planet landscapes so I’m not sure if it’s an archaeological dig on another planet.”

With Damon Lindelof’s script allegedly boasting an ‘enormous head’ as the ship’s pilot, and the intriguing hints towards giant (space jockey born?) aliens, this project keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Rising star Michael Fassbender (who will soon be seen lending his considerable talents to the role of young Magneto in X-Men: First Class) is heading back into the world of fantasy cinema, having snagged a role in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

He’ll join the already-cast Noomi Rapace in project which started life as an intended prequel to Alien until it evolved into another sci-fi tale. Fassbender (cast in the role of an android here) was originally offered the role last year when it was still in that first initial stage.

Like ‘X-Men’, this is another big summer film (it’s due for release state-side on 8th June 2012) which will no doubt propel the 33 year-old into the Hollywood big league.

News courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

It’s all go on the Alien Prequel Project tonight. Or rather – it isn’t.

It seems the Alien prequel is no more, instead, rather appropriately, it has evolved into a new project, what Fox are billing as a ‘sci-fi epic’.

It’s title? Prometheus.

Details broke a few moments ago thanks to a press release from 20th Century Fox, but it appears that after the decision was made to return to the world of facehuggers and chestbursters a new story came about, something that was original and it seems Fox and Scott are abandoning the Alien name and moving ahead with this new idea.

Jon Spaihts wrote a draft of the script from an idea Ridley Scott had and then Lost’s Damon Lindelof came on board and he has been working with the director to take the project into new, and uncharted territory. The press release contains two quotes pertinent to the story, one from Scott himself, the other from Lindelof.  Here’s what Ridley Scott had to say,

While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative.

I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart

Lindelof gives us an idea of what to expect,

In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots, I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley’s vision was for this movie. It’s daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects.

So, no details obviously and with this detachment from the Alienverse there’s not a lot we know about this project now, other than Ridley Scott returns to sci-fi with a lead actress already signed on to lead the film. Noomi Rapace is named as the actress who will lead the film, having impressed Scott (and most of us) with her performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Deadline have it that Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron are interested in roles in the film, but we’ll know more soon. The release date set is March 9th, 2012.

So, no Alien prequel – news I’m happier about that I thought I would be – in my eyes the mystery of the space jockey was meant to be just that, and added immeasurably to the establishment of the Alien mythology.

Not a lot to guess with just a title – something about the origin of life perhaps? Maybe they’ll find God – that went well when Star Trek did it, right? Whatever we learn between this moment and that date in March next year there won’t be many films more anticipated than this one.

Clint Eastwood’s latest soon-to-be-acclaimed outing as a director seems to now be sticking with the title “J. Edgar”, after having flirted with “J. Edgar Hoover” and in addition to the previous casting news (which you can look back through here) we now have an update of the “one in, one out” variety.

Having previously been rumoured to be on board as Helen Gandy, a Justice Department file clerk who then became Hoover’s PA, Charlize Theron has now backed off, although rumours abound that her representatives had portrayed her as being more interested in the role than she really was, resulting in her having to apologise to Eastwood.

Of further interest are reports that now being free of the Hoover bio-pic, Theron may be available to star in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels. Ridley Scott seems to be less keen on the idea, which may therefore result in a little pressure being exerted by nervous execs at 20th Century Fox, who seem to want to try to increase the presence of higher-profile, better known actors in what may prove to be a pretty expensive and therefore quite risky couple of films.

With Naomi Watts and Amy Adams now being considered by Eastwood for the role of Helen Gandy, Ed Westwick (Children of Men, Breaking and Entering, Gossip Girl) has landed a supporting role, namely that of one Agent Smith. Smith was an FBI operative with considerable skill as a writer and was therefore brought in by Hoover to write his biography, until problems arise as Smith gets too close to the truth.

Sources: Vulture and Deadline.

As AvP Galaxy quite rightly say, if this is true, it is great news indeed. Artist H.R. Giger, who brought such a distinctive industrial-organic look to the creature design for the original Alien film may be back on board for the Ridley Scott-directed prequels.

Ridley Scott seems to still be embroiled in debate with the studio over the certificate he is aiming for, as well as the proposed budget. Scott wants to aim for something reasonably brutal and adult-oriented (presumably an R rating in the US and a 15/18 certificate in the UK) and a $250m budget across the two planned sequels. 20th Century Fox seem to think the combination of a higher rating and a big budget is a bad combination and therein lies the impasse – Scott’s artistic convictions up against the economic concerns of the bean-counters.

Whether Giger coming on board helps or is neutral in Fox’s decision making is hard to say. My view would be that they ought to trust in Scott’s abilities and instincts, given the commercial and critical success his films have tended to attract. If Giger can come on board and bring the same sensibility to the prequels’ creature design as he did to the original, that can only be a good thing. As to Giger’s decision? A report in German quotes his wife as saying that her husband is “on board” and “will work again” with the director of the 1979 film Alien.

That seems to be pretty clear, then. What do you think? Is Giger an essential component for the prequels? Are the prequels an appealing prospect for you full stop?

Source: AvPGalaxy.

News comes in from Coming Soon that action period adventure 47 Ronin will now be produced and released in 3D.

Keanu Reeves (who must be hoping for a Matrix-style career revival here) stars in the 18th century Japanese tale of a band of samurai swordsmen who set out on an epic journey to avenge the death of their master.

The film’s director is award-winning commercial Carl Rinsch (who was the original choice to helm the new Alien prequel) and judging by his previous work, from a visual point-of-view, this conversion should only help to enhance the work of this young, exciting visualist.

With the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology on the 25th of October HeyUGuys are taking a look at the entire Alien and Predator series. From Facehuggers to trophy hunting Predators, from the iconic and classic to the dubious crossovers – this is your ultimate retrospective.

So remember, even if you ain’t got time to bleed, in the Video Vault no-one can hear you scream…

And so we delve into the dubious crossover arena – Whoever wins – Steven Neish loses…

What do the words ‘A Paul W. S. Anderson film’ mean to you?

Call me easily pleased but I’ve always enjoyed the director’s Resident Evil franchise. While this dubious declaration might suggest I enjoyed his Alien vs. Predator movie, I must first acknowledge that the Paul W. S. Anderson directed first and fourth instalments of Resident Evil are the two I had the hardest time enjoying. Also a videogame adaptation, AvP shares more than just its source material with the Milla Jovovich vehicle, it also shares many of Anderson’s directorial strengths and weaknesses.

Ever since the alien skull was first teased at the end of Predator 2, a small part of me has been awaiting this movie with bated breath. Trapped in development hell for years, Anderson finally brought it to cinemas – complete with a number of story elements straight from the 1989 comic that started it all. Arriving in 2004, Alien vs. Predator pits alien against Alien for the first time on the big screen.

The movie runs on the premise that Predators (or Predatoids as Anderson dubs them) have been visiting Earth for centuries; using a frozen Alien queen, a labyrinthine pyramid – straight out of The Mummy – and sacrificial human subjects to train fledgeling hunters. When his interests are sparked by anomalous heat signals, Charles Bishop Weyland puts together an expedition to an abandoned whaling station that just happens to share an Antarctic island with said extra-terrestrial hotspot.

Accompanying Weyland (a game Lance Henriksen reprises his role of Bishop, retrofitting character quirks from his android legacy) on his expedition are mountain climbing (A)lex Wood, snap-happy Graeme Miller and archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa. Separated from their comrades by some clockwork wall reconfigurement, the team are caught in the middle of a ritualistic skirmish – one made possible by some incongruous tampering with established continuity that sees the xenemorph gestation period shrink from days to mere minutes.

To show that I’m serious about giving this crossover a fair hearing I am willing to look past the infantile script, excellerated incubation periods and even the bumbling Scottish ‘comic’ relief. For all its flaws, I still paid to see Alien vs. Predator and I did not leave the cinema completely unentertained.

Tied into the Alien mythology through the involvement of Henriksen, and expanding both franchises with a mid feature flashback that is genuinely impressive, Alien vs. Predator does have its share of redeeming features. Among the positives are a few very nice franchise touches. The cryogenically frozen alien queen for example, and her subsequent surface level T-Rex attack – straight out of Jurassic Park, momentarily have the pulse pounding and the jaw dropped.

Furthermore, Miller’s short term victory against one face hugger – only for the camera to pull away and reveal a room-full – adds a nice touch of intentional humour to a film so plagued by laughter of the unattentional variety. Even the Predator’s tried and tested method of killing facehuggers – a small moment, I grant you – just adds an extra dimension to film which, as its sequel proved, could have been so throw-away.

What is so infuriating about Alien v. Predator is that it is just so…so…child friendly. For a franchise steeped in sexual symbolism and the male fear of pregnancy – and another so tied to gruesome trophy hunting – this crossover is distinctly lacking in adult content. Faced with aliens, imminent death and an incomprehensible Rubik’s pyramaid, it is jarring that nobody swears and nobody really bleeds – red that is. While this one limitation – and this one limitation alone – will be rectified in the sequel, we are left with a film that utilises subtlety in all of the wrong places – the creatures are desensitised to viewers through their overuse while the word ‘bitch’ stands awkwardly as the films worst language.

Also jarring is the poorly implemented mix of CGI and puppery. While either could have done a perfectly acceptable job, some of the computer generated scenes actually prove feature highlights, the rampant fluctuations from animatronics to special effects draw too much attention. When animated the aliens looks sleek and fast, proving that they can still be scary creations even when not steeped in darkness; when the xenemorphs are clearly just men in suits, however, any threat is lost and with no stakes the fight sequences hold little interest for audiences.

Ultimately, the film – which is undoubtedly a neutered and inferior addition to the two franchises that came before – manages to wriggle its way out of obsolescence with some nice additions to the extant mythology and a sense of fun and cool that keeps bums on seats while the men in suits thump each other onscreen. For what it is – a comic-book/video-game wouldn’t-it-be-cool adaptation – however, Alien vs. Predator certainly gets the job done. While too shallow for an Alien film and too watered-down for a Predator film, Alien vs. Predator is nevertheless the best AvP film you are ever likely to see.

So, what do the words ‘A Paul W. S. Anderson film’ mean to you? To me, the declaration promises a videogame adaptation that squanders exemplary source material in favour of cheap thrills and the biggest demographic; that critics and fans will uniformly deride it; and that at some point in the narrative there will be a holographic underground pyramid.

Like Resident Evil, however, Aliens vs. Predator somehow overcomes its many flaws to grant it watchability and a welcome place on my list of guilty pleasures.

With the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology on the 25th of October HeyUGuys are taking a look at the entire Alien and Predator series. From Facehuggers to trophy hunting Predators, from the iconic and classic to the dubious crossovers – this is your ultimate retrospective.

So remember, even if you ain’t got time to bleed, in the Video Vault no-one can hear you scream…

Dave Roper enters the vault, with a couple of days to kill.

We were all really hoping that Arnie would come back for a second crack at the Predator. He escaped the first one by jumping out of the way of an atomic blast (take that Indiana Jones, he doesn’t even need a fridge) and would surely have had a blast taking on a new Predator in a different setting.

Sadly it was not to be and after the opening credit tease of a camera rushing over the tree line of a jungle, we find ourselves instead in LA in the then-future of the late 1990′s. LA is being torn apart by drug wars between Jamaicans and Colombians, with the increasingly helpless and ineffective LAPD stuck in the middle, trying to prevent the city melting down into anarchy.

What looks initially like the bloody end to a stand-off turns out to be the handiwork of a Predator who, to quote the film’s excellent tagline, is in town with a few days to kill. All of this “skin them and hoist them up high” stuff is pretty familiar to us from the first film, but it takes the Predator’s attack on the Jamaicans as they are about to slice and dice the head of the Colombian gang to get the LAPD thinking that they might have something a little different on their hands.

This time around, we get Danny Glover instead of Arnie and although he does his best and is no doubt a finer actor than Arnie will ever be, he lacks the physicality that Arnie always brings to his best roles. It just does not seem credible that even with the benefit of a commandeered alien weapon, Glover would be able to square off against a seven foot tall Predator. Glover has often seemed to me to be slightly awkward in his fight scenes and unfortunately this carries through to this performance. This is not intended as a slight on Glover per se, rather an error in the casting.

Plot-wise, we’re on even simpler ground than the first film. The two gangs are fighting, the LAPD want them to stop, the Predator wants to kill lots of people. The most interesting addition is a team of federal agents who are intent on capturing the Predator in order to harness its impressive array of advanced alien technology. This climaxes in one of the film’s better sequences when the agents try to corner and capture the Predator in a meat-packing warehouse. It doesn’t end well.

Another of the film’s better sequences is the Predator’s attack on the above-mentioned Jamaican killing party. The Predator unleashes an array of weapons not seen before, such as a razor-wire net, a retractable spear and a very, very sharp frisbee. It’s all a lot of fun but despite a reveal at the end that shows how long the Predators have been visiting Earth, as well as a glimpse of the Predator’s trophy cabinet that shows a very distinctive alien skull, not much is done here to extend or deepen the Predator mythology, as most noticeably contrasted with Aliens.

So what are we left with? A few pretty exciting set-pieces, a lead actor who gives the role a fair crack but seems fundamentally miscast, some effectively gruesome death scenes and a bit of “I’ve a feeling they’ll be back” at the end. Somehow though, it doesn’t add up to a satisfying whole. Compared to the first film, watching the Predator scythe through some fairly faceless, meaningless characters has nowhere near the impact of seeing the deaths of a group of tight-knit commandos. It winds up being a film that fails to grab your attention, where you find yourself caring very little for the outcome, save for a bit of a cheer when Gary Busey gets his head cut off.

It’s not a bad film, just a bit of a lazy one and in the end, a wasted opportunity to develop and build on the many considerable strengths of the first film. You can see the trailer below, which actually makes it look considerably more action-packed than it really is.

With the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology on the 25th of October HeyUGuys are taking a look at the entire Alien and Predator series. From Facehuggers to trophy hunting Predators, from the iconic and classic to the dubious crossovers – this is your ultimate retrospective.

So remember, even if you ain’t got time to bleed, in the Video Vault no-one can hear you scream…

Andy Petrou sends in the clones.

Last, but by no means least, there was Alien: Resurrection. After the disappointment that was Alien 3, 20th Century Fox still couldn’t resist the urge to revive this beloved franchise and inject some life into it five years later. Ellen Ripley was coming back and she was coming back with a vengeance!

Bringing Ripley back from the dead was no mean feat though, so the studios turned their attention to Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one of France’s most esteemed directors, to champion the series to a hopefully formidable conclusion. Could the final film do the series justice and give us the mother of all send-offs? Would we see a return to the brilliance that was 1979′s Alien? Magic 8-ball says ‘outlook not so good’…

Whilst AR isn’t my favourite of the Alien series, I do remember seeing it at the cinema when I was at university back in 1997, because I’d never seen any of the previous films on the big screen I was mega-excited at the prospect of watching Ellen Ripley come back from the dead to kick the aliens’ evocative, extraterrestrial asses. The prospect of bringing Ripley back 200 years after she killed herself in Alien 3 seemed a bit ambitious at first, but I for one was pumped up and eager to see how this could be pulled off. I don’t recall there being that many films about cloning back in the 90s, or at least, I hadn’t seen that many at that time beyond Jurassic Park, but I loved the whole ‘space military clones Ripley from her DNA with Queen Alien still inside’ idea. I just wasn’t sure it could be pulled off…

Essentially Alien: Resurrection centers around an isolated military spacecraft carrying a panel of morally questionable scientists, whose sole, and mostly unclear, objective is to clone Ripley with remains of her DNA, in order to foolishly extract the Alien Queen within. Noticeably more dexterous and eerily powerful, Ripley, dubbed Number 8, is transformed with Alien-esque tendencies and her survival is now in the scientists hands. They unscrupulously proceed to sacrifice a group of mercenaries who have been brought on board by the money-driven crew of ‘The Betty’ spaceship, as the Alien Queen delivers her litter of soon-to-be human exterminators.The doomed unconscious victims become incubators for the Queen’s babies and thus a new race of Aliens are born!

Among ‘The Betty’ crew are actors Ron Perlman, Winona Ryder, and Jeunet’s long-time friend and collaborator, Dominique Pinon, which makes for an enjoyable on-screen ensemble. Once the aliens develop into fully-fledged annihilators, they begin tactically savaging each-other to the acidic death in order to escape from their containment hell. Once the death-fest kicks off, Winona Ryder’s character, Annalee Call, and Ripley ultimately strike up a bizarre bond and unite in their quest to guide the remaining crew to safety from the alien infested vessel.

Amidst the frantic rush to escape, Ripley comes face-to-face with her disfigured cloned siblings and we finally catch a much-needed glimpse into her humanity after the lukewarm build-up prior to this. Ripley’s moment when she destroys the cruelly discarded bodies is powerful and unforgettable. Her reactions, for a few minutes, are reminiscent of pre-cloned Ripley which we grew to know and love. The highlight of the film, for me, occurs with the ensuing underwater hunting sequences. How anyone can hold their breath for the duration of this aquatic alien hunt, I do not know, nor do I understand the physics of how guns work underwater, but visually it is absolutely amazing to watch.

Eventually Ripley slithers and writhes her way into the Queen’s lair in time to see her give birth to her second-generation, DNA mutated offspring. This disgusting, creamy, gross, slimy, inside-out-looking, raw beast of a poor SFX alien toddler thinks Ripley is it’s mother, which makes for some disturbing mother-baby bonding moments. The battle to survive is on though, so as the dwindling crew makes it’s way to their ship, hot on their heels is mutant Ripley Junior who searches for mum. The final showdown results in some intensely emotionally-conflicted and harrowing moments which bring the film to an ominously, subdued close.

Sigourney Weaver is a phenomenally versatile actress. I’ve adored her performances in virtually every movie of hers that I’ve seen, but I can’t help but feel that AR writer Joss Whedon butchered her trademark multi-dimensional character we grew to know and love. Cloned Ripley became distant, dark and cold, and her super-human strength and rapid reflex manoeuvres, for me, are just loathsome. Her one-liners such as, “I’m the monster’s mother” are far too macho and emotionless for my liking. This is not Ripley. This is Rambo with boobs. As far as I’m concerned, this new character Number 8 only looks like Ripley. The most interesting thing about Number 8′s character, however, was her inner conflict and struggle between her alien and human side. Body verses spirit. Add to that her disturbingly intertwined relationship and connection with the aliens featured, but ultimately her character was a gigantic disappointment for me.

Also featured in this film we have the extremely talented but much berated Winona Ryder. No-one can doubt her talents as an actress, but was she really needed for this role? The dynamics between Number 8 and Call is interesting because Ryder’s android shows more emotion than Weaver’s conflicted human/alien clone. I still can’t bring myself to call Number 8 Ripley. The confused compassion between these characters only serves to waste precious minutes as we fail to truly get to know some of the more interesting characters featured on-screen.

Ron Perlman is our loveable, wise-cracking rogue, who albeit is inappropriately funny and a complete chauvinistic pig at times, but you just can’t help but enjoy his sadly limited screen time. Perlman is no stranger when it comes to working with Jeunet, as two years earlier they collaborated in the eerily beautiful dystopian fantasy flick, ‘The City of Lost Children’. Whilst Perlman’s role in AR isn’t exactly ground-breaking, it was much-needed given the abundance of passable characters on offer. Brad Dourif, for me, is actually the most enticing character in the entire movie. The scene where he mirrors the alien’s movements in the containment unit make for edgy and uncomfortable viewing, not to mention the scene where he’s been cocooned but just manages to live long enough to bear witness to the birth of Ripley Junior. Fool. The film needed much more suspense and this was it’s ultimate failure. This is not a horror film but it had the potential to terrify so much more than it did. What worked in the first two movies was the mere suggestion or glimpse of an alien and the hairs on the back of your neck would immediately shoot up and that’s what made for pulse-pounding viewing.

Visually, Jeunet’s artistic contribution to AR is pleasing and he toys with the use of grotesque and sexual imagery. It’s by no means a match for his other critically-acclaimed works such as “Amelie”, “Delicatessen” and “The City of Lost Children”, but as a fan of his other movies, I think it’s evident that his contribution was restricted. Earlier in 2010, Jeunet attended ‘A Life in Pictures’ event at Bafta house and he expressed his initial excitement at the prospect of working with an American studio. However, his excitement soon turned to disappointment and frustration when it was clear he wouldn’t be able to work as freely as initially anticipated. This made for an unpleasant working experience on US soil and thus the AR project resulted in Jeunet’s decision to return to France where he could have free reign to work as he’d been used to. I can only imagine how much more chilling and surrealistic his vision for AR could have been had he been able to work true to his roots. Unfortunately, his directorial efforts were further hindered by the bland offerings of Joss Whedon’s script. More often than not it was muddled, the dialogue crass and the plot filled with many, many widely debated and disputed flaws.

All in all, Alien: Resurrection is a fantastically intriguing concept and perhaps more underrated than it deserves to be. It ambitiously addresses the deliberate lack of humanity and probes further into the conflict between reproduction and genetics. However, the series should have come full circle and delivered a far more thrill-seeking, suspense-filled, imaginative and spectacular showdown than it did. Whilst there are some, albeit fleeting, welcomed scenes reminiscent of the first two films, a weak script with an over-saturation of less than impressive looking aliens and forgettable acting, this film leaves much to be desired. You’ll either love it or hate it. Or make it a guilty pleasure at best. In my case, I think it’s a guilty pleasure.

As part of their extensive special features for the Blu-ray Alien Anthology box set, out on the 25th of October, Fox have seen fit to put out Sigourney Weaver’s screen test, which lies below – courtesy of Empire.

It’s always interesting to see earlier iterations of characters but Weaver’s Ripley appears to have arrived fully formed, with perhaps a little touch of the Ripley of future Alien films visible under the ever so slightly vulnerable persona Weaver and Scott created for the first film.

It’s hard now to imagine that the character of Ripley was originally written for a man and seeing Weaver’s performance, even here in this screen test, shows why the move was a masterstroke by David Giler and Walter Hill.

Can’t wait for the Blus for Alien, this is one small example of why they are a must buy.

Impressively housed on London’s South Bank the London Film Museum recently played host to a preview of the Blu-ray release of the four Alien films, and with the highly polished Alien Anthology Blu-ray set out on shelves on the 25th of October I wanted to give you an idea of what you’ll be enjoying when you pick up the box set.

You know the films, I’m sure. Two outright classics, one curious debut feature from one of the biggest directors working today and an enjoyable, though heavily flawed, final flourish for the one time Star Beast make up this series, and the legacy of Alien proves as indestructible as the savage monster itself.

Before I dive in I have to say that I’ve not yet had my hands on a copy of the box set, and I hope to be able to post my full review sometime in the future, so I was only given a brief look at the films and their copious extra features but I have to say my initial thoughts of ‘I’ve got the Quadrilogy sitting at home – do I need another set of Alien discs?’ were answered as soon as the first disc was fired up, and the familiar Weyland-Yutani logo fizzled up on screen.

The fact is, when done right, the transfer to Blu-ray can enhance the quality of picture and sound to such a degree that you won’t want to see the film any other way. This is true for the Alien films, whose new high definition clarity and depth of colour and ear pounding sound mix impressed me more than so many wasteful transfers I’ve seen recently. These are films I’ve seen over and over and after seeing a few scenes of the Blu-rays I couldn’t wait to watch them again in this new format.

Rather than bumping up the audio and visual quality of the films and repackaging them with the same extras as their previous releases there is a huge amount of new material for the eager Alien fanatic to immerse themselves into and there’s a neat way of accessing them too, which I’ll get onto later. We were teased with a look at some of the new extras, which includes the full story behind the curious case of Alien 3 among interviews and featurettes dealing with all aspects of each film’s production. It’s a comprehensive set, one that I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into, and to make that experience a little more exciting there’s a new way of peeking behind the curtain.

One of the major features is the MU-TH-UR mode, which is an intriguing way of experiencing the plethora of extras and delving deeper into the film as you’re watching it. Accessed via the main menu each film can be watched with the option of learning more about the specific scene on screen, with information, video clips, images etc, accessible during the movie. Some people may not want to continuously skip back and forth between the extras and the film itself so MU-TH-UR mode has a method of allowing you to select certain ‘tags’ relevant to what you’re viewing.

Plucking an example from the ether, if you are watching the infamous chest-burster scene and want to know more (in true Starship Troopers style) you could look at the tags available, which would include John Hurt, Chest-Burster, etc etc, then in Aliens you wanted to know more about the Alien Queen you could select the tags you wanted and these choices would be stored up so that when you came to put one of the two discs of extras you can watch all of the special features associated with your choices.

It’s great in theory and worked well in practise, allowing easy navigation through an almost intimidating range of extras. Here’s how it works.

As I said, I’ve not yet sat down with the discs myself, but I was extremely impressed with what I saw, and it looks as though there’s now a decent way to enjoy the extensive special features box sets of this nature are bundled with. Extras aside these films may vary in quality but they look better than ever, and until Ridley Scott returns to the Space Jockey this is the best way to enjoy the complete set.

Here’s the trailer for the Alien Anthology,