Am I the only one who thought ALIENS kinda sucked?

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I think the degree to which either Alien or Aliens drags during the first half depends largely on who is watching the film with you. I don't know about you guys, but the level of enjoyment of other people can actually affect my experience. For this reason, I watch certain types of movies by myself a lot...horror and drama, especially. Sometimes I go solo to the theater, too. It's nice to not have to worry about whether someone else is getting bored.

Anyway, I love both Alien and Aliens, and I own both on DVD. As others have mentioned, both films are science fiction, but Alien is more of a horror/suspense film, and Aliens is more of an action film. In my opinion, Alien is the superior film. Why? It's the original, and horror/suspense is harder to do well. I appreciate a good horror/suspense movie more than a good action movie.

WHAT IF: Aliens was the first movie, followed by Alien?....

than people would praise Aliens even more than they do now I think, because than it would be "the original" :rolleyes:

I think it's bull**** to say that a movie is good or better than a sequel ONLY because it's "the original", because let's face it, some sequels are better than the original (for example T2) but not always! (and I am not speaking about Aliens, because Aliens is a different kind of movie than Alien, I do not consider it to be better)
But I'm just saying, "the original"-argument is a bad argument for praising a movie above the sequel...especially when the sequel is a whole differend kind of movie. So I have a problem with people saying Alien was better than Aliens using that argument of it being the original movie.
 
It looks like this has turned into an "Alien vs Aliens" thread, or maybe that's what it was intended to be from the start, I don't know. I refrained from commenting when it was first posted because I was afraid it would only stir up this age old debate, and I really had no interest in rehashing the same old arguments over and over again... but since it has already been stirred up, then I might as well add my two cents worth and be done with it.

I loved and enjoyed both movies for different reasons, because they were different movies. I waited in anticipation for the premiere of Alien back when there was no internet and Fox was successfully able to keep any pictures or details of the film from being leaked until it hit the theaters. I believe that had a lot to do with the initial impact it had on me. I was thinking about it for weeks after I'd seen it, and I started collecting every magazine, Giger art book and anything else I could find related to Alien back then. To this day, Alien is the only movie I can remember that ever made me feel like sleeping with the lights on, and I wasn't just a kid!

I was cautiously skeptical when I went to see the premiere of Aliens, but I could see from the start that it was an entirely different approach to the telling of Ripley's story, and I really enjoyed that. I didn't think it "kinda sucked" at all. It most definitely did not suck! The only real critical thought I had when I left the theater was that I believed the weapons technology of the marines' small arms would have been much more evolved by that time, but I loved the marines themselves, and their weapons were still really cool, especially the smart-guns and pulse rifles. Unfortunately, the robot sentry guns were not featured in the theatrical release! :monkey2

Edit: For the record, these are just my initial impressions about these movies when I saw them for the first time in theaters years ago. My feelings have certainly changed over the years, and I came to love much more about Aliens with repeated viewings. I got to watch the special edition when it was released in Japan a few years before it was even available in the states (I searched everywhere for a copy, but nobody had ever heard of it!), and those added 17 minutes just made it so much better. Hudson's drop ship speech and the robot sentry gun sequences were priceless discoveries. I never tire of watching it, not ever. I certainly don't expect other people to feel the same way as I do, especially if they didn't experience it at the same time I did. That made a huge difference, 'cause there was really nothing like it to compare with it back then.

Aliens is a science fiction classic in its own right, and I refuse to compare it with Alien for the sake of argument. Just my two cents. 'Nuff said. :D
 
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Well, I also think it may be a generational thing... I'm younger, and saw Aliens first. So seeing Alien was "going back to the beginning" for me, and was really about me seeing where the idea germinated and began.

I LOVE Aliens, and I also love Alien. Hell, I even liked Alien 3 to a degree. All films except the original were different, given the artistic urges of their directors. And I love that about this series. The only sad part is, that post Alien 3... things go downhill for the design of the creatures and their stories.

But before that, it was a film series for the most creative of directors. Cameron's Aliens film is one of my favorite films of all time. But Ridley's Alien is a masterpiece as well. Ridley Scott is a genius, not very many of his films have I ever disliked.

I commend you Dr Mirakle for being brave and asking for opinions..:cool:
 
I actually haven't bothered to read anything beyond the first couple of pages since the thread first posted, 'cause I could see the writing on the wall... I don't have anything against people discussing differences of opinion, flaming or otherwise, but in this particular case, it wouldn't bother me a bit if Dave locked this one up for good! :monkey1
 
Actually it's been pretty civil.

²

there wasn't actually any reason to be otherwise :)...yet :)
This is due to the fact that the starter of the topic did not actually and litteraly bashed on "Aliens" :monkey3
 
Well, that's good to hear! If I'd been following the thread then I'm sure my remarks would've reflected that. I guess this has been brewing in the back of my mind for a while, which is probably obvious as hell! :eek: :monkey3

I've probably heard mostly heated arguments over the years, rather than civil discussions, enough to last me a lifetime, and it all basically just boils down to individual tastes and differing points of view in the end. It is kind of interesting to hear what newer generations of Alien fans have to say about it, but from my own perspective, I've heard a lot of the same kind of comments before... and then some. :monkey1

DA Josh's opinions are very close to my own. Alien 3 was just a little disappointing due to the way the deaths of Hicks and Newt were handled, but from there on the movie was yet another new and very entertaining approach to the telling of Ripley's story. The fourth was entertaining, but it lacked the focus and originality that made each of the other movies so great. The ending was, well....

Okay, I've gone and done just what I've been trying to avoid doing, but now that I've said my piece, for what it's worth, I'll let it rest. Have at it guys! :D
 
Am I the only one who thought ALIENS kinda sucked?

Yes...yes you are...

It's not boring and slow, it's suspenseful and atmosphere building...

Well...I guess everyone has their own opinions...

As for me...ALIENS will always have it's place at #2 in my top 10 films ever...

:rock
 
The only reason I didn't like Aliens as much as the original, was because they dropped like flys and became weak in my eyes. Far enough they were USMC killing the aliens, but I would have been better if they had less aliens with better tactics of Killing off the human characters... Stalker them and poncing of them at the right time rather than just walking up to them in packs and overwelming them with numbers!
 
The only reason I didn't like Aliens as much as the original, was because they dropped like flys and became weak in my eyes. Far enough they were USMC killing the aliens, but I would have been better if they had less aliens with better tactics of Killing off the human characters... Stalker them and poncing of them at the right time rather than just walking up to them in packs and overwelming them with numbers!

Sounds kind of like you want Predator, but with an alien instead.
 
How the hell did you know that???

Are you stalking me???

:emperor

just using my brains here :)

your avatar etc = star wars related...
and as a movie-freak I know that episode V is considered the best star wars movie, and also one of thé best movies ever of all time...

so, it wasn't that hard :)
 
Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection > the AVp movies.

Is it bad that I never liked the Queen? Never really liked the design...
 
just using my brains here :)

your avatar etc = star wars related...
and as a movie-freak I know that episode V is considered the best star wars movie, and also one of thé best movies ever of all time...

so, it wasn't that hard :)

Then I bow to your wisdom...

:bow:bow:bow
 
It's funny that this very same discussion is taking place on another board.

The main reason I think Alien is better than Aliens (and I don't think Aliens sucks, not by a long shot), is simply because the alien is much more frightening.
In Aliens, they just became space monsters, they became social animals, whereas in Alien, it truly was an abomination.
 
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