Alien Resurrection: Ravaging Ripley, part 3
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Now that we covered the production of the film, we now focus on the release and break down of the first 40 minutes of the movie in detail We cover both theatrical and special edition material as well.
For part 2 click here: • Alien Resurrection: Ra...
For part 4 click here: • Alien Resurrection: Ra...
I never had problems with the change of tones and color palette in the movies, to me that's one of the distinctions of the original Alien series. Alien is horror; Aliens is action; part 3 is a tragedy, so it's not that weird to me that Resurrection took a black comedy angle. One of the precursors of modern horror, the Grand Gignol Theather, born in Paris and I guess that's something that the director was trying to hommage. Also, many people out of the United States have a very low opinion about US militia, and after so many movies mocking France, I think it was natural to want to say something about one of the most beloved industries on the US. About the colors, every film have a very distinctive dominant color: Alien is mostly a sobber gray; Aliens gloats is James Cameron love for blues (all of his movies have lots of blue, including Piranha 2); Alien 3 is a rusty brown, and Resurrection took yellow. It's a pity that the last movies didn't made an attempt to get a distinctive look.
I'd add to your argument that on the commercial side these films have also served as expensive director's reels. The producers have spoken it as an undeclared tradition to introduce new filmmakers through this series, and the distinctions you emphasized in each installment's themes are are also present in their style. Alien launched Ridley into mainstream stardom and his approach was "film as painting." Everything- including actors- were there to serve his palette in order to achieve a beautiful visual. For Cameron, it was all technical where Ridley's goals naturally bleed up from Cameron's strengths towards getting a million bucks on screen via chewing gum and some bits of string. This attraction towards innovating visually via the tech side would natural find its full bloom in Avatar. Fincher is a combination of the two where we see in subsequent films his goals to make movies a seamless experience where mistakes, technical flourishes, (transcending into digital) limits of capture formats all coalesce in post to create a "perfect" vision that is deceptively simple. However, to achieve that, a mastery of both Ridley's and Cameron's strengths was in order. Jeunet brought along his DP, Darius Konji, who was then riding an American wave of acclaim for his work on Seven, which in itself started a trend- or continued one set by Blade Runner- of heavy atmosphere and decay chic which was also very much present in Alien 3. This style found its way into Alien 4 with its inky blacks and deep shadows mixed with existential European (specifically, Gallic) humor.
9:16 ironically Darius was the cinematographer for Se7en.
Where he used similar effect, only greenish (another similar one was used in The Matrix)
Love your analysis of these films. Been a big fan of the Alien movies my whole life and I consider the original Alien film to be perfect, a true cinematic masterpiece. With regards Alien Resurrection I completely agree that the novelization of the film by A.C Crispin, based on Joss Whedon's screenplay, is a great book that gives a lot more detail, back story and fleshed out characters.
Again, a great video, thank you. I really feel like the alien became way less scary after the first movie. They looked different after that with their teeth always exposed. The first one was cool because it revealed its gnashers slowly as it curled its lips drooling like. a MF all the way.........!
The transparent lips are a feature I wish they’d bring back. That and the gyrating the head does before the pharyngeal jaw pops out, like it’s building up pressure or something.
This was my first Alien movie, quite young at a school summer camp. Fell in love with the creature design and to this day I think this had the best music. I see the flaws of it now of course, but I can look past it. Unlike with Alien 3:D
Alien 3 and 4 had the best music
Honestly, I think the tear (though I'd never seen it in Alien Resurrection) is almost an inside joke by Brad Dourif. There's no movie he appears in I can think of in which he doesn't do this. He clearly seems able to cry at will. See Lord of the Rings, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Exorcist 3, even his crazy cameo as an exterminator in Graveyard Shift. It's basically his "I'll be back" moment.
Another great presentation. A lot of fair points, giving us the good and the bad. I said in one of your previous parts that I'm not fan of this movie, but I'd never say I hate it either.
Seek out Alien: Rebirth, a fantastic fan edit that fixed a lot of the mistakes you mentioned in the video. Finally Alien Resurrection is watchable again without all the weird and funny stuff from the French director getting in the way! Go watch it!
To mutilare a director vision is not "fixing" a movie. Imagine stamping clothes in paintings with naked people and say you "fixed" them.
@@mikesantillanmx5530 no one cares about the director's vision. If its a bad movie, its a bad movie-- 'nuff said. Even Joss Whedon hated the changes and execution of his script.
@@mikesantillanmx5530 i bet you like the cartoonish bouncing bullet physics and the goofy performances huh? Some things just don't belong in an Alien movie.
Finally watched it- For once the movie felt like it belong to the franchise again! It's still nowhere near as good as the first two movies but it's the best version of Resurrection. Thanks for the recommendation. 👍
Something I've noticed about Brad Dourif is that he sheds tears in most of his film roles ... especially from his left eye.
Because he is often delivering dialogue in intense scenes, it REALLY adds to the impact of his acting. (See Exorcist 3 for example)
I'm not sure if it's something he can easily do, or if it's a tear duct problem and he just uses it to his advantage ... but cry acting is his signature move.
It's because whilst he always gives 100% his soul knows he deserves better.
The two bubblegum-chewing soldiers are also pointing their guns at each other. Maybe they should've watched more Stargate SG-1.
The ID breath thing seems entirely believable. It was probably a new, not properly thought through, technology adopted by the military for a brief minute. Abandoned on newer ships and tolerated on older ones. And this is entirely in keeping with the retro-futuristic or "used future" aesthetic. If you're this far away from home and in the middle of the infinite nowhere and nothingness of space, you're probably still using an iPod, asking Alexa what time it is, and waiting for word of Tesla building a self-driving car-while, conversely, having the technology to terraform planets, build highly sophisticated androids, and cryogenically freeze people. It's Spaceballs 101... even in the future nothing works.
I saw this in the theater like I did with 3. The former led me to go in with no expectations which was a good idea. Given the director’s other stuff it was especially frustrating since his other stuff is amazing.
"I can't say if (the cloning) is believable or not."
I do know a little about cloning. Believe me, there is NOTHING believable about the cloning in this film. At all.
I have a problem with just one scene in this movie, where the crew of the Betty are delivering and handing over their human cargo, even if they did not know exactly what they were going to be used for. Well may be Call did know.
But that scene is in a way making then from the usually lovable pirates that we could care about when they started dying, to go fuck yourself and die, pirate scum.
It is a horrible fate for an ordinary worker to wake up from cryosleep and see a facehugger staring at him.
They should've done the human cargo thing differently and this crew would have certainly endeared themselves to tve audiences, and I'll try to justify that below.
You see, the crew of the Betty may resemble a family unit. with Elgyn being the dad, Hillard is the passionate and caring mom, Christy is the cool uncle, Johner is the spoilt brat and bully, Vreiss is the child born with a defect but loved anyways but makes himself useful with other things. And lastly Call, the hot babysitter for Johner and Vreiss.
Just a thought!
Time for part 3!
I can't believe that I didn't realise till now (when I was trying to remember a scene from a movie that I've seen him in - and I still haven't yet remembered it!), I didn't realise that Dr Mason Wren - is Monk from Miller's Crossing!!
I presume you've seen it? If not it's definitely a top ten film for me and his performance is a standout in a movie of standout performances!!!
Oh, he was perfect in Miller's Crossing Fearless. Loved that movie.
@10:04 what irritates me more about this shot is that both guards are aiming their rifles directly at each others head. Also giving the bad trigger discipline of these 'soldiers' it's an accident waiting to happen. It irritates me and it takes me out of the scene
This happens pretty much throughout the movie and I thought I'd be beating a dead horse if I kept going on about the way the military is treated in this film. Thanks for pointing this out Crazy.
@@RepresentThis What Ripley said in Aliens: "did IQ's drop sharply when I was away?" seems like she was on to something because the soldiers do come of as idiots. Alien:R is bearable to watch but I agree that the tone is wrong. i have many issues with he choices made in this movie. Except for the OST, I do love the soundtrack but the movie itself is far removed from the greatness of the original trilogy. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your next video. Have a good weekend
32:36 - Bash away... I don't mind. I hated it back in 97' ('Event Horizon' was far better then).
16:38 this is fundamentally what makes the horror that Ripley experiences so intense in every movie. The Xenomorph is a relentless nightmare that damned her life to the point there was nothing left. It always plays back to back to the concept of human perversion and sins that the alien represents, both for Wayland Yutani and Fox.
God, Ive grown to loathe this film.
I've watched Alien, Alien 3 and this one at the cinema. I remember being extremely disappointed with Alien 3. When I came out from having watched Resurrection, I was just exhausted by how bad it was.
9:24 - Actually in 'Aliens' there was bluish coloring, but minor & tasteful (see how the flames there lacks yellow).
This film was so dumb. I haven't watched it since 1997 and this is bringing back all the cringe for me.
9:14 - Why indeed... Because it cut the knowledge a DP has to have on lightning & coloring. It was a step toward modern digital films where the entire lightning is processed in Post.
Our "heroes" are a bunch of scumbags who start off the movie by kidnapping random people in stasis to be sold to the military for what they have to know is nothing that is going to be beneficial to them. In fact, they'd have to know these people are going to be killed. And we're supposed to root for these people? Give a shit if they survive?
Then they introduce Johner stupidly acting like a monkey and dropping a knife in his crew mates leg. Then he gets super pissed because Call breaks the knife. He tells Call he's not a person to be fucked with. He tells us rather than the film showing us. What the film showed was him acting like an imbecile. This is really his intro?
Probably worst of all: They're on a military vessel and stumble across Ripley playing basketball. That's fine. But then she hits Johner with the ball and a backhand and because of this Christie goes into kill mode with a barbell? A hit that would kill an ordinary person or at least severely fracture their skull. They don't even know who she is. For all they know she could have been Perez's wife for fucks sake and they're just ready to kill her at the drop of a hat.
Elgyn stops trying to escape from a ship teeming with lethal aliens so he can...what? Check out a hallway? Collect some guns?
And DiStephano getting all star struck because Call is an android built by other androids? Who gives a shit? Dude, you're in the middle of a life or death situation being attacked by an alien species you've never seen before and this is the thing that makes you go "wow"? It reeks of the writer telling us we should feel this way instead of building the characters and situation so we organically feel that way without being told to.
They give us some real fucking stupid and unlikable characters and then have them do some real fucking stupid things for no explainable reason.
If you clone Ripley, you dont get her as she was at a point in time (when she had the queen inside her) you get....Ripley! Thats why this movie is so bad. The very premise it is based upon makes zero, zero sense.
A Better approach would be to make the successful cloning of a human THE prize. Ripley becomes the object of pursuit due to her hybrid nature, and the film is about her defining her new self, using and fighting both Aliens and humans.
Man is this movie based on a dumb premise.
28:44 - Poor actors... Little did they know their Director favored the creatures instead, down to every wrinkle of their skin.
And I really don't care for his reasons (or politics) - he simply missed the entire film by this.
Very enjoyable as ever Sir. Can't wait for the next instalment. Be well!
Wow I was 14 when it came out, I remember that time being already having a developed taste in cult movies and looked at the "hip n' cool" factor of Alien Resurrection with total eye rolling disdain, and I was hating the direction pop culture was taking in general, fake coolness and general dumbing down of everything.
Cloning giving you a clone with a chestburster in it/cloning carries memories are both just cretinous
Alien 4 did remind me of the Dark Horse comics in some ways, but it is the comedy Alien movie that is only sometimes funny.
So nice to revisit Star Wars and Alien series with you.
Glad you're here. We will cover every alien film sooner or later.
Brad Dourif is excellent in everything he is in.
I always felt scream and the like were lame but i dunno id rather watch that then go see the res on opening that i did
Plan 9 From Outer Space. Duh, Lol.
23:34 - nice observation
21:34 - Similar to Joss Whedon's later SF show, "Firefly". His kind of humor was not the right one for this franchise
We actually cover Firefly similarities in the final video next week. So glad you caught it. It's a foreshadow YW!
Crisis on ship but you take a dose of robstussin or NyQuil and then wham ship destroyed... Aliens earth war was a sick comic yea right ask General Thomas Spears look that comic up
I have and we might touch on the earth war when we get to Aliens Vs. Predator but there is a lot to cover about that film and I don't ever really want a 5 part video, well, unless it's John Carpenter's the Thing, maybe...
Am loving these vids for the sheer amount of detail, started with Alien3, but I will be going through the back catalogue to explore more - am loving the Return of the Jedi one too.
Thanks Paul, glad you're checking us out.
Now you mention all these titles, now I remember 1997 was also known as the “year of the entertainment war” with so many strong titles of movies and games coming out.
In the movie war there were titles like:
Men in Black
Jurassic park 2 lost world
Batman & Robin
James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies
Titanic
Anastasia
Alien resurrection
Hercules
Starship troopers
Perfect Blue (Japanese anime)
Good will hunting
Liar liar
Scream 2
I know what you did last summer
Mortal kombat annihilation
The fifth element
The Saint
And so on… these are very strong titles if looking at titles point of view.
Also games had many strong titles:
Wing commander prophecy
Blade Runner (the game)
Jack Orlando
Jedi knight
Tomb Raider II
Last Express
Broken sword 2 smoking mirrors
Outlaws
The curse of monkey island
Castlevania symphony at the night
Riven
And so on…
I could go on with the music battle too but that would be too long comment , to make it short it was between Celine Dion’s “my heart will go on” and Michael Boltons “go the distance”.
Why I mention all this is because in this video when you mention the budget battle between these movies I remember what a big hype it was with these movies back then and 1997 was really a crazy year for a 13 year old kid like I was back then with all the ads and toy commercials, it was a battle of the entertainment never seen before. Thank you for bringing these memories back to me 😊.
That's why we do it Captain. I think it's real important for people to see the movies that competed against a film during their release to contrast how talented cinema was and it also shows how movies became what they were. While some movies were drowned out others rose to the occasion and it was all about talent, which unfortunately I think films sorely lacked during the early 2020's.
@@RepresentThis yeah I agree 2020s is so far the lowest part now in this industry, and it’s looks like it’s getting lower. Oh I also didn’t like the scene with the bug and the dumb soldier it wasn’t even funny, I’m glad they didn’t have that in the theatrical cut. But it would have worked if they filmed the scene when the mosquito sucking blood from Ridley 8 and then only to be burned by her blood. I think that could have worked. I look forward to chapter 4 my friend 👍🏻
@@JohanActorOfficial Next Friday it will be ready.
The ship and weapons were horrible
I agree that the weapons were badly designed. I was going to note them in my vids but I felt like I was really bashing this movie and I wanted to be balanced in fair rather than just a take down. The weapons look like they de-evolved from Cameron's film. They look like rifles you would see on the Nostromo, not a military ship. Thanks for your returning comments based.
First time I watched Resurrection it was the Special edition, and I could not believe my eyes after I saw that opening scene. It has got to be one of the worst openings in history of film, just complete tone deafness from the director. To think he chose to shoot that scene over the mosquito scene is insane and further proof that he was an absolutely horrible choice for the series.
I think literally anyone else would have done a better job. Like, goofy comedy in an Alien movie? Are you f****** serious?
I love that video series.
The "good guys" would have played better if they didnt know what they were transport or at least the captain was the only one to know. It would have created a more interesting dynamic between the two crews and adding to the tension.
What about the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition?
“Nnndewwit, keel Herr.”
😊
The 2 soldiers chewing gum can be seen pointing their rifles at each other 😅. Very professional
Khonji is one of the greatest cinematographers ever and his job in resurrection is great and would be even greater if the tone was different.
I agree he is a great cinematographer and I love his work. And I also agree if the tone was different for the movie, it might have worked more for me. Had we been on a different environment with a different atmosphere as a reasoning for using ENR it would have won me over. However, when I see how it's used in this film it just reminds me it's an attempt to appease a director's faulty vision of a dark children's tale. Thanks, as always for your thoughts Alexander.
I would like to hear your thoughts on the upcoming Alien Romulus movie. Excellent video, looking forward to part 4!
Thanks as always Israel. I've been toying around with that idea. Sooner or later, it is my intention to cover every Alien/Predator film ever made so I'm sure I will get around to it someday.
It's really hard to talk about Alien Resurrection and say positive things. Great video 😊
True, we gave it our best shot though.
Starship troopers fuckin rules!! One of my favorite movies 😅
Lots of great stuff in that movie. It's one we will cover some day.
don't remember reading where, but at one point Kathy Bates was considered for the role of Wren (but then they would have too many famous actresses in one movie) and Angelina Jolie for the role of Call...anyone who can confirm this or read this too ?
Interesting Senne, I certainly would like to know if these things are true.
The colour is "off". What a weird thing to say. Would you say that to a painter that their colours were off? It's just weird. Also, were you saying that Seven was gimmicky visually? I'm baffled.
Different tastes are different tastes. Seven was not off as I said nothing of the kind like that in the video, but by 1997 everyone was using that method of color and yes, I would say it was tired and gimmicky by the time Alien Resurrection was released. The mood of the color was appropriate for Seven, Dark City and other such films as it matched those movies, but Alien Resurrection was following film styles of its own franchise and didn't need to copy modern film-making trends. It is what I thought then and it's still what I think now. It is in the end another person's perspective, so I hope I cleared up whatever bafflement you had on what I stated in the video. Thanks for commenting.
@@RepresentThis I never said you referred to Seven as off, but Alien Resurrection. It seemed like you were saying it was gimmicky and tired. Odd that it worked for you in Dark City, a movie that came out after this. I just think the whole argument is odd. I mean the first movie was shot anamorphic, the second was shot on Canon K35 lenses spherical, a complete departure. Just seems like people seem to do what they want with the franchise. Fincher went back and shot anamorphic for alien 3, but now says he will never shoot anamorphic again. "Off" to me says that there's something wrong with it, not an opinion.
@@BrennanMartin"Also, were you saying that Seven was gimmicky visually? I'm baffled."
I see that Alien Resurrection as off and its visually copycatting Seven. That is my opinion. Nothing more nothing less. I hold Alien to a much higher standard than Dark City so yes, I'm fine with that movie copying the aesthetic.
There are many movies that used the silver palette after Alien Resurrection that worked, even Saving Private Ryan and it fit. To use it in an alien film was lazy and trendy in my opinion. Alien and Aliens floors this film visually and that is the standard for this film, not other 90 films.
Simply disagreeing with me and giving your point is great but stating what I'm saying is weird or suggesting that I'm saying Seven was gimmicky visually is misrepresentative of what I said.
Once again, @RepresentThis you're reaching. In my first comment I asked if you said Seven was gimmicky visually. Re-listening to it, it really seems you use distain when you say Seven lol. I mean it's fine, go right ahead, but I just found it odd...
You said that aliens should be above gimmicky things like Seven did, in changing the colour. That seems like you also thing of colour grading or in the case of these older movies colour timing as a gimmick. And that you can make a movie visually appealing without such gimmicks. But every single movie you've ever seen has its colour timed or colours graded by artists and technicians to get a certain look. I guess that's why I'm confused by your point. It's like you're saying what every film does is a gimmick. Everyone manipulates contrast when grading right? I mean you're perfectly well to ignore my comments but it just felt like an odd thing to say is all.
@@BrennanMartin Believe what you want. I am not here to convert you to my thought. I told you my thoughts and then you came back at me with IT SEEMS. Then let it seem that way with you. I'm fine with disagreements, assumptions or outright ignoring my stance. I cover behind the scenes to understand why movies become the way they are and then I give MY insight to a film. I never ask others to subscribe to it. I'm just not interesting in circling a wagon around an ant hill that is being made into a mountain. Best wishes regardless.
25:35 "I love it because it's stupid" has been one of the main reason why modern media has been ruined.
I don't know why we keep letting people in charge get away with that kind of shit.
I love your work! Please keep it up, it’s fantastic! I can’t figure out why you don’t have at least 10k followers and over 15k views per video. It’s a damn shame. You have a loyal set of followers though. We’re hear for you 👍
And I will keep chugging out videos every week until we get to where you think we should be. I love you folks and I love what I'm doing so there is no reason for me to not keep trucking and hopefully it keeps you engaged. Thanks Robert.
@@RepresentThis Of course. Your hard work needs to be seen, appreciated and supported. I’m glad you enjoy your work and what you do. Thank you for sharing your skills with the public.
After 3 movies, the aliens will naturally be less scary to the audience. I think they should've abandoned the horror genre completely and leaned further into sci-fi and action.
I think your premise would have worked better than what we got.
@@RepresentThis Thanks. It's the old adage of "trying to be everything to everyone, results in nothing of value."
Loving this series of yours by the way. Looking forward to Part 4 as well as your coverage of all the later movies.
Thanks for these videos, they're great. Resurrection is a bit nostalgic for me because I was 11-12 when it came out. I had seen the other movies already and was obsessed (and terrified) with Alien, so it was awesome in my eyes at the time. As I got older I just started ignoring it from my personal canon haha, but I can still enjoy it for the weirdness and unique style. And I definitely had that PS1 game as a teenager 🔥
It doesn't matter how you feel about the movie, just what you think about it. Feeling and thinking are two different things.
We can see movies however we chose, and we encourage that here. Leave that stuff for divisive channels. We all look at films differently and it's the discussion of those different views that matter and we have zero intention of changing that format here.
Frankly, I prefer this to Alien 3. At the very least this is more fun and the characters more memorable.
Alien 3 was the movie that ruined the franchise.