Two days ago I realized I had never actually watched any of the Alien movies, except for Resurrection and vs. Predator. Both being mockeries of the series. Dan happened to buy the Alien trilogy from Target one week. We buy cheap DVDs and they tend to sit on the shelf, waiting for one of us to have a lot of free time. Summer is here, that time is now.
It’s good. Do I like everything I watch? I guess. I’m pretty adamant about reading reviews of everything so I tend to steer clear of anything being panned by critics, unless I’m fairly certain I’ll like it (Rise of the Silver Surfer for example). Rotten Tomatoes has Aliens at 100%. High percentages are fairly common for older movies, but 100% is still a good sign.
It’s got action. The weapons are still pretty cool and the xenomorphs are still interesting. It’s got special effects. It won the Academy Award in this category over twenty years ago. Do they stand up two decades later? Of course not. Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 made it through the test of time fairly well, but that was the beginning of good CGI. Puppets and miniatures will always have that quality. It’s not horrible though, which is saying a lot. And CGI or not, the queen ripping Bishop in half is still nuts (I hadn’t watched the movie in full before yesterday, but I’ve seen parts and I remember that from when I was in elementary school. P.S. I apologize if I spoiled a twenty-year old movie.)
It’s got a good plot. Good enough at least. I cared about what was happening the whole way through (it runs well over two hours). It’s got good acting. Ripley and the John Conner lead the way. Then there’s Vasquez. Michelle Rodriguez was born to play Vasquez in a remake of Aliens. Too bad there will never be a remake of Aliens, loser. “Game over man! Game over!” “We’re in the pipe, five by five.”
Here’s a YouTube link to Bishop getting ripped in half. No blood (he’s a cyborg), but not something you’d want to watch during breakfast I imagine.