"I ADMIRE ITS PURITY"

Ash. Alien (1979)

Why am I not more excited by this film?

Growing up I was the biggest fan of the Alien films. Alien was atmospheric and creepy, Aliens was a white-knuckle action film. I'm one of the few people who actually enjoy Alien 3, an underrated thriller plagued by behind-the-scenes drama (so much so that it's miraculous they wrestled a film out of it at all). Less said about Alien Resurrection the better, and then the Aliens Vs Predator franchise killed the thing stone dead... Story over, or so I thought.

Then, out of nowhere, there's talk of starting over with a remake. Then talk of Ridley Scott and James Cameron working together for a sequel. I dismissed that as 'too good to be true', and indeed it was. But the rumors of Scott still being on for the project persisted. Then they were confirmed, for a prequel. I was interested. It was an obvious decision really; if you can't go forward, go backwards.

Then something strange happened. Suddenly it wasn't an Alien project at all, it was unrelated. Then it was. And then it wasn't again. Finally it 'was and it wasn't'. Glad they cleared that up.



So this is where we are now: it's set in the same world as Alien, before the first Alien film, but it won't feature the Alien. They (by this I mean the cast and Ridley Scott himself) still pretentiously proclaim that it's not a prequel. that's an argument for another day, and probably worth a post in its own right*.

From what I gather, an expedition is assembled to investigate the possibility that UFOs had come to our planet during the dawn of mankind- and are possibly responsible for our being here. They trace the UFO to a distant planet by deciphering the clues in caveman paintings and stumble across the crashed ship from the first Alien film. From that point in the proverbial 'shit hits the wall'.



Nice idea. It's had an intriguing viral marketing campaign, it's got a top-notch cast including Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Guy Pearce, a spooky trailer (no coincidence that it's very similar to the first Alien trailer, and I'm positive that's the same music), a director who (despite some absolute turkeys in his career) I still admire, and it's set in a world that i adore.

So, again I ask you, Why am I not more excited by this film?



Is it that I can't get my head around it being set in the same world as Alien, only without the titular monster? Is it that it just looks a bit self-important? Is it that I'm pretty sure I can already see where the film will draw it's conclusion (that like the Alien of the previous films, the human race are some form of biological weapon)? Is it that I've lost faith in Scott as a director after Kingdom Of Heaven and Robin Hood? Is it that I hear the studio is forcing them to cut it at a 12A to get a bigger audience?

What the hell is my problem? I should be eating this up.



Anyway, here's the three minute trailer. Hope you enjoy it more than I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIJeQNyZ6VE&feature=relmfu

* A note for Ridley Scott (I'm sure he'll read this at some point). If it's set in the same world, features some of the same characters, the same technology, and the same ship, then it's a prequel. End of argument really. That, and you've had to credit the original writers of the first Alien film, which also confirms that this is indeed a prequel... Enjoy your millions, don't mess this up!




And just what the hell is this???