"Alien": what to remember before watching a new film

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

On May 18, a new part of the cult franchise "Alien" will be released. The life hacker remembered the most important thing about this cinematic universe in order to prepare you for your next journey into the dark cosmic jungle.

Who is this Alien?

Alien (aka xenomorph) is a representative of an alien race. An extremely aggressive creature, constantly eager to kill, which was found by the crew of the space tug "Nostromo" on the planet LV-426.

The life cycle of an Alien consists of several stages. First, the queen lays eggs, inside of which the face-hijacking parasite develops. It hatches when a suitable prey is near the egg, pounces on it and implants an embryo into the host. After that, the face-hijacker dies, and the embryo develops inside the host within several days.

In this case, the embryo receives from the carrier genetic information that affects its appearance. For example, the result of the development of an embryo in an animal's body is the four-legged form of the Alien. A ripe embryo leaves the host's body, breaking through its chest. Then, for some time, he gains strength and turns into an adult. They are about three meters high, are black in color, and their blood is acid.

How did it all begin?

Stranger

• Director: Ridley Scott
• Great Britain, USA, 1979.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

Sci-fi, released back in 1979, not only became a cult film directed by Ridley Scott, but also managed to prove that science fiction can be scary.

The main characters in the film are the crew members of the ship "Nostromo". Having intercepted a strange signal from an unknown planet, they decided to go there to find out what and how, and eventually managed to bring the Alien onto the ship.

The picture not only gave a start to Sigourney Weaver's career, but also secured the status of a director of the first magnitude for Scott. It is noteworthy that the film itself with a prosaic plot (a closed location, inside of which one by one the crew members perish) impressed the audience, who then came to the cinema. The realistic scenery, the eerie look of the xenomorph itself, created by Rudolf Hans Giger, and the moderate cruelty for this genre made an indelible impression on the audience. That is why, seven years later, the world saw the continuation of the story of Ellen Ripley.

What is the second part of the franchise about?

Strangers

• Director: James Cameron
• Great Britain, USA, 1986.
• Duration: 137 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

Ellen Ripley managed to survive the battle with the perfect alien killing machine and was found in her capsule by rescuers. They tell her that the planet LV-426 has been colonized. Ellen has to return to where it all began, as communication with the colonists sent to the planet has been lost.

The change of director, according to many fans of the franchise, did not do her good, because Cameron did not quite understand the atmosphere of the universe and could not give the viewer a sufficient share of suspense and cruelty. At the same time, the box office was not bad and was able to ensure the creation of the third part. It came out six years later and was a flop.

The third film flopped. Something went wrong?

Alien 3

• Director: David Fincher
• USA, 1992.
• Duration: 115 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

After being rescued from a planet inhabited by xenomorphs to the eyeballs, Ellen Ripley finds herself in not the most comfortable conditions. Her ship is wrecked on the territory of the prison, which contains the universal dregs of society. Naturally, together with her, our beloved xenomorph gets there, which slowly begins to do what he does best - to kill.

Now it is difficult to imagine that the first failure will overtake the franchise precisely when David Fincher, who has never had problems with the atmosphere and history in his paintings, takes over at the helm. Triquel was destroyed by critics and fans alike. Fincher was accused of a total misunderstanding of how the franchise works, and his directorial handwriting was considered inappropriate within the universe.

However, a decent box office of $ 150 million did not stop the studio, and five years later, the fourth part was released.

And what happened in the fourth part?

Alien 4: Resurrection

• Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
• USA, 1997.
• Duration: 109 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 3.

The events of the fourth part unfold 200 years after the mess on the prison planet. A group of scientists decides to clone Ellen Ripley in order to get a baby monster with her help. But, as usual, things get out of hand. And now the entire crew of the space laboratory becomes an object of hunting, and once the cub itself begins to give birth to offspring from a cross between a man and a xenomorph.

Apparently, by increasing the budget of the film and again changing the director, the studio wanted to revive the franchise, but nothing came of it. The fourth part is still considered the biggest mistake of the project creators. Neither fans nor critics could find anything that made Ridley Scott's film in love with. However, as it turned out, we were destined to plunge into this story again, albeit 15 years later.

How did the start of a new story turn out?

Prometheus

• Director: Ridley Scott
• USA, UK, 2012.
• Duration: 124 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

Ridley Scott decided to return to where it all began. However, the director's initial desire to make a prequel to the 1979 film out of Prometheus faded into the background - the picture can be considered an independent unit within the cult universe.

The film itself tells about a group of scientists who travel to distant corners of the Universe in search of sacred knowledge. It is they who are destined to approach the mystery of the alien and experience all the fear and horror on themselves.

The film was received relatively warmly by critics, and was praised for its cinematography and visuals. However, the very story he told was condemned for being too bombastic and overly deviating from the canons of the franchise. But this did not stop the picture from collecting 400 million dollars worldwide.

Wait, you forgot about the movie "Alien vs. Predator"

Alien vs. Predator

• Director: Paul W. C. Anderson.
• USA, UK, Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, 2004.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 6.

This is the most incomprehensible phenomenon associated with "Alien". The only thing that brings the film closer to Scott's universe is the presence of a xenomorph. The picture, which was created solely in order to get into our wallets, pitted two famous characters in battle. True, this battle turned out to be ridiculous. The film is remembered as one of the key mistakes in the film industry in recent times, even though its fees and exceeded the budget twice.

What to expect from a new picture? Is it worth watching?

Alien: Covenant

• Director: Ridley Scott
• USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, 2017.
• Duration: 122 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

As Scott himself announced two years ago, "Testament" is not only a direct sequel to "Prometheus", but also a conditional start of a new trilogy with a universe that will be as close in spirit to the original film as possible.

The plot is built around the crew of the colonial ship "Testament" arriving on the planet, which is considered an unexplored paradise. In fact, this is a dangerous world in which the lonely synthetic android David lives. He is the only survivor of the Prometheus expedition.

Critics who have seen the film praise him for his decent level of drama and Scott's desire to satisfy the desires of fans of the original film. Sounds more than inspirational.