the original Alien is better than Aliens

shadowcomplex

alot of action fans will disagree but for all round eerieness you cant beat Alien, who agrees

Outkast_IRE

I believe they are equally good in their own areas, the reason james cameron made aliens into an action pic is because he knew nobody could beat the original ALIEN at its own game, so he decided to make a totally different type of movie to follow it up.

I honestly love the first too equally.

Mint Sauce

Without a shawdow of a doubt, and has totally stood the test of time, has not aged at all. Was even going to watch it again tonight.

Remember seeing the chest burst scene as a 14 year old. Have loved it since then.

krudler

Love them both, Alien is a better film in that sense but Aliens is more fun to watch. both amazing though.

Paparazzo

Aliens is a great movie, but Alien is even better.

shadowcomplex

how does the thing compare to alien, another great movie

Tipsy McSwagger

I watched both in the last week on blu ray and it's just too hard to separate them. They are both masterpieces, one in suspense and one in action.

Creature

I do prefer Alien but wouldn't say one is "better" than the other as such. They're both superbly well made films just quite different to each other. The only thing that annoys me about Aliens is the rather simplistic soldier characters. Whereas Alien is as close to a perfect film that I can think of. I can't think of anything offhand that I dislike about it, and as said before it has aged beautifully.

johnny_ultimate

I'm always perplexed at why people get so wound up about this argument, but then again I only like rather than love both films. Ones is a well directed horror film, the other a well directed action film. I'd watch the more innovative, atmospheric first rather than the bombastic second if the choice was necessary, but wouldn't be too bothered either way. But since I consider them merely very competent genre entertainment rather than timeless masterpieces, I'm in a silent minority.

godspal

@Tipsy McSwagger totally agree.

Consider how they both ended:

Alien - Fights Android, tortures Android, cage-ily flees from the Nostromo. And then kills Alien by blasting him into space, and burning in the engines.
Aliens - The nail-biting bit with the automated turrets, then the fleeing to the ship, a nuclear explosion and then the fighting in the massive exo-skeleton against the queen.

Chalk and cheese.

I still think Aliens is one of James Cameron's finest film, every time I watch it I say to myself: "Its better then T-2." Then I watch T-2: "Oh I don't know... Very close."

@johnny_ultimate You haven to consider that both these films are possibly deeply influential films in each of their genres.
Jesus Aliens popularised the Space Marine as a Sci-Fi concept.

mikhail

godspal wrote: »

...Jesus Aliens popularised the Space Marine as a Sci-Fi concept.

Maybe in cinema. There's any number of highly regarded older SF novels which could make that claim.

Nolanger

It the terror from beyond space!

mike65

True, Alien is a total rip-off of "It...." but that doesn't stop it (er!) being a tremendous film in its own right. Same goes for Aliens though. The first is all about atmosphere and creeping
tension the latter - slam bang action.

Zombienosh

shadowcomplex wrote: »

alot of action fans will disagree but for all round eerieness you cant beat Alien, who agrees

You said it yourself, "action fans" Aliens was more of a balls out action flick, marines blowin **** up.
The original Alien was a terrifying horror movie based on a suspenseful Cat & mouse scenario.

Mickeroo

Along with The Thing, Alien is probably one of the finest suspenseful horror films ever made in my eyes. Then Aliens is such a great action movie, I've never reakky thought about which is better before. If I had to sit down and watch one now it'll always be the 2nd one just for balls out entertainment more than anything.

Goldstein

godspal wrote: »

Jesus Aliens popularised the Space Marine as a Sci-Fi concept.

mikhail wrote: »

Maybe in cinema. There's any number of highly regarded older SF novels which could make that claim.

Yep, I think Heinlein deserves that particular accolade - His Hugo award winning and hugely influentialStarship Troopers was published in 1959.

Then there's Haldeman's The Forever War (1974), Drake's Hammer's Slammers (1979), Steakley's Armor (1984) to name a few others.

I love both movies but Aliens is endlessly rewatchable. It's not just a great action movie either - there is no action for half its length thanks to that geniously crafted suspenseful buildup.

Tipsy McSwagger

Slightly off topic but I watched Alien 3 last night (extended cut) and it really is as terrible as everyone says. God I was bored to death.

Bullseye1

Agreed, Alien is the better of the two. I do like Aliens as well and am looking forward to seeing Prometheus when released.

Galvasean

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

I believe they are equally good in their own areas, the reason james cameron made aliens into an action pic is because he knew nobody could beat the original ALIEN at its own game, so he decided to make a totally different type of movie to follow it up.

I honestly love the first too equally.

^^ This x infinity.

krudler

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Slightly off topic but I watched Alien 3 last night (extended cut) and it really is as terrible as everyone says. God I was bored to death.

I love Alien 3, again its completely different to the first two. Its bleak as hell throughout and basically renders the events in Aliens as pointless from the opening credits once

Newt and Hicks are dead

, but I like it anyway. Fincher had to work on a film with no finished script and studio interference, which for a first time director taking on an iconc franchise must have been nervewracking. Resurrection is tripe though.

Duggy747

I don't choose one over the other considering they're 2 different films. One horror, one action, both classics.

I do find it easier to rewatch Aliens, though, because Alien is a film which I don't want to dull the horror moments from over-watching. Plus, everyone has that one movie they know inside out which is Aliens for me.

I liked Alien 3 Director's Cut. Definitely not a shìt movie at all considering Fox's best intentions to ram it into the ground.

You could almost have the same discussion about Terminator 1 & 2 in regards to this topic.

Necronomicon

Duggy747 wrote: »

I do find it easier to rewatch Aliens, though, because Alien is a film which I don't want to dull the horror moments from over-watching. Plus, everyone has that one movie they know inside out which is Aliens for me.

Same here. I would find it nigh on impossible to separate them in terms of preferences, but have seen Aliens far more times for the same reasons.

I would love to have been able to sit in a theatre watching a newly released Alien without knowing what the Xenomorph was.

Tipsy McSwagger

krudler wrote: »

I love Alien 3, again its completely different to the first two. Its bleak as hell throughout and basically renders the events in Aliens as pointless from the opening credits once

Newt and Hicks are dead

, but I like it anyway. Fincher had to work on a film with no finished script and studio interference, which for a first time director taking on an iconc franchise must have been nervewracking. Resurrection is tripe though.

Once it becomes clear that

Ripley has the Queen foetus inside her and is now invincible then it loses that tension that the first 2 films had. Its ridiculous that halfway through the film we know that Ripley will not be harmed by the Alien. I think the story should have Ripley is saved by the doctor and then she has to battle the alien aswell as the prisoners

. I liked the first 45 minutes but then was bored to death.

krudler

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Once it becomes clear that

Ripley has the Queen foetus inside her and is now invincible then it loses that tension that the first 2 films had. Its ridiculous that halfway through the film we know that Ripley will not be harmed by the Alien. I think the story should have Ripley is saved by the doctor and then she has to battle the alien aswell as the prisoners

. I liked the first 45 minutes but then was bored to death.

Yeah the setup is good, different Ripley, shes not the same one from the first 3 movies, if you watch it with that in mind it could have been a decent sci fi movie but its gash, the one good scene

with Ripley seeing the failed clones of herself and torching them with a flamethrower

is ruined with a stupid one liner at the end of it, "this is took dark, throw in a joke!"

Mickeroo

krudler wrote: »

Yeah the setup is good, different Ripley, shes not the same one from the first 3 movies, if you watch it with that in mind it could have been a decent sci fi movie but its gash, the one good scene

with Ripley seeing the failed clones of herself and torching them with a flamethrower

is ruined with a stupid one liner at the end of it, "this is took dark, throw in a joke!"

Tipsy's talking about Alien 3 and you're talking about Alien Resurrection?

krudler

Mickeroo wrote: »

Tipsy's talking about Alien 3 and you're talking about Alien Resurrection?

oops,I skimmed the spoiler bit and thought he was talking about the beginning of Resurrection, they wont kill her in that either