The Prequel... It's Importance In Movies

Don't get me wrong I mean the original series of movies are always fantastic, and even after decades and (well this is true in horror movies...) But after the first one starts to loose it's relevance to the overall series... But the truth is, is there is an element of both Science Fiction and Horror movies that are great that uptil recently seems to have been ignored in favor of a remake... That is the Prequel!

Now you might be wondering why the prequel is so important... Well in the case of horror movies, the prequel kind of it seems takes the place of remakes real nicely... And well let's be honest, a lot of people would say that horror movie remakes for the most part pretty well suck... Well I would agree with them that there is an inordinate amount of crap out there, but where as not all remakes have the capacity to stand on their own, a lot of prequels (as long as they are done right,) tend to be able to stand on their own!

A great example of this I have recently discovered is, Prometheus (2012)!

Prometheus... A great prequel to an amazing movie series!

Now I will be honest with you guys and say that, Prometheus is not as good as the original Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) vehicle, (The truth is, is they just don't make movies at that caliber anymore...) Never the less, this movie is an absolutely fun time, and helps bring in to focus certain plot hole elements that have periodically surfaced through out the run of the first four movies.

Now let me ask you guys this, if Ridley Scott had decided to remake his classic original movie instead of turning the movie in to an awesome prequel, would, Prometheus have been as good as it turned out to be?

The answer is most definitive no! I can't predict the future, but the truth is, is that there is no actress or actor on the planet right now that could have brought to the character of, 'Ellen Ripley', that Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters), brought to the world (I am not saying this because I am a fan of her work... I am saying this for the same reason that Jackie Earle-Haley just couldn't bring to, 'Freddy Krueger' what Robert Englund (Urban Legends) did!)

Jackie Earle Haley may be a great actor... But when it comes to, 'Freddy Krueger'... Robert Englund will always be the master!

Before I continue on, let me explain what I mean...

If you are a fan of the, 'Nightmare movies' then you have seen all of the original series in which, 'Robert Englund' dominated the role of, 'Freddy Krueger'! A few years ago, instead of doing another sequel, it was decided to do a remake of the first movie, and to bring in, Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) to replace Robert Englund as, 'Freddy Krueger'!

Ultimately that decision proved to be a pretty awful one, considering the fact that the movie was a box office flop, and there not only has not been another Nightmare movie that has come out, but it looks like there is not going to be another to come out any time in the near future!

Ultimately I guess what I am trying to say is this... Prequels in the whole (as long as they are done right), keep to the continuity of the original story line real nicely, and even if they end up loosing the main talent for that movie, over all, story wise it should be a fun experience!

Prometheus (2012) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="353"] Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]

In history there has been few confirmed confusingly created movies… A couple of examples of this are as follows:

For many years there had been different attempts to create a great crossover movie between Jason Voorhees (of the, ‘Friday The 13th’ franchise fame) and Freddy Krueger (of the, ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ franchise fame), but it wasn't until New Line released, Freddy Vs. Jason (2003) that we saw the first and only studio sanctioned crossover of two of Hollywood’s greatest villains! (There has been some loose attempts to create Ash from, ‘The Evil Dead’ series as a crossover with both, ‘Jason’ & ‘Michael Myers’, as well as Leatherface mixing it up with some of these guys in print (as a matter of fact I have heard of a script that had been created to have Ash going to war against Jason, but nothing ever came to fruition on that.)

Another great example of this would be Indiana Jones part 4… Before George Lucas (Star Wars) and Steven Spielberg (Jaws) came out with, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008), there had been many different but unfortunately failed attempts since, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, came out in 1989.

And the next example I have for you is the movie, Prometheus (2012). Now before I go in to this movie let me give you a little background on the series as whole…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Some of the crew of the, 'Prometheus' as they are investigating the history of humanity on one of the Aliens planets![/caption]

Prometheus is a prequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, ‘Alien’. Now this movie (obviously of course with Ghostbusters as well) helped to catapult Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) in to legendary status in the horror community (what with having done the first 4 Alien movies (as well as all of the currently released Ghostbuster movies…)

Then oddly enough, the producers or whomever decided to take the series in a whole different direction and had the movie more centralized around the Xenomorphs (the aliens from the, ‘Alien’ movie series) and the Predators from the movie, ‘Predator’ movie series and the war that they seemed to wage against each other in the, ‘Alien Vs. Predator’ movie series!

Fortunately though we were given the opportunity to go back to the classic original series (how the original series connects with the Alien Vs. Predator series… I don’t know, but some times you just have to take the good with the bad and admit that the Alien series is as good now as it was when it was first released over 30 years ago!

As for Prometheus though… This movie (which brought Ridley Scott back to the movie series) and which starred Noomi Rapace (The Girl With Dragon Tattoo), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Logan Marshall-Green (Devil), Charlize Theron (Monster), Idris Elba (Janek), Guy Pierce (L.A. Confidential), does bring us back to the classic original series… But instead of starting where the original left off, Prometheus, attempts to explain how the story of how the, ‘Xenomorphs’ and humanity actually got in to contact initially with each other…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The expedition team as they investigate the Alien outpost![/caption]

You see this movie posits the idea that mankind had been genetically engineered by a significantly more advanced race, and when evidence of where these Aliens might be, the Scientists who make the discovery ultimately decide to utilize the aide of Peter Weyland (Pierce) the ailing founder of the eventually dreaded, ‘Company’, ‘Weyland-Yutani Corporation’ (this company would play a major role in some ways for bringing Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and the Xenomorphs together in the first 2 Alien movies)

Anyway, ultimately once the mission is under way and the crew have made it to the planet that may help to explain humanities origins, they discover a threat that is significantly worse than they could have ever imagined when they discover not only the origins of mankind, but the origins of the Alien species that would go on to make Ripley’s life a living hell centuries later!

Now I really enjoyed this movie (this is one of my favorite movie series), but the reality, is that chronologically you would have to do away with the Alien Vs. Predator movie series for this movie to make sense. Also… This movie does give insight in to where the Xenomorphs came from (just not why the face huggers are so big, and what happened to those little worm Aliens that were so popular in the original Alien series… Also there appears to be little to no correlation as to the Companies knowledge of the first mission (You would think with how the first mission turned out that they would have instructed the, ‘Nostromo’ crew a little better in how to capture the, ‘Xenomorph’ in Ripley’s time.

But I will admit that despite the plot holes in this movie, it is a fun one and if you are a fan of the series, then it is definitely worth owning, and if you are looking for a fun exciting Sci-fi movie to really sink your teeth in to, then this is certainly one of them!

http://youtu.be/sftuxbvGwiU

Alien (1979) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="300"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

The Alien series... What can I say about this series? I mean one for one just about every major player in this series' careers have been helped by this series, including Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters), Ridley Scott (Prometheus), Dan O'Bannon (Total Recall), and even Walter Hill (The Warriors) to name a few!

Now as for Alien.... I personally think this movie is fantastic because I found the special effects to be so realistic that the various Aliens that were created for this movie could be what at least some of the Alien life that is out there could be like in real life!

I also found that the writing was fantastic, and the story was great!

I also found that the acting was so realistic that one could almost say... (A look at the future of space travel maybe?)

And that is just a small fraction of what makes, Alien great!

Written by: Dan O'Bannon and Directed by: Ridley Scott. Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt (The Rookie), Veronica Cartwright (Invasion Of the Body Snatchers), Harry Dean Stanton (Repo Man), John Hurt (1984), Ian Holm (The Fifth Element), Yaphet Kotto (Freddy's Dead), Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton (Phase IV), and Eddie Powell (The Oblong Box).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="485"] Some of the crew of the, 'Nostromo' as they are prepping to investigate the, 'Moon' that, 'Mother' sent them to![/caption]

Alien tells the story of how during their ride home, 'Mother' (the name for the computer on the freighter, 'Nostromo'), wakes up the crew from being in hypersleep to investigate a distress signal that she has detected!

So they take their Drop Ship down to investigate this call.

When they arrive on the planet, Captain Dallas (Skerritt) takes a team that includes, Lambert (Cartwright), and Kane (Hurt) to investigate the location of the signal... Now while they are there, Kane is attacked by an Alien that latches itself on to Kane's face!

Now in a hurry, Dallas and Lambert take Kane back to the ship, but Ripley (Weaver), won't let them in until they have gone through quarantine, (at this point both Lambert and Dallas are in a panic to get their shipmate in to the sickbay.)

So their carryon android, 'Ash' (Holm) decides to break quarantine and let Dallas and their team on to the ship!

Now after Dallas and the crew get Kane to the sickbay onboard the mother ship and discover that they can't get the alien off of his face without killing Kane, the Alien comes off by itself!

So Kane and the crew of the ship decide to sit down to a meal before heading back to hypersleep. While they're eating their meal, a new Alien bursts out of Kane's body (killing him). Now the crew of the ship are going to have to capture this Alien, before the Alien begins to feed off the rest of the crew!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"] Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) as he is about to meet his end![/caption]

If you guys haven't had a chance to see this movie yet, or if you haven't seen this movie in a while, then this one is more than worth it!

http://youtu.be/LjLamj-b0I8