Age of the Geek

By: 
Travis Fischer

Alien autopsy
    Two months ago, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who directed “District 9” and the upcoming “Chappie,” posted some pictures to his Instagram account that showed off some concept art for a potential movie in the “Alien” franchise he had been working on in his downtime.
    In one of the posts, Blomkamp wrote, “Was working on this. Don’t think I am anymore. Love it though,” suggesting that this leaked concept art would simply be evidence of a movie that never was, as frequently happens in Hollywood.
    However, all that changed last week.
    In what has to be one of the most unassuming major film announcements in history, Blomkamp posted another picture of an alien xenomorph with the caption, “Um… So I think it’s officially my next film.”
    And with that, a new “Alien” movie is officially in development.
    Why am I excited about this?
    No, really, why? It’s a legitimate question. The original “Alien” is a great film and its sequel, “Aliens” is one of my favorite movies of all time. But let’s face facts, “Aliens” came out in 1986 and in the almost three decades since nobody has made a film that even approaches its level.
    “Alien 3” was a disaster plagued with script rewrites, studio interference, and haphazard development. You know things have gone terribly wrong with a movie when the studio eventually gives up and re-edits the thing decades later.
    “Alien: Resurrection” fared little better. The movie’s director didn’t speak English and not even Joss Whedon could write a script that could save the film. And he tried.
    It’d be seven years before the franchise returned from the big screen, this time with one of the most anticipated crossovers in movie history, “Aliens vs. Predator.” Unfortunately, this time the film was put in the hands of Paul W. S. Anderson, the man responsible for the decade long train wreck that has been the “Resident Evil” movie franchise. And just like with the “Resident Evil” movies, “Aliens vs. Predator” ignored the wealth of source material available and instead focused on being as generic and cliché as possible.
    By 2007, the state of the franchise was so low that “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” went by almost unnoticed. And while I kind of liked the movie, it definitely felt more like a SyFy Original than a major motion picture.
    Even “Prometheus,” directed by Ridley Scott himself, failed to restore this franchise to its former glory. I wanted to love “Prometheus,” I really did, but that movie was a mess. It has a solid beginning and a solid end, but everything in between is nonsense.
    So here we are. Can Neill Blomkamp do what nobody since James Cameron has managed? Are we on the verge of a new era of good “Alien” movies, or is this going to be yet another in a long line of missteps?
    The next movie is planned to follow Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus 2,” but it’s hard to say whether this is a good sign or a bad one. Scott has lost a lot of good will. “Prometheus 2” will either correct past mistakes or cement them further. I suppose that will indicate what can be expected of other future entries.
    Is there still life in the franchise, or should we nuke it from orbit, just to be sure?
    Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and is ever the optimist.

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