Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"
I want to be excited about another ALIEN film but the idea that yet
another franchise is getting a reboot in the form of Neil Bloomkamp's
ALIEN 5 which takes place after James Cameron's ALIENS just doesn't sit
well with me. Personally I think that the Ellen Ripley story is over.
It is done and everyone needs to move on. There are a million different
stories out there to tell that have nothing to do with the Ellen Ripley
character. Dark Horse Comics has made it its life's mission to present
fans with new and creative stories and yet the stories are so dumb out
of ideas they decided it was a good idea to go back and do it again with
the same characters. Bloomkamp has so far had an amazing career with
original sci-fi ideas from DISTRICT 9 (2009) to ELYSIUM (2013) to
CHAPPIE (2015) so why waste his time going back to a well tapped out of
story.
Ripley's story was done in ALIEN 3 and despite the
stylistic change which ALIEN RESURRECTION bringing Ripley back as a
clone wasn't exactly a great idea.
After having read a
different version of the events after the movie ALIENS in the original 3
Dark Horse comics (ALIENS/ALIENS II/ALIENS: EARTH WAR) Dark Horse had
the great idea to split off into a multitude of different ideas because
the possibilities are endless. One of those ideas was the ALIEN Vs.
PREDATOR comic books not to mention the long running ALIENS: COLONIAL
MARINES.
In the current climate of Hollywood's let's just
bring back all our dead franchises (see JURASSIC WORLD, MAD MAX: FURY
ROAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, THE X-FILES, TWIN PEAKS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK,
FULL HOUSE, the list is now endless) why are we really wasting our
time. Despite the lukewarm reception of ELYSIUM and CHAPPIE there is no
denying that BloomKamp is a director with a unique vision and that's
what the sci-fi genre really needs. What it doesn't need is yet another
"reboot" of something that doesn't need a reboot or start over again.
Like
I said, I want to be excited about ALIEN 5 but I have absolutely no
interest whatsoever. I'd rather just wait for PROMETHEUS 2 which
despite all its many confusing ideas wanted to tell something new and
fresh in the same world yet not try to "reboot" anything (which is
actually slightly debatable considering how the comics did the origin of
the Xenomorphs verses how director Ridley Scott decided to ignore the
comics and do his own thing).
I'll always remain an ALIEN
fan and I'll continue to read Dark Horse's comics which are superior in
every way to the films (just pick up the 4-Part graphic novel series
"FIRE & STONE" cross-over series between ALIENS/PROMETHEUS/ALIEN VS.
PREDATOR/PREDATORS as Dark Horse tries to link the Prometheus films to
the comic book world).
Here's a little something for you fans looking forward to Bloomkamp's "vision":
http://www.scified.com/site/alien5/neill-blomkamp-releases-new-alien-5-concept-art-says-production-is-going-very-well
