The Alien franchise has attracted many directors to carry on the Ridley Scott legacy. James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean Pierre-Jeunet have all offered their vision to Ripley’s space romp as she fights off the Xenomorphs; each to varying success (good, OK and “what the fuck?”) However you stand on which one is better, it’s clear that Scott had created a blockbuster series that has transcended generations and frightening people ever since the first chest bursting seen. And then he did Prometheus.
Feeling as though he wiped away all his hard work (certainly, lately, it feels as though he’s having a mid-life film crisis) Prometheus was a terrible product singed into our minds with it’s over complicated premise and squandering of great actors. As the sequel is coming, how we don’t know, it seems only fair that another director should step into the helm and bring us his own take on the Alien franchise.
Enter, Neill Blomkamp who has been teasing us for weeks with his conceptual vision of an Alien film. Begging for more it’s great to see that Fox has eagerly lapped up all his ideas and now the wheels are in motion to tackle this resurgence for the new Alien film. Blomkamp is more famed for his genius District 9 and the powerful, albeit over-long, Elysium film as well as the upcoming Chappie which looks to be equally grand. His concept art has excelled and reviving our love for Alien (like it ever went but, hey, Resurrection did a lot of damage). Blomkamp has delivered spectacular visuals with his sci-fi escapades whilst also enhancing them with gritty human spirit. The new direction feels right for us and a step in a better direction.
Look, nothing can be as bad as Prometheus.