“Alien” has been around quite a long time as a franchise, and every new installment that’s come out has brought some interesting and sometimes even drastic changes to the overall configuration. The films have gone through different directors, writers and general crew members, and in the end, each installment in the franchise has its own unique touch and vision.
Fans are typically more fond of the first two films that came out though, claiming that they were the strongest entries in the franchise and after that it started going downhill. And for what it’s worth, some of the people attached to the films seem to share that opinion themselves. Of course, the more recent “Alien” films still brought some interesting changes to the table and weren’t that bad, but it looks like many fans were expecting something more in general.
So, with that in mind, what can we expect from “Alien 5” once it’s ready? The film has been talked about quite a lot now, and fans have so far learned that they can expect Neill Blomkamp to give the film a unique, yet familiar touch that brings it closer to its roots which everyone seems to adore so much. That is to say, it’s possible that the new film will be quite similar to the original two entries in the franchise, and it might even form something like a trilogy together with them.
On the other hand, the director has been very careful not to have his work clashing with another major production in a similar area, “Prometheus 2”. It’s true that both films have some similarities in their premise, and there’s definitely some potential for an overlap in there, but as long as both directors coordinate their efforts and make sure that they each focus on some unique aspect, there should be no issues.
One of the things fans seem to want from “Alien 5” is a more down-to-earth representation of the Marines. These characters have gone through some drastic changes in their personalities and attitude throughout the series, and fans apparently aren’t very fond of seeing them behaving like macho “bros”, but rather enjoy a more humane performance.
A little extra action wouldn’t hurt either, and the new “Alien 5” could pull off the perfect combination of horror and explosive action, something which has been rather unique to the franchise as a whole. There is a lot of potential to make the scenes interesting and rich while keeping fans at the edges of their seats, and if the team plays its cards right, this film could be remembered for more than one of its aspects.
And even though “Alien Resurrection” wasn’t the strongest installment in the franchise – far from it – some fans and critics seem to agree that it still had its strong sides, as few as those may have been. The film introduced some interesting new ideas to the series, such as the synthetics, and some apparently want to see them returning in the new film as well.
We don’t know if that’s going to happen, and for what it’s worth, both Blomkamp and Ridley Scott seem determined to keep this film as far away from “Resurrection” and the other weaker installments as possible. This might mean disregarding some of the new ideas they introduced too, even if those ideas might have some potential to be developed further into something actually worth watching. It would be sad for those who liked the synthetics, but that’s the way the industry works.