Garrett’s Grumblings – What The Hell Does Neill Blomkamp Have In Store For Alien 5?

After months of speculation, it is finally set in stone: Neill Blomkamp is directing a new entry in the Alien franchise, which is currently going by the title of Alien 5. With Sigourney Weaver all but confirmed to return as Ellen Ripley and speculation circulating that Michael Biehn has been contacted about reprising his role of Corporal Hicks, it would seem that Alien 5 is moving on the fast end of the tracks. But is this a good thing or bad thing?

Don’t get me wrong. I have no inclination that the movie is going to suck. What I am saying is how Blomkamp got the gig, and what propelled him to this spot, leads a lot to be desired.

Let me backtrack and explain how I came to this position. A few months ago, Blomkamp, who was perhaps sensing his film Chappie -which ironically co-stars Ripley herself Sigourney Weaver- wasn’t getting the buzz he was expecting, posted pictures on his Instagram showing concepts he has had for quite awhile as pertains to a brand new Alien film. As you can see, the concepts are…interesting. But there have been a million concepts which are fantastic in early stages only to crumble by the end. Hell, director Wes Craven has made an entire career out of them. I guess what I am saying is the concepts here did not impress me in the least, and it would take a hell of a lot more than these pictures to get me excited for a brand new film in a franchise which I make no bones about holding near and dear to my heart. Not to mention, how many of these concepts are posted over the years with the headline ‘what might have been?’ It is a tired part of film journalism, and one which I quite frankly wish would go away.

The pictures created buzz, and a couple months later -two weeks before the release of Chappie– the studio announced that Blomkamp had indeed been tapped to write and direct the next entry in the Alien franchise, with Weaver voicing her approval. And quite possibly holding out announcing her involvement until the higher brass can put some more money on the table for her to return.

It cannot be said more that I hate how I feel about this. But Blomkamp would seem to have gotten this job by creating an uproar and getting the studio to cave in to his wishes. With concepts I have no real confidence in to begin with, I have a hard time standing by this decision. Though now that he has the job he so begged for, I am hoping the guy has something magnanimous for us to sink our teeth into.

Please do not get me wrong. I am in no shape or form saying I don’t like and respect the man. District 9, while I felt a tad overrated, did a fantastic job of making low budget science fiction look more expensive than it was. And as much hate that Elysium gets, I happen to like it even more than District 9, with some great action and commentary which makes you think. But how these two films in any shape or form can make anyone think Blomkamp could make a good Alien film is far beyond me. His social commentaries are right in your face at all times, and the strength in the best Alien films is that the imagery works in the onscreen fury’s favor, while at the same time making you uncomfortable about what it is trying to say. The latter part Blomkamp covered with Chappie, a movie which is a mess of bad plot holes and contains a worse ending battle than that of Iron Man 2.

When thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that where Blomkamp is right now could in a few ways be compared to where David Fincher was when he took on Alien 3. Both have done good work up until they nabbed the Alien gigs (Fincher had done Madonna’s most popular music videos as well as Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got A Gun), and I would say both their views of the world are pretty much on the exact same level.

Speaking of Fincher, this would lead me to the most controversial part of Blomkamp’s hiring. Blomkamp himself has said he wants the film to be the ‘genetic sibling of Aliens.’ He added he wants the Alien universe to read as so: Alien, Aliens, and his film. Which in essence means that Blomkamp was looking to Superman Returns his film into the franchise. I feel ignoring all that was done in the third -and yes, even the fourth- films in the franchise would be a terrible way to go. It discounts all Ripley had to go through in Alien 3 as not only did she lose Hicks, but once again the little girl she was supposed to keep safe died and she had to live with that fact. It makes the way the Alien got inside her mean that much more, as she was going to, in one way or another, be a mom again (the Director’s Cut of Aliens reveals that Ripley did in fact have a daughter who died while she was out in space). Blomkamp has since retracted those statements saying that no film in the franchise is going to be ignored, maybe as a result of the backlash his comments caused.

Which brings up the most obvious question of all: just what is Blomkamp thinking he can do with the two characters in his concepts? Hicks is dead, and Ripley not only died right onscreen in 3, she was cloned with the Alien Queen still growing inside her in Alien Resurrection. While it is true that science fiction allows more leniency than any genre, there are only so many liberties which can be taken. And don’t even get me started on how much I dread his social commentaries showing up in all scenes involving Weyland Yutani.

There is one more thing to think about when it comes to Alien 5, and that is the fact that Ridley Scott is still prepping Prometheus 2. So where does this lead that project, and how will they all fit together? It is conceivable that there will be a year when we see two Alien films in one year. And even as a huge fan of the series, I think that would be too much.

I know what you are thinking right now: I sound like any and all of those pesky people who all but revolted when they learned JJ Abrams got the gig to direct Episode VII. With how recent this announcement is, it is foolish to speculate just what we can expect from Alien 5. But Blomkamp seemed to be so dead set on getting the gig that he took all sorts of roads to get there. It almost reminded me of the stories about Sean Young dressing up as Catwoman and trying to stalk Tim Burton into hiring her for the role in Batman Returns. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but you get my drift. Now that he has his way, let’s see what the big shot has up his sleeve.