Neil
Blomkamp's plans for an "Alien" sequel recently surfaced, and drummed
up enough attention to get him placed at the forefront of a bona fide
new "Alien" project. This set off the usual round of debates over what
that meant for the franchise, particularly in light of Ridley Scott's
existing plans for his "Prometheus" sequel. There was also some smaller
discussion of what it meant for Blomkamp, whose latest original
science-fiction film "Chappie" has been floundering at the domestic box
office. It used to be that a promising director taking on a big,
franchise film was seen at best as a stepping stone to something better,
or an unfortunate detour at worst. Unless they originated the
franchise, it was inevitable that the directors of James Bond films and
"Superman" films and even "Star Wars" films would be lower-profile
talents, who would often end up being best known for those lesser
sequels.
This changed as franchise films became
blockbusters, of course, and we started seeing longer film series lke
"Harry Potter" and reboots of older series like "Star Trek" and "Planet
of the Apes." Since Jim Cameron made "Aliens" back in 1986 it was
recognized that a director could turn out a good, memorable sequel with
their own personal stamp on it, but it wasn't until you had well
established names like Alphonso Cuaron making "Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban" and Ang Lee doing a "Hulk" movie without any
discernible negative impact on their careers, that the stigma of sequel
work really dissipated. While franchise films and reboots are still
often handed to newcomers like Colin Trevorrow ("Jurassic Park") or
dependable workhorse directors like Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale,"
"Green Lantern"), these days we've also got Sam Mendes directing the
latest Bond films and Kenneth Branagh getting his best notices in years
for "Cinderella." And it feels like a mutually beneficial development
when Rian Johnson gets to make one of the highly anticipated new "Star
Wars" films, or Paul Feig agree to help revive the "Ghostbusters"
series.
While "Alien" fans might not have Neil
Blomkamp as their first choice to be helming a new "Alien" movie, and
Blomkamp fans might be wary of the director choosing a franchise project
over something original, as someone with some experience on both sides
it looks like a pretty good match of talent and material to me. More
importantly, the timing is right. Though "Prometheus" has its
defenders, and everyone appears to be committed to making "Prometheus
2," it didn't galvanize much passion from general audiences, leaving the
"Alien" movies in a bit of a slump. Also, "Chappie" is Blomkamp's
second disappointment after the massive critical and financial
success "District 9." He's certainly capable of putting a good looking
science fiction movie together, but he might do better working off of
other people's scripts and concepts for a while. So Neil Blomkamp
making "Alien 5" (or is it "Alien 7"?) could help both the franchise and
the director.
There have been many cases where
similar pairings haven't worked out, of course. Guillermo Del Toro
wasted far too much time on "The Hobbit" and Edgar Wright deciding to
part with "Ant-Man" is downright tragic. The "Alien" franchise has been
a notoriously difficult one, resulting in the worst films on the
resumes of David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Then again, neither of
those directors had much experience with science-fiction and have
mostly stayed out of the genre since. Neil Blomkamp cut his teeth on
the best alien-themed film in a decade. What gives me more cause for
concern is his ability to maintain the darker horror/thriller tone, and
possibly insisting on bringing along Sharlto Copley. Well, maybe that
wouldn't be such a bad thing. Copley would make a good successor to
Paul Reiser as a slimeball Weyland-Yutani suit.
Best
case scenario is that Blomkamp's "Alien" movie goes well, and he gains
the experience and the clout to move on and make more original projects
like Paul Greengrass after the "Bourne" sequels or Christopher Nolan
after rehabilitating Batman. Crossing paths with a major franchise can
be a good career choice, and it's become impossible to discuss the work
of some major directors without also discussing their contributions to
the blockbuster culture. A sad sign of the times? Maybe sometimes, but
not always.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment