Seven years after the release of the horror classic that redefined the genre comes James Cameron’s “Aliens” and while it sacrificed the horror aspect of the first film for intense action and gunplay, it is held near and dear to fans of the franchise and is hailed as one of the most epic and inspiring action films of its time. In the decades to come we would see many science fiction films drawing influence not only from its production and action, but also the ‘look’ of the space marines, (whose influence was initially drawn from the novel “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein). While this film is drastically different than its predecessor, it fits perfectly with the series and is held as a standard for what sequels should be. With intense action, a great story, and characters that are as memorable as the movie itself, “Aliens” delivers on every level and gave fans what they were craving: more Aliens. We will be covering the special edition of this film and as always – if you have not yet seen it, beware of some spoilers.
“Aliens” starts off with the escape vessel that was jettisoned from the Nostromo at the the end of the first film being picked up by a salvage crew looking for a payload only to find a cryo-tube holding a lady in stasis: Ripley. Taking her back to the space station orbiting Earth, they put Ripley under medical surveillance, astonished at how she survived as she was presumed dead along with her comrades. As it turns out, Ripley had been in stasis for 57 years since the events of the first film, somehow drifting through the core space systems going unnoticed by civilization.
In the hospital we meet Carter Burke, a Company (Weyland Yutani) man who informs Ripley of her unusually long stasis and the happenings since the disaster of the Nostromo -of which Ripley will be sent to a court hearing surrounding her actions in the ship’s self-destruct initiation and inevitable loss of the multimillion dollar ship, being questioned on her motives and story. As she explains the trouble the crew encountered and the ‘alien’ that wiped them out, she is met with disbelief and her mental stability is ultimately under fire as her flight license is revoked indefinitely. She finds that the Company has been “terra-forming” for decades, where they take normally uninhabitable planets and set up atmospheric processors and colonies -one of those is on the planet LV-426 where she claims the alien’s ship was found on. Ripley fears for the people in the colony because there were thousands of eggs holding the parasites for these hostile beings and if the colony was exposed there could be many casualties.
After some time Burke contacts Ripley once more, this time with Lieutenant Gorman of the Colonial Marines; contact has been lost with the colony on LV-426 and the Company is sending a squad to investigate and wants Ripley to go as an advisor, in case her story was true. She refuses to go back, but as time passes she cannot seem to shake the nightmares and fear that innocent lives will be lost, she agrees to go to hopefully put an end to her nightmares by facing her demons. It is here that we are introduced to the marines that will define the genre for decades to come.
The story is very compelling and although this film clocks in around two hours and forty-five minutes, it feels fresh and holds your attention throughout with a great cast of characters and intense action. Adrian Biddle’s cinematography along with Cameron’s intense vision collaborates into a well-oiled machine that casts intrigue on its viewers. Expanding on the intricate set designs of the first film, “Aliens” has even more detail and technology behind it giving viewers a deeper sense of realism and a broader look into the lives of these supernatural beings. From the colony design to the habitat of the aliens, the audience will be immersed into another world, one that is rustic and sometimes disgusting, but beautiful all the same.
James Cameron had done his job with the first three-quarters of the film: providing viewers with lovable characters they could relate to, a fantastic story which brought them back to one of cinema’s most iconic villains, and visuals that surpassed many of its day, but he did not stop there; knowing that the general audience for this film had seen the first, he had to offer something they had never seen before –a new alien. Teaming with monster designer guru Stan Winston and his company, Cameron created the Queen Alien, Ripley’s final confrontation in the film. The size of this creature alone astounded viewers and gave them something new to be in awe of. It was a titan of a monster (and my personal favorite movie creature of all-time) and the battle that ensued between it and Ripley is one of the best in sci-fi history not only because it is engaging, but because it was all done with fantastic puppeteers, not computers, which is a huge selling-point for this editor. (People nowadays always take the easy way out, i.e. cgi animation for EVERYTHING)
Bringing fans something fresh and inspiring, James Cameron spawned a sequel that many would praise and prefer over the original, which is something most sequels fail miserably at. He expanded and elaborated on the first film and brought us back to a world that we would not soon forget, setting the standards for sci-fi action movies and games to follow in its wake. As with the review on the first film, this editor urges you to see this film if you have yet to because it is a must for sci-fi fans. While we leave the film feeling very satisfied, fans would ultimately demand another sequel – but the third outing was not what anyone would ever have expected.
A 10/10 – even with the ear-piercing screams of Newt…
