Aliens (1986) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When a director steps in to direct a sequel of another’s work, you would worry of things not working out. With Aliens, the sequel to Alien, James Cameron embraces his respect to what Ridley Scott had done and shows layers he didn’t tackle.

PLOT

This sequel takes place in a fictional 2157. Ellen Ripley awakes from her stasis 57 years after surviving an alien attack that killed her crew. The company she works for, Weyland-Yutani, does not believe her story of LV-246 because the moon has been colonized for over 20 years. That is jinxed when it’s first incident occurs. She is given the opportunity to check it out, hoping that they are all exterminated. She arrives with a military escort, the Colonial Marines and the synthetic android Bishop. The list of marines include: Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews), Corporal Dwayne Hicks, Corporal Dietrich (Cynthia Dale Scott), Corporal Ferro (Colette Hiller), CO Gorman (William Hope), Private Frost (Ricco Ross), Private Hudson (Bill Paxton), Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein), Private Drake (Mark Rolston), Private Spunkmeyer (Daniel Kash), Private Crowe (Tip Tipping), and Private Wierzbowski (Trevor Steedman). Arriving at the moon, they find one survivor, a little girl nicknamed Newt. When roaming around the chamber, they discover in one room of  containment tanks carrying live facehuggers that were left to study by the colonists. At the center of the station, they find the remaining colonists cocooned and more alien offspring emerge from their chests. Many adult aliens take out most of the soldiers: Frost, Dietrich, Crowe, Wierzbowski, Drake and even Apone. They then kill their pilots of the dropship, Ferro and Spunkmeyer, causing it to crash into the station. This crash damaged the power plant cooling system, meaning it will explode and destroy the colony. During this time, Ripley discovers that Burke assigned the colonization, in order to gain wealth off of weaponizing the specimen. At one point when she and Newt are napping, Burke plants facehuggers in the medical laboratory they’re in, proving his desperation to bring them back. Right as they escape death again, the power is cut off and the aliens break in through the vents, killing Burke, Vasquez, Hudson & Gorman. All that remain are Ripley, Bishop and an injured Hicks as they head to another ship the android is able to pilot. Newt is abducted by another alien and Ripley goes after her, refusing to leave without her. She finds her in a nest, with a queen in her egg chamber. Before another egg hatches another facehugger, she destroys the chamber with a flamethrower. Just as the remaining survivors escape the destruction and return to their ship, USS Sulaco, the queen snuck aboard. When it emerges as the dropship lands, it splits Bishop in half. Ripley defends herself against the queen with an exosuit and sends it through the ship’s airlock into space. The film ends with her going into stasis with the remaining survivors, hoping to return to Earth.

THOUGHTS

Every time I see this movie, my reaction remains the same whereas I’m speechless on the outside, but its the inside where I’m saying ‘Whoa’, because that defines how much I love action. Like any film from the 1980s, This is a film that keeps you invested from beginning to end, due to a faster pace compared to its predecessor. James Cameron made a genius decision to flip this sequel into an action film, despite keeping the horror elements that were known in the predecessor. Everything that transpires, you just cannot take your eyes off of this movie. The blend of both said genres is what makes it so entertaining. While being terrified of the now named ‘xenomorphs’ and their significantly large queen, you’re on the edge of your seat when the Colonial Marines are trigger happy against these creatures. I always appreciate the creativity of practical effects and when it comes to the Queen, that is the pinnacle, the landmark of what one can accomplish without CGI. Sigourney Weaver made us love Ripley more than we ever thought we could. She begins this story with nothing to lose and when meeting Newt, her new goal is to keep her safe of the hell they survive. Knowing that this is her second chance to raise a child, (since her biological daughter had passed away as shown in the special edition), you can’t help but root for her to be a protective mother. By the time she gets a gun, the fear disappears and she brings nothing but determination & bravery to overcome the odds. The second she appears in the exosuit and shouts to the alien queen, ‘Get away from her you bitch!’, it sounds so badass and empowering because that is exactly something ideal that a parent would say to protect their child. Her arc is more investive here than any entry before or after because it is able to tell me that you should always find something to fight for. Ripley found that when wanting to protect Newt because it was the right thing to do. All of that being said, it earns her Oscar nomination for this returning role. Going into the rest of the cast, I felt that breakout Carrie Henn delivered with the role of Newt. She is only reflecting one emotion: fear. That is the only thing she is feeling because she was alone for so long and all she could do is hide. She could never be in a calm state of mind until Ripley came into her life and whenever she was around, it was almost as if fear exited her conscience. With that being said, it is heartbreaking that she didn’t survive in the follow up. The best thing I can say with Lance Henriksen with his time as Bishop is that he is able to make him probably the most charismatic robot on film, aside from other known fictional robots. It is pretty cool to see how despite his best efforts to be humanistic, he still has a robotic presence in the room. Every actor that plays the Colonial Marines are able to create colorful personalities with each role. They’re not ready for what transpires but by the time they understand the situation, you can’t help but root for them to survive like Ripley. Of all from the said group, Michael Biehn caught my eye with playing Hicks because of how he approaches him to be the most soft spoken and calm in comparison to others. He quickly gained my respect due to how he seemed to be the only one to treat Ripley as an equal. If he stuck around had the franchise went a different direction, I would’ve not minded if they’d have an intimate relationship. I feel that way because I felt sexual tension between them when he instructs her how to use the weapons. Last but not least, Paul Reiser on par being as slimy as Burke is supposed to be. He definitely tricked the audience as well as he did to Ripley. For one second, he appears to be caring but is really just as selfish as the other board members before him. So when he bites the dust, that arguably defines a satisfying villain death. This sequel is about as timeless as the predecessor but after all the praise, I admit there’s flaws that bother me. First off, I don’t like how the executives don’t tell Ripley about the planet being colonized after she gave 3.5 hours of her time explaining her experience. I mean they just wasted her time waiting to tell her something that is just as important. And if they spend time hearing her out, why take her anyway when they already intend to bring back a specimen? If they want to ensure they still get something in return, don’t bring the one person that will stop you. What I found ridiculous is how they didn’t check any of their transmitters the colonists on LV-246 until finding Newt. If they really wanted to scout the place, they should’ve checked it out just as they landed. I like that Hicks give Ripley a locator tracker but how come he doesn’t give one to Burke? He’s just as apt as Ripley to get lost and if he did give one one, he likely would’ve spotted him leaving the face hugger in Ripley’s room. I think it would’ve been more suspenseful if Hicks fought a Burke over it. The dumbest thing Burke did before attempting to kill Ripley was not telling Bishop to keep secret of his scheme to get a specimen. Had he done that, I feel like he’d have a better chance hiding a face hugger rather than trying to killing Ripley. Seeing the readout is a cool perspective on being alert of the enemy. But I was confused on how Ripley spotted a dozen xenomorphs heading towards her yet only one grabs Newt. It’s a cool scene but did the rest lay back when they noticed only one human in their way? This is a continuity error I want to be explained. It’s even badass that Ripley destroys the queen’s nest with the flamethrower but I feel like she should’ve not done it so not only could the explosion do it, but also saving enough to use against the queen itself. And lastly, I know it’s a great jump scare that the queen snuck aboard and attacks Bishop. We get a great fight scene between that and Ripley but why didn’t it kill them all during flight? They would’ve been at their most vulnerable. If you somehow ignore all of these flaws, I think you’ll still be loving this movie as much as I have. Looking back, Aliens earns it place as an all time classic for expanding the lore in a much further direction than the predecessor couldn’t go. If you don’t believe me, watch this movie and you’ll see what I mean.