Aliens is a 1986 sci fi action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn and Paul Reiser.
There’s about 25 minutes in the middle of Aliens that remains one of the most nailbiting sequences in any movie I’ve ever seen. What makes it all the more compelling is the slow build up to it (which is lessened somewhat in the director’s cut, but I’ll get to that later). It’s the part where the marines, overconfident and cocky looking forward to their ‘bug hunt’, are methodically working their way through the deserted space station looking for any surviving colonists. The ‘motion trackers’ are a brilliant bit of movie-making. The whole sequence is incredibly tense.
I love the way it eventually explodes when the aliens first appear and start to make mincemeat of the gung ho marines. The frantic retreat to the APC is a brilliantly executed action sequence. Everything about it is perfect. And the bit following it, where the survivors realise they are trapped on the planet facing an enemy they can’t defeat, is wonderful.
This brings me to one addition to the director’s cut that has always bugged me. It’s the bit showing the colony before the alien attack, where we are first introduced to Newt (Carrie Henn). What made the marines’ search through the colony so suspenseful in the original cut was that sense of the unknown – the mystery as to what happened there. That suspense is ruined in the director’s cut. It also slows the pace of the film’s first half – it simply takes too long to get to the first appearance of the aliens.
And I think the theatrical cut clocks a far better pace. I appreciate the extra scenes in the director’s cut, but I can also appreciate why they were taken out in the first place. Unlike the massacred Alien 3 theatrical cut, the scenes in the Aliens director’s cut were cut for reasons of pacing. As such, I do actually think the theatrical cut is the better version. But, I do think that the scene where it’s explained that while Ripley spent half a century floating in space, her daughter died should have been left in. It goes a long way to explaining Ripley’s later relationship with Newt.
The theatrical cut has the same kind of pacing as James Cameron’s earlier The Terminator – relentless. The director’s cut sacrifices some of that for the sake of a bit of added character development and some nifty shenanigans with remote sentry guns.
Anyway, I could go on all day about the director’s cut vs the theatrical cut. My small gripes about pacing aside, Aliens is a very near perfect film. It’s certainly a textbook example of what a great sequel should be – it pays homage to the original while building on the alien universe and taking things in a new direction. Where Ridley Scott’s Alien was a tense, brooding horror film, James Cameron’s sequel is a brilliantly executed action film that stays true to the horrific elements of the first.
What’s so brilliant in Aliens and what I love about these earlier James Cameron films is the allegory. Aliens draws parallels with the American war in Vietnam – a technologically superior military force gradually worn down and slaughtered by an enemy that may not be technologically superior, but that utilises its environment better and has overwhelming advantage in numbers. There’s also the disconnect between the Lieutenant watching the combat unfold on a monitor, and the grunts in the field. I love the scene where he uselessly barks orders into a headset while they are being slaughtered.
Just getting back to the way that James Cameron builds on things from the first film, I love the Weyland Yutani company android in this film. After Ash in Alien, we expect another evil Company plant. And at the beginning Ripley treats him accordingly (side note – I first saw this movie before I saw Alien, so I couldn’t understand why she was treating him like this, I thought she was just being mean). But Bishop (Lance Henriksen) turns out to be one of the film’s most memorable characters and one of the most heroic.
That’s another thing I love about this film – the memorable characters. Far from being mere cannon fodder, all the ‘grunts’ have distinct personalities and believable relationships – you have no trouble imagining these people have fought together before and come to trust each other.
But my favourite character is actually Newt. I dig a survivor and she is that and then some. A lot of the time I find kids in movies irritating to say the least. But Carrie Henn is no whining, screaming Dakota Fanning. She plays the haunted Newt brilliantly. I love her vacant stare when Ripley first speaks to her. I also love the fact that she is not awed by the marines, and doesn’t immediately feel safe around them and their guns. She has seen firsthand what they are facing. I love it when Ripley tries to reassure her, telling her the marines are highly trained and well-armed. She simply replies “it won’t make any difference.”
But I also enjoy the more subtle stuff with her character. I like the way she gradually warms to Ripley, and slowly begins to drop her guard and become a little girl again rather than the hardened survivor we first meet. The tiny moment at the end when Ripley rescues her and she unconsciously calls her “Mommy”, breaks my heart every time.
Another brilliant way that James Cameron expands the alien universe is the introduction of the Queen. It’s a masterpiece of special effects design that also succeeds in being a believable character. This is extremely well done in the scenes between Ripley and the Queen where Ripley threatens to torch her eggs. I like the way the Queen conveys her message with simple moves of her head. And I love that this final fight basically comes down to two mothers protecting their young.
Aliens firmly established James Cameron’s reputation as a very talented director. Whatever version you prefer, the film is a perfect blend of action, horror, and science fiction. Two (or two and a half) hours very well spent.
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