Aliens (1986)

 

Aliens

It is not often that sequels are as good as the movie that started the franchise. “Aliens” is one of those few movies. Director James Cameron made the smart choice to make a very different movie from the original “Alien” and doing it so well that it does not need to stand in the shadow of the original.

Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is rescued from her escape pod after 57 years of drifting in space. Everything she had is gone and she learns that the planet they found the xenomorph on has now been colonized. Nobody seem to believe her story, but when contact is lost with the colony, Ripley is asked to join the team as a consultant. Her liaison with the Company, Burke (Paul Reiser), a total deucebag, is to join the mission together with a detachment of badass space marines.

The team quickly learns that the colony has indeed been overrun by the xenomorph and this time there are a lot of them. The colonists are all gathered in the alien nest as incubators and the attempt at rescuing them is... well, the marines are getting their asses kicked and Ripley must take charge. The mission is now to get off the planet alive and nuke the critters.

Where “Alien” was a confined space horror movie with the monster lurking in the shadows, “Aliens” is all out war. It is an action movie against an enemy you actually see, but who is so scary and powerful that even the best humankind can send against them are ants to be crushed. There is a feeling of payback time, that the fight is brought to the xenomorphs, but this feeling quickly evaporates, and it becomes an escape room story instead and the enemy is not just the critters but within.

The colony is not the Nostromo, but it is every bit as dark and gritty, just differently from the spaceship. In this case it is the infestation of the xenomorph that has made this a very hostile environment and turned what should be homely living quarters into a death trap. Cameron picked up on the vibe from “Alien” and is true to it, yet he transmutes it into something new. The colony is every bit as claustrophobic as Nostromo.

As children we all had our favourite among the marines. Hicks (Michael Biehn) is an easy choice because he does the right things, but Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) is probably the most badass marine in movie history and Bishop (Lance Henriksen) is one cool android or synthetic human. Yet, when the shit hits the fan, Ripley steps into character. In ”Alien” it was her resourcefulness that made her prevail. In “Aliens” she is armed to the teeth and totally badass. Sigourney Weaver solidified her claim to the title as the greatest female action hero around. Something that often has made it difficult to watch her in other roles. In “Ghostbuster” I always thought that Zuul made a bad choice choosing the fridge of ELLEN RIPLEY – Badass Superior.

I have watched this movie many times. Probably even more times than the original “Alien”. This time I watched the Special Edition with enough extra material to clock in at 147 minutes, just to add a little extra to the experience.

The Special edition includes scenes from the colony before the infestation including some backstory to the sole survivor, the child Newt (Carrie Henn). I can see why it is interesting to include it, but I can also see why eventually it was removed. The added action scenes however felt natural and as if they had been there all the time. You just cannot get enough of blasting xenomorphs.

James Cameron lifted the job of making a sequel to “Alien” to perfection and even today it does not feel dated at all. It is the sci-fi action movie that all other attempts into that genre must measure up against and to my knowledge few has come close, even within the franchise.

This is awesome stuff.