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ALIENS
(directed by James Cameron, 1986)
Sigourney Weaver is back and more badass than ever in Aliens, a story that picks up right where Alien left off, though it's 57 years later. Ripley has been drifting through space for that long in her shuttle while in stasis. Luckily, the company which she works for finds her and saves her. She tells the story about what happened to her, though nobody cares, but soon, Burke (Paul Reiser), a representative, informs her that the planet she just escaped from has had human inhabitants on it -- only now, there's no contact from them. Assuming the worst, she and some Marines fly to the alien planet where they discover only one survivor - a lost little girl - and of course, the aliens.
Aliens is an old love of mine that I haven't watched in a few years. Once upon a time, I considered it my favorite movie. Revisiting it on Blu-ray now, I fully understand why I did. It's completely balls-to-the-wall. Alien is a slow haunted house ride while Aliens is the scariest roller coaster at the theme park. This is an action movie with sci-fi elements. The horror and suspense of the first movie isn't really plain-as-day here -- you might feel differently, but to me, something about it isn't that scary. It has a bunch of Marines all geared up and psyched to kill aliens and most of them end up getting killed by the aliens, but unlike the first film, the death scenes aren't really all that traumatic to the characters. In fact, this movie had several instances where the horror made me laugh.
The great thing about all of this, though, is that Aliens is extremely enjoyable and doesn't need the tension and terror of the first movie -- I think. There are times where I wondered why they were doing what they did. In the first movie, you got a sense that Ripley was out to survive, no matter what. In this movie, the little girl she's been protecting seems to get snatched away by the aliens and chances of her being alive are slim, but Ripley, with very little time left, goes on a hunt to save her, risking her own life. I wondered why they even needed to do that, but no worries. All is corrected with scenes that entertain at the right moment and keep you happy.
What Ripley goes through this time looks like hell. The first movie was bad enough for her, but this time, her ordeal just looks exhausting, dark and hopeless. To think that if she hadn't volunteered to go and help some Marines with a mission, she'd be back on some safe spaceship in a little apartment with her cat. But of course, keeping characters safe is not what Alien films are meant to do.
There's a lot more aliens in this film - hence the title. There's even a much larger Queen Alien with a long fallopian tube-like thing that's laying eggs everywhere and there's a great fight scene between her and Ripley. Paul Reiser does a good job playing this movie's *******, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein turn in great performances as badass Marines. Lance Henriksen plays a friendly android, unlike the first film's android. The little girl, Newt, played by Carrie Henn, was good, but I was annoyed at the script for having her and Ripley say the silliest things at the stupidest moments -- "Ripley, I'm scared!!!" "Me, too, Newt. Me too."
Overall, I liked how the movie used a lot of the same elements used previously in Alien, though this time the execution has been given high-octane gas. It's too bad that it's really all down hill from here in the Alien series -- I never got into Alien 3, but I need to rewatch it, too. Nevertheless, we have two enormously powerful and classic Alien films with us forever and that's good enough for me. Is it good enough for you?
(directed by James Cameron, 1986)
Sigourney Weaver is back and more badass than ever in Aliens, a story that picks up right where Alien left off, though it's 57 years later. Ripley has been drifting through space for that long in her shuttle while in stasis. Luckily, the company which she works for finds her and saves her. She tells the story about what happened to her, though nobody cares, but soon, Burke (Paul Reiser), a representative, informs her that the planet she just escaped from has had human inhabitants on it -- only now, there's no contact from them. Assuming the worst, she and some Marines fly to the alien planet where they discover only one survivor - a lost little girl - and of course, the aliens.
Aliens is an old love of mine that I haven't watched in a few years. Once upon a time, I considered it my favorite movie. Revisiting it on Blu-ray now, I fully understand why I did. It's completely balls-to-the-wall. Alien is a slow haunted house ride while Aliens is the scariest roller coaster at the theme park. This is an action movie with sci-fi elements. The horror and suspense of the first movie isn't really plain-as-day here -- you might feel differently, but to me, something about it isn't that scary. It has a bunch of Marines all geared up and psyched to kill aliens and most of them end up getting killed by the aliens, but unlike the first film, the death scenes aren't really all that traumatic to the characters. In fact, this movie had several instances where the horror made me laugh.
The great thing about all of this, though, is that Aliens is extremely enjoyable and doesn't need the tension and terror of the first movie -- I think. There are times where I wondered why they were doing what they did. In the first movie, you got a sense that Ripley was out to survive, no matter what. In this movie, the little girl she's been protecting seems to get snatched away by the aliens and chances of her being alive are slim, but Ripley, with very little time left, goes on a hunt to save her, risking her own life. I wondered why they even needed to do that, but no worries. All is corrected with scenes that entertain at the right moment and keep you happy.
What Ripley goes through this time looks like hell. The first movie was bad enough for her, but this time, her ordeal just looks exhausting, dark and hopeless. To think that if she hadn't volunteered to go and help some Marines with a mission, she'd be back on some safe spaceship in a little apartment with her cat. But of course, keeping characters safe is not what Alien films are meant to do.
There's a lot more aliens in this film - hence the title. There's even a much larger Queen Alien with a long fallopian tube-like thing that's laying eggs everywhere and there's a great fight scene between her and Ripley. Paul Reiser does a good job playing this movie's *******, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein turn in great performances as badass Marines. Lance Henriksen plays a friendly android, unlike the first film's android. The little girl, Newt, played by Carrie Henn, was good, but I was annoyed at the script for having her and Ripley say the silliest things at the stupidest moments -- "Ripley, I'm scared!!!" "Me, too, Newt. Me too."
Overall, I liked how the movie used a lot of the same elements used previously in Alien, though this time the execution has been given high-octane gas. It's too bad that it's really all down hill from here in the Alien series -- I never got into Alien 3, but I need to rewatch it, too. Nevertheless, we have two enormously powerful and classic Alien films with us forever and that's good enough for me. Is it good enough for you?