Aliens (1986)
1979’s Alien told the story of an otherworldly creature stalking the crew of an interstellar vessel. The basic concept was essentially no different from that of a B movie, but the execution, from the sets to the casting to the performances to the special effects, was decidedly A-level. It resulted in one of the most genuinely scary movies I’ve ever seen – a film that wasn’t a campy sci-fi spectacle but a dark, unsettling examination of basic human fears. Now we have Aliens, a sequel in the most basic sense of the word. In the sense of style, atmosphere, characterization, and theme, it’s an entirely different animal – or an entirely different slime-dripping monster, if you like. It relies less on terror and more on pulse-pounding action sequences.
That could give some audiences pause. It certainly did for me, considering how utterly mindless most films of the genre are. Fortunately, writer/director James Cameron – who saw to it that his previous film, The Terminator, was loaded with action – made sure the stunts, special effects, and flashes of gunfire were in service of a good story, which, at its most fundamental level, is one of revenge. And while Cameron’s dialogue will never be compared to Preston Sturges or Ben Hecht, at least it’s paired with the right actors, who all give effective performances. This is especially true of Sigourney Weaver; she clearly and believable conveys the changes in her character’s personality, brought on by trauma, guilt, and rage.
Ever since destroying the Nostromo and jettisoning into space the alien creature that killed every human member of her crew, Lt. Ripley (Weaver) has been adrift in a suspended state of hypersleep for nearly sixty years. Though she’s miraculously found and revived, she’s now in hot water with the company that funded the Nostromo’s mission, and of course the suits don’t believe her story about a malevolent alien life form. Worse, she’s also a PTSD case plagued by nightmares of her ordeal – not helped by learning that, since the events of Alien, the planet where the creature boarded the Nostromo has been colonized and terraformed to sustain human life, including a breathable atmosphere.
When contact with the colony is suddenly lost, a demoted and traumatized Ripley is coaxed by a company rep (Paul Reiser) to go with him, along with a team of space Marines, back to the alien planet for investigation. Upon arrival, it quickly becomes apparent that the loss of contact had nothing to do with some kind of communications malfunction, that the colonists fell victim to a hostile alien invasion. This time, there’s a lot more than one of those creatures. If you recall the previous movie, its life cycle begins with an egg; in this movie, the secret of what has been laying thousands upon thousands of eggs is revealed. But before that happens, the Marines learn the hard way that, for all their high-tech weaponry and combat skills, they’re up against an alien species they’re unprepared to fight against.
The most surprising find on the planet is a sole surviving colonist: A young girl around nine or ten years old nicknamed Newt (Carrie Henn), whose survival skills depend entirely on her ability to navigate the duct systems of the colony’s main complex. Initially as frightened as a feral animal, she gradually lowers her defenses around Ripley, who has incredibly strong maternal instincts. Indeed, when Newt is inevitably captured by the aliens to host another of its offspring, nothing short of divine intervention could stop Ripley’s rescue attempt; she infiltrates the alien lair with a flame thrower and a military-grade grenade launcher duct-taped together, and a fully-loaded bandolier wraps around her torso. This isn’t to say she becomes a female version of John Rambo. She simply knows what’s at stake, and she must be well armed if she’s to have a chance.
The Marines themselves consist of the usual grab bag of soldier typecasts. I’ll only describe a few. There’s the annoying Pvt. Hudson (Bill Paxton), who’s pre-combat machismo devolves into frightened, petulant, negative complaints. There’s the more level-headed Corp. Hicks (Michael Biehn), who’s a natural leader, especially when things get rough. It would be too much to say that he and Ripley fall in love. However, they certainly have chemistry; you can imagine a future where they’re in a relationship. And then there’s Bishop (Lance Henriksen), an android with programming that makes him seem mild mannered, perhaps even innocent. Ripley not only distrusts him but hates him on general principles, given her memories of Ian Holm’s duplicitous android character Ash on the Nostromo.
I leave it to you to discover how this all plays out. Rest assured, there will be a lot of action scenes, during which an arsenal of guns fire a seemingly unending supply of bullets. Human and alien blood will spill – and in the case of the latter, Alien taught us that that isn’t a good thing. There are individual scenes of tension and terror, including an intentionally quiet laboratory sequence that made me jump at just the right moment. Nevertheless, Aliens isn’t the claustrophobic, deliberately-paced horror movie its predecessor was. It’s bigger, louder, and a lot more frenetic. That doesn’t make it worse. It just makes it different. Truth be told, I think I’d have a greater appreciation of the action genre if the movies in it were more like this one.
