So onto part 2 of the anthology: Aliens, the much anticipated sequel directed by James Cameron in 1986, which on its release was a big hit at the box office, so let's have a look.
Ok starting with the usual plottery, the film kicks off, many years after
the events (57 to be precise) of the first film, with Ripley's shuttle,
drifting aimlessly through deep space, which a salvage team eventually
find, who board the ship and take Ripley to a space station. Ripley
now, the only survivor of the Nostromo, has to explain her actions to a
company commitee who suspend her flight licence as a consequence of her
destroying the Nostromo in order to try and kill the alien. Ripley
herself, still suffering from post traumatic stress, has nightmares from
her harrowing ordeal on the Nostromo. However, one of the company
execs, also informs Ripley that on the alien planet, now named LV-426,
now has colonies of family living there, which has now been made
habitable through the implementation of air processing stations.
Ripley
herself is horrified at this revelation, and pretty soon after, one of
the company execs, Burke (Paul Reiser) visits Ripley and tells her that
they have lost contact with the colony, and that they want her to go
with a team of marines, as an advisor to help them know what they are up
against. Ripley eventually agrees reluctantly to go with the marines,
accompanied by Burke to the planet. Some of the crew include, the
hardened veteran Sgt Apone (Al Matthews), the down to earth Corporal
Hicks (Michael Biehn), the cocky Hudson (Bill Paxton), the helpful and
cool headed android Bishop (Lance Henriksen) and the gutsy and muscly
female Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein).
On arriving at the
planet, they find one of the colonies to be deserted, with alot of
interior damage and acid burns found on the floor decks, however they do
find one young girl, Newt (Carrie Henn) who has been left traumatised,
as her family were killed by the aliens. Hudson eventually manages to
track the location of the colonists, at an atmosphere processing
station, on arriving, the marines to their horror find some of the
colonists have been cocooned by the aliens, and pretty soon the aliens
themselves emerge and attack and kill most of the marines. Ripley soon
drives the reinforced military vehicle to rescue the remaining marines,
and from there they decide on their plan of action what to do. On
trying to hail the APC, their dropship, an alien infiltrates the ship
and kills the flight crew, thereby destroying the ship. Now stranded on
LV-426, Ripley and the remaining crew, have to fight for their survival
against a hoard of aliens, and find a way to escape the planet.
Aliens,
while certainly not as big a classic as Alien, does actually have alot
going for it, mainly Sigourney Weaver's superb performance as Ripley.
Ripley in this film, after the events of the first film, decides to go
back and face her fears on the alien planet, and the aliens themselves
almost at times seem to fear Ripley herself, as if she is their biggest
threat (which she is). Ripley also is the strongest and toughest
character in the film as well, as after the alien attack on the marines,
she takes control of the situation. And Sigourney provides just the
right amount of bravery, vulnerability, and stubborness in her terrific performance, which got her an Oscar nomination.
The
film's other characters are also quite memorable, particularly Hudson, who is actually quite annoying in the film, and he is so cocky in the
first half, but after the alien attack, he becomes quite cowardly and
scared of the alien threat, and Bill Paxton put's in a fine performance as the jumped up marine. Bishop is also a good character, as after
Alien, Ripley has developed a mistrust of androids, and its a nice
touch, toward the end when we think Bishop has abandoned Ripley, by
leaving in the dropship, with the cooling station about to blow, that he
comes back for her. Hicks, while not the strongest character in the
film, does provide a strong, down to earth quality, much needed for the
man remaining in command, and in the director's cut, is it hinted that
he is attracted to Ripley, although that is mostly cut out from the
theatrical release. Burke is another good character, as he is a sleazy
executive, who accompanies the marines to the planet, only really to
protect the companies best interests, as the company still wants an
alien specimen brought back.
Although I have to say one of the film's
biggest flaws is why the hell would anyone want to live on a barren
shithole such as LV-426 anyway???! As its hardly the prettiest of
planets is it???? Brutal winds, lovely atmosphere, scenic barren
wastelands, oh yeah, families want to live there for sure!! You could argue that its all about pioneering and branching out by living on other worlds, but they could at least find somewhere better than that!! It also
shows just how far the company will go to endanger so many innocent
people, by letting them live on such a dangerous, creature infested
planet.
The film of course does have some cringeworthy
dialogue as well, as the marines provide so many cheesy moments, and the
whole hoo-rahhh, gung-ho mentality of the marines is almost
embarrassing to watch at times. One particularly cringeworthy scene is
where Hudson shows off to Ripley at what high-tech weaponary they have
"high particle beam phalanx!! Whoahh!! Fry up city with this puppy!".
Also Newt, while naturally just a little girl and you would expect to
say some pretty child-like things gives another cringing line when
Ripley jokes with her about her doll, Casey, having bad dreams, "Ripley,
Casey doesn't have bad dreams, because she is just a piece of
plastic". Nonetheless the film does have some memorable and funny lines
too, such as when Ripley angrily knocks a tray of cornbread out of
Bishop's hand, to which one of the marines quips "I guess she don't like
the cornbread either!". And Hudson mocks Vasquez for her muscly
physique, "hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?" to which
Vasquez replies "Nope, have you??". We also can't forget other
classics such as Ripley when she faces off the queen alien near the end
who is about to kill Newt "Get away from her you bitch!!", and Hudson's
"That's it, man, game over, man! Gamer over!!".
The
set design again, model effects creature effects, are all terrific, and
James Cameron effectively brings the barren alien planet to life once
more. James Horner score is also pretty good, and brings the menace and
fear to the fore, especially in the main Aliens theme, and the
memorable titles, where
the word......
A L I E N S..........
slowly appears. Stan Winston also contributed a great deal to the
special creature make-up for the aliens, and deserves much credit for
enhancing the design of the aliens, and this time, we have not just one
guy in a suit, we have six!
And quickly a word about
James Cameron's direction as despite a few of the film's already
mentioned shortcomings, he does a terrific job at building up the
tension throughout, especially as its quite a long long build up to the
first attack, and keeps it going. I also don't think there was another
director out there that could have pulled off such a feat as bringing a
worthy sequel to a great original, even if it doesn't scale the same
heights. Cameron also did incredibly well in producing such a film,
under great pressure from a cynical British crew, who at the time
slagged off Cameron, for his inexperience and work ethic, as the film at
the time was made at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. This was
also similar to what George Lucas endured while making the orignal Star
Wars.
Rrrrright so that's my critique of Aliens, its a
fine sequel, worthy movie, and if you haven't seen it, give it a try, I
can't guarantee its for everyone, but it definitely worth a go, if you
are after a few frights and thrills an that.
Cue part 3.....
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