Subject: Retrospective: Aliens (1986)

From: "Dragan Antulov" <[email-masked]>
Date: 9 Nov 1998 05:39:31 GMT

ALIENS
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 1998

Almost any film reviewer sooner and later gets nostalgic and
thinks fondly about certain period in film history, when
unmatched multitude of masterpieces emerged in a relatively
short time. For the author of this review, such Golden Age
happened in late 1970s and early 1980s, when he enjoyed most
of the movies he considers the best. Almost exclusively
those movies belong to the genre of science fiction; genre
that later became the domain of blockbuster infantilism,
inspired by Lucas and Spielberg. Most of the directors that
used to shine in that Golden Age, slowly faded away in the
years to come, unable to adapt to the new rules of
Hollywood. However, even in such atmosphere another
masterpiece happened; shining counterexample to the popular
belief that Hollywood sequels always must be inferior to the
original. Such movie was ALIENS, 1986 science fiction horror
by James Cameron, Canadian director who had a difficult task
in matching quality of 1979 classic ALIEN by Ridley Scott.
However, Cameron managed not only to make a good movie, but
he also made a masterpiece of his own, instant cult classic
that enjoys popularity even now, after twelve years and two
disappointing sequels.

Like many sequels do, ALIENS begins more or less exactly
where the old movie ended. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is a
sole survivor of the space freighter plagued by a single yet
deadly alien monster that killed the rest of her crew after
being brought from LV-426 planet. Her voyage back to Earth
in a shuttle ends when she is picked up by salvage team,
only to discover that her hybernated sleep had lasted 57
years. Burdened with terrible nightmare and forced to live
in a world with all her friends and family gone, Ripley also
loses her job, because her old Company executives don't
believe her story about alien-infested LV-426; the planet
was in the meantime colonised by terraformers and nobody
reported any problems. However, that is about to change when
LV-426 stops sending signals. Ripley reluctantly agrees to
join Company's senior official Burke (Paul Reiser) on a
rescue mission, led by Liuetenant Gorman (William Hope) and
his small but elite unit of Colonial Marines. Upon landing,
they discover that the entire population was turned into
hosts for alien organism. That means that they should deal
not with a single monster, but entire small army. Marines
quickly learn that in a first serious engagement, when they
despite all their firepower, get slaughtered. The remaining
band of survivors, nominally led by Corporal Hicks (Michael
Biehn), and actually by Ripley, finds itself stranded in a
small, isolated part of colony complex. Their chances of
survival aren't however, totally hopeless, because a little
girl Newt (Carrie Henn), daughter of the colonists, managed
to avoid monsters simply by hiding in ventilation tunnels.

The biggest achievement of ALIENS is a fact that the movie
seems to work both as a standalone action adventure, and as
a sequel in the same time. Script by James Cameron remains
true to the previous movie, even borrowing some crucial
elements of its plot; yet, despite all those similarities,
script manages to add new twists to the story and remains
original. The most notable difference between those movies
is in a genre; the first one was dark, disturbing, and
slow-paced horror which relied on a thick atmosphere of
anxiety and claustrophobia; the second one is an war movie,
that relies on a clever combination of suspense and non-stop
action thrills, that brings ALIENS clearly to the action
genre territory.

However, there is another element that separates ALIENS from
ALIEN; it is the fact that, unlike the previous movie, this
one has more time and opportunity to speculate about the
trends in future society and comment on the present one. The
world of ALIENS seems like a natural extension of the some
current yet disturbing trends of the Reagan era - supremacy
of all-powerful military-industrial complex, rebirth of
ultramilitaristic jingoism and, finally, yuppie philosophy
of material success through any means necessary. Cameron
obviously seems very concerned about the ultimate result if
such trends remained unchecked, because ALIENS could be very
easily (and most of the critics agree with such notion) seen
as a metaphor for another, this time historical disaster -
Vietnam. If ALIEN tried to warn about the fact that the
universe may hide some horrors that humans aren't ready for,
its sequel tries to warn that even in the brightest of
futures superior technology can't save humans from repeating
some costly mistakes from the past.

Because it tries to send a clear message, ALIENS, unlike
ALIEN, tries to be more humanely oriented film, even
uplifting, especially in the end. While the last one barely
had a happy end and left nothing but a bitter taste in
mouth, this one manages to praise courage, sacrifice and
human spirit, and rewards its heroes by giving them a ride
in the sunset in the form of well-deserved sleep. In order
to be achieve that impact, ALIENS collected a small yet
impressive group of well-drawn and three- dimensional
characters the viewer cares for. The only character shared
with ALIEN, Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver in an
"Oscar"-worthy performance, was well- developed; already
proven to be capable of handling dangerous situations,
Ripley was hardened by previous traumatic experience and now
is ready to tackle with her worst demons. For some
contemporary critics, character of Ripley from ALIENS was
some kind of feminist response to the RAMBO-inspired
renaissance of action moviee machismo. But, unlike
Stallone's icon, Ripley was, through her interaction with
Nwet, also portrayed as a mother figure, capable of
emotions. Thus, character of Ripley can serve as an ideal
for strong and capable women who don't want to lose her
sensitivity and femininity.

Other characters are also well-drawn, although the
breath-taking tempo of non-stop action and their constantly
dwindling numbers wouldn't indicate so. Corporal Hicks,
played by one of Cameron's most reliable actors, Michael
Biehn, is brilliant as an indecisive, yet capable soldier,
whose single yet subtle scene with Ripley gives few precious
elements of sexual tension in this picture. Bill Paxton is,
on the other hand, gave much stronger impression as his
wisecracking yet panicky comrade who redeems his cowardice
in the end. He managed to shadow even Jeanette Goldstein and
her great effort to transform herself into tough female
Marine. Most subtle performance was one by veteran character
actor Lance Henriksen who played android Bishop; his simple
gestures helped to turn his android character Bishop into
the most human personality of all the cast. All of those
characters were also equipped with a series of sharp
one-liners that would become one of this movie's trademarks.
Even the slimy Burke, played by Paul Reiser, had one of
them.

Although ALIENS, unlike its predecessor, puts more emphasis
on action than on atmosphere, James Cameron had worked very
hard on visual details, trying to make it as faithful to
ALIEN as possible. Yet in the same time, he made ALIENS
quite unique with its new, futuristic weaponry, clothes,
vehicles and spaceships. Together with Stan Winston's superb
special effects those visuals made ALIENS one of the most
recognisable and visually stunning movies. While the
original was literally dark, Cameron's photographer Adrien
Biddle used a lot of light, but its combination with grey
tones made an atmosphere of ALIENS equally depressing.
However, the most noticeable element of the movie is a
superb musical score by James Horner, who had a very
difficult task in matching Jerry Goldsmith's haunting
soundtrack in the ALIEN. However, Horner made it by using
effective themes that perfectly match numerous action scenes
in the film. The proof of its quality lies in the fact that
the ALIENS soundtrack is often used outside this movie.

For a lot of people ALIENS is considered to be "the best" in
many categories. It is considered to be the best in Alien
cycle. It is also the best movie in already impressive
career of James Cameron. And, finally, it is also considered
to be the best science fiction film ever made. Some people
might disagree with anything from above, yet one thing
remains obvious -ALIENS is an excellent movie, not just for
the fans who built a whole cult around it, but also for the
regular viewers, who haven't been able to see something
matching its quality for a long time.

RATING: 10/10 (+++++)

Review written on November 8th 1998

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
Fido: 2:381/100
E-Mail: [email-masked]
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