Subject: Retrospective: Aliens (1986)

From: "Laurence Mixson" <[email-masked]>
Date: 15 Nov 1997 05:01:35 GMT

Aliens (1986)

Review by Laurence Mixson([email-masked])

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Paul Reiser, Michael Beihn, and Bill Paxton.

***1/2 out of ****

	Every once in a while a movie comes along that completely redefines the
genre: with dramas, it was Citizen Kane, with arthouse it was Pulp
Fiction, and with comedy it was, well, that Jim Carrey guy(okay, so he's
not a movie, but he DID have a huge influence on the genre. Not to
mention an expensive one.) Sometimes a movie even combines them all into
a big, sprawling motion picture event, as did Forrest Gump four years
ago.
	With action films, it was Aliens, whic was released to much hype seven
years after it's equally-innovative parent, Alien(1979). Directed and
written by James Cameron(T2: Judgement Day, The Abyss, True Lies), THE
authority on action films, it was a masterful encore to his sci-fi
thriller The Terminator(1984). 
	While the original Alien film was a dark, enclosed horror film that
featured one alien slowly massacering a horrified crew, James Cameron
took the big-budget action film with Aliens, which featured multiple
aliens doing basically the same thing, although on a much-larger scale.
And boy, did he take that route! I'd say at about 165 mph or so...
	The film opens 57 years after the original, with Lt. Ripley(Weaver)
being found in her ship in a  cryogenic state by a salvage vessel. If
you'll recall, at the end of Alien Ripley, the only surviving member,
cryogenically "hibernated" herself after expelling the rogue alien from
her ship. Unfortunately, she thought she'd only be out for a couple of
weeks...
	Once she's returned to earth, Ripley is quickly interrogated by "the
company", who quickly dismiss her and her stories as lunacy. In truth,
they believe her, as they soon approach Ripley with an offer to travel
with some Marines to a new colony planet as an "alien advisor". It seems
that the colony planet was a once-breeding ground for the nasty aliens,
and now all communication with the planet has been lost...
	It doesn't exactly take a genius to guess what happens next: Ripley
agrees, and before you can say "big mistake", she and the half dozen
marines, plus the slimy corporate guy(Reiser), who has more than it
looks like up under his sleeve, are off to the colony.
	When they arrive, they find the planet in ruins. Only one survivor is
found, a little girl, Newt, who confirms that, yes, the aliens were here
and that she only managed to survive by hidding in the ventilation
system. And soon enough, the marines come under attack from the
aliens...
	What happens for the next hour and a half or so is what completely sets
this movie apart from any other standard alien sci-fi movie: the action
scenes.  Cameron directs them so skillfully, and so suspensefully, that
you're literally ringing your hands by the time the finale rolls around.
Which features, in my opinion, the best fight scene ever recorded on
film, as Ripley straps herself into a huge robot and battles the nasty
Queen alien to the death.
	Many people will tell you that this film, while being a great action
film, has no real drama and is all cliches. Well, they would be wrong,
my friends. If this film had no "drama", then why was Sigourney Weaver
nominated for Best Actress at the 1987 Academy Awards? That's right,
best actress. You know that ANY action film that has an oscar nomination
attached to it for something other than technical stuff like editing and
F/X has GOT to be good.
	In short, Aliens combines all the right elements(great action and F/X,
drama, a good plot, good dialogue, and great villains)into what could
arguably be called the best action film of all time. Then again, maybe
not. Movies rise and fall from glory and, sad to say, Aliens was
wrestled from it's throne of Best Action Movie by another Cameron film,
T2: Judgement Day, in 1991. So who will be the next king? Well, let's
wait until December 19th and see yet another James Cameron film-the
highest budgeted film of all time-Titanic to make that decision. I can't
wait.