Aliens - 1986
Aliens is about as impressive a coming out party as you will ever find for a director. But it is decidedly that. For after the modest success of his exploitation thriller, The Terminator, James Cameron vaulted into the stratosphere with this sequel of epic proportions to Ridley Scott's sci fi/horror masterwork Alien.
For years now I have loved to enter the classic debate surrounding the Alien franchise. It's not merely a contrast in titles, but also so much more. Alien or Aliens? Ridley Scott or James Cameron? Sci fi horror or a massive genre mash up (more on this in a moment)? Modest success or megahit? One creature or a multitude? Ripley the rather opaque and unknown ship's grunt, or Ripley the irascible warrior mother? A bite-sized runtime or towering epic? All of these things are at the heart of my thinking about this sequel. Whether it was the influence of my action-loving father, or my own watching experience as an adolescent, I had always found the latter to be slightly superior. But, upon rewatch...well, we'll return to this in a few.
Probably the single MOST impressive feature of Aliens in my opinion is its brilliant mashup of genres. The official party line is that the first film is a sci fi/horror hybrid while the latter is a sci fi/action vehicle. You can read my own review on the former to see how I both concur with this reading and seek to illustrate why that’s the case. Aliens is a bit of a horse of a different color. Oh, it is FOR SURE a capital A action flick in the sci fi arena. But...upon closer scrutiny, it is also much more. I am not the first to say so, but i think Aliens reconstitutes the war drama epic. Sure, the characters play a little differently than Patton or All Quiet on the Western Front, but the setup and stakes are the same. You have two military camps, the former here just happens to be a group of largely hot-headed, total hoorah marines and the latter, wait for it, jaw-distending, teeth-filled slimy xenomorphs. We have a siege of the enemies’ camp about an hour in, acts of heroism and sacrifice on the field of battle, counterstrikes, and much more. It’s all there. Sci fi/action/war epic hybrid. Say that three times fast.
The fact that this amalgam works so well is made all the more impressive by the human stakes of the drama. Indeed, one of the strengths of the sequel is that it extends the reach of the original while heightening the stakes of its heroine. Siguourney Weaver is not only more grounded and confident here, she’s also more snarky and emotionally resonant. There is more dimensionality to her character. For this to be especially poignant, Cameron introduces the ingenious plot development of a battle of mothers. Fans may have different reactions to the insertion of Newt as a stowed away little girl on the colony who somehow managed to survive alone for a month while all other humans around her met a gruesome end. But it’s perfect character arc material. Having awoken from hypersleep to a literal new generation of humans (she drifted in space for 57 years), it’s unclear what would ultimately give Ripley a sense of purpose in re-engaging with this planet. Enter Newt, a pocket-sized creature perfect to capture her maternal heartstrings and re-engage her fighting spirit.
Now, to return to the debate, IF Aliens is superior to its predecessor it is absolutely, unequivocally because of the last 75 minutes of the film. This section is entirely unrelenting in its nonstop, souped up presentation of interplanetary warring. There are explosions and jump scares, cutting edge special effects, and clever little marine dialogue snippets (mostly coming out of Michael Biehn’s mouth). Even Bill Paxton, who I am sorry to say is generally just whiny and annoying throughout much of this one, gets into the fray in demonstrating his combat chops and heroism. And Cameron gets a little tongue-in-cheek with the android Bishop as a character in contradistinction to Ash in the original. Roger Ebert remarked at the time that he had never seen a movie maintain such a pitch of intensity for such a long duration as Aliens. He said it almost as a negative at the time, but to my mind, if this one is better it’s absolutely because of these very things.
Still, one matter remains to be discussed: the mother battle. When Ripley re-enters the lair, after narrowly escaping, in search of Newt, she stumbles upon the queen mother’s lair. A vast minefield of laid eggs, an entirely new looking alien and sentries ready at the side. With Newt on her hip and her flame-thrower raised, Ripley poses with an iconic steely look. It is THE shot of the film, and (in typical war, western trope fashion) it is a Mexican standoff Leone and Tarantino would have admired. I do not need to really spoil what happens next, but it’s a total ass-kicking melee. From this moment until the confrontation between Ripley in a Power Loader and the queen in space (best boxing match of all time) to Bishop’s redemption and the denouement, it’s all-time great filmmaking. Ripley protecting her “young” in a locked clash against the queen mother doing the same. It just doesn’t get much better than this.
So, I guess my final conclusion is...I have not made up my mind yet. But I can say that the gap has closed significantly. I think that Alien is probably an altogether better film, top to bottom. It is swifter and uses incredible one-on-one, existential horror elements to be entirely captivating. Aliens is just a mega war epic. It looks sleeker, and it surely cost more. It’s longer and is populated by dozens more characters (we haven’t even talked about the company man Burke, played perfectly piggishly by Paul Reiser), some of which add to the drama while others may distract or detract. In the end, Ridley Scott’s original is a piece of masterful film craftsmanship. But Cameron raised the stakes, shelled out the dough, turned the suspense and violence to 11, and gave us an absolutely unforgettable conclusion. So you be the judge.
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