Aliens Review

        Much like the 70s was the keystone for many horrors sub-genres, the 80s was when multiple franchises started. Multiple slasher series popped up and overrun the decade with sequels. Aliens is the rare exception where it’s often considered to be the best in the entire Alien franchise. Helmed by James Cameron as the second film that he directed, he manages to expand more on the world building and ideas. Thereby creating what’s considered to be an all-around great horror film. 

1. Return to LV-426

        Before I begin, it would’ve been easier and lazy to title the sequel Alien 2. It’s the standard for any sequel within any genre. A clever stylistic choice is to literally put an “S” after the title of the subject or phrase. To indicate that yes, there is now more than one alien from what we saw in the prior film. All horror films should adopt this method since there’s going to be more of what people are expecting. With the Scream films, when it made it to number 5, it should’ve been called “Screams”. Same with Smile, with the new one that just came out, call it “Smiles”. 

        One more thing prior to what made this film great, the time gap between the first and second films practically gave the filmmakers more leeway to do something different. Since the first film is primarily a horror film, it would’ve been cheap to do the exact same thing and to follow the same exact story beats. With the angle that the sequel took, having it be a quasi-action film helped the film be more of its own thing. While it is a horror movie, it manages to spice up the approach to make it fresh and exciting.

        So with all that, we follow Ellen Ripley once again as she’s rescued from her escape ship. 57 years have passed since the events of the first film and the company Weyland-Yutani has chastised her action to save herself. Not knowing what happened aboard the Nostromo as they disregard Ripley’s account. More so that they tell her that they’ve colonized the planet where she and her crew encountered the eggs. By stating that they haven’t encountered anything. 

        From there, company representative Burke has Ripley join him as an adviser to make sure things are going well on the planet. I’ll talk about the colonial marines in the next tab, but I really do love how the film expands more on the bureaucracy of the actual villains of the series. While the alien creatures are the mascot of the franchise, people watch the series to see them. The company is the real villains of the franchise and I feel that a few people don’t really grasp that. 

        Burke is the figure head as he tries to assure and inevitably invites Ripley to join him as he investigates her claim about the planet. He’s a slimeball that has the ulterior motive since he’s only doing what the company wants him to do. And I really do love how as the film progresses among the carnage that I’ll describe in a moment, Ripley calls him out by hiding the details that caused the slaughter of the colonists. It’s the little things that count when you want to make a human antagonist and a monster work for the film’s benefit. 

2. Colonial Marines and Motherhood

        As I mentioned earlier, the film had to be spiced up to keep it fresh and to avoid doing the exact same thing as the prior entry. Having it be an action film is one of the best examples of a sequel doing what it’s supposed to do. Expand and go in a direction where it retains the elements of what made the first film successful. It works in the film’s favor since the sequel came out 8 years after Ridley Scott’s film. Having the expectation be low where there wasn’t a barometer for it to be matched or exceeded. 

        The colonial marines are the interesting part of the film since it introduced the idea that the military is collaborating with the company. Having it be a contractual agreement instead of something that is coming from the top of the ranks. As we see the group that helps out Burke and Ripley and the camaraderie among them is believable enough where it’s not even a complaint that they don’t have more screen time. All of them are interesting, especially Hudson and Hicks. Bill Paxton’s character is such a goofball and outspoken member while Hicks is the one type A example of a soldier. 

        I think in more ways than none, having them ready to take on the threat as they load up on gear and ammunition then transition to utter humiliation at the hands of the aliens is something where not enough action horror films do. Of course, their introduction is reminiscent of the United States involvement into Vietnam right down to how they’re dressed in individuality in their combat gear. The action highlights that they’re hilariously unprepared for taking on the threat. Especially in the moments when they’re supposed to be under control. 

        The action is punctuated with horror since the high-tech equipment they use really amplifies the fear that the aliens can pop up anywhere. For instance, as they’re using a motion tracker. The group notices that there’s a swarm of creatures heading towards them, not knowing that the sensor only detects what’s in front of them and not above or below them. The gun fights as well is exciting since they’re killing the creatures, but of course they have a limited amount of ammo to work with. 

        As much as the colonial marines get their due in the film and in the subsequent entries in the franchise, the film is primarily about Ripley surviving. She gets the huge boost in story and in her character arc. Especially in the moments involving her and the little girl named Newt. One detail wasn’t featured in the theatrical cut but in the extended cut of the film, she gets word that she lost her daughter due to her being marooned in an escape ship. Which makes Ripley’s relationship with the girl more important to redeem herself. 

        I might as well expand on Ripley's character arc since she practically becomes in charge when much of the crew has been bereft of death and injury. She really becomes levelheaded with what's needed to be done to the planet even during when she's being talked down to by Burke and the commanding officer Gorman. The moments between her and Hicks is sort of like a relationship in the making but that's not the main point. The point is that he's teaching her to survive and by extension Ripley telling him on what's best to do in a situation where the creatures are out of control. 

        I’m talking about mothers and it only makes sense that we get an expansion on the xenomorphs. We see that more than just one makes them into an even bigger threat, but what’s interesting is that we see that they’re more than just mindless but are drones like bees. The introduction to the Queen really gives us a clear lifespan of the creatures and how they’re seemingly controlled. The moment between Ripley and the queen is tense since she sees the multiple eggs and then proceeds to burn them. The fight between them is basically like a fight of the moms. A caring one vs a creature who hatches and kills people with no remorse. 

3. Legacy

        As I mentioned earlier in the review, the film is one of the best in the franchise. It’s almost unfair to see which of the first two entries is the best in the series considering what came after. I feel that they’re equal in quality and with how they utilize the horror element. More so as a franchise it has a framework to choose from in the various media entries, either the horror angle or the colonial marine angle is one of the rare feats of the franchise where it’s not tied by one element. 

        With that, the financial success of the film made it so that a follow-up was inevitable. It didn’t need a follow up since the film was a bow that was supposed to cap off the series. The follow up movie was hated as an unworthy sequel, especially for what it did for the characters that survived. Which prompted another follow up to rectify that mistake but the damage was done. 

4. Overall

        Aliens is one of James Cameron’s best films and one of the 80s best horror films.