It doesn’t happen
often, but sometimes a movie can change a person. For me that movie was James
Cameron’s Aliens (1986), a movie that
made an action icon out of Sigourney Weaver after pitting her against an army
of nightmarish creatures and their giant queen. This movie came out the year I
was born and while I was growing up it increased in popularity achieving
classic stardom as a science fiction, action and horror film. Unfortunately
while I was growing up I must admit I was scared of most movie monsters, to the
point that just the trailer for an Alien movie would make me nervous. Then I
saw Cameron’s film and went to the dark side of the moon.
Here’s the
setting: it’s 2002 and my parents and I are living in Santiago, Chile. By then
I haven’t seen any of the Alien films from beginning to end, but I have a
general idea of what they do and how they tend to pop out of people’s chests.
One evening I see that Aliens is
about to start playing on a movie channel and I decide to take a chance and
watch the whole 137-minute thrill ride. During the movie Bill Paxton’s Private
Hudson gleefully says, “We are on an express elevator straight to hell, going
down,” which turns out to be terrifyingly prophetic. Throughout the movie
characters get burned with acid, blown-up and are chased in dark tunnels by
intelligent creatures who want to either eat them or use them as cocoons. Here’s
the funny thing: by the time it was all over I was left wanting more.
At the time this
surprised me because this movie is scary in lots of different ways. There are
jump scares, moments of gore, and moments of genuine suspense such as when motion
sensors are detecting movement in a seemingly empty room. Then there is the
movie’s setting, the eerily quiet buildings of an abandoned colony built on a
planet where it seems to rain in perpetuity. If this isn’t hell it is
definitely hell adjacent. Despite all the fear one feels when seeing characters
get hunted down in this place, you can’t help but enjoy the ride because this
movie is fucking awesome.
It is the
ultimate roller-coaster ride starting out slowly with space trucker Ellen
Ripley (Weaver) being discovered after having drifted in space for 57 years
following the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien
(1979). If you ever start watching this franchise with Aliens you won’t feel lost because Ripley painfully goes over the
events of the first movie in a boardroom filled with sceptical pencil pushers
wondering what happened to their precious cargo ship. Looking at the photos of
her deceased comrades, Ripley tries to make these corporate employees
understand that a parasite infected one of her crewmembers, mated with him,
causing its spawn burst through his chest and then proceeded to kill everyone
onboard.
To Ripley’s
horror it turns out the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has colonized the planet
where her crew found the parasite and there are now families with children
living there. Surprise, surprise, shortly after her return the colony is no
longer communicating with Earth and company stooge Burke (Paul Reiser) would
like her to accompany a group of heavily armed marines to the planet to offer
her expertise in the situation. Given the nightmares Ripley has been routinely
experiencing, Burke believes this would give her closure. True, but it might also
give her more material for her nightmares.
The marine squad
travelling with Ripley are a fearsome bunch, armed to the teeth and full of
bravado. Standouts include the cigar-smoking sergeant Apone (Al Mathews), the
cool-under-pressure corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) and Vasquez (Jenette
Goldstein) a female private who proves women can be just as tough, if not
tougher, then the guys when the shit hits the fan. There is also the ultra
resistant Bishop (Lance Henriksen) an artificial being who is human enough to
fear for his life.
When these
characters arrive at the colony and find it abandoned with clear signs of a
battle, this is when the roller coaster is about to reach the top of the
tracks. The race to the bottom begins when they find what is left of the
colonists and realize that they actually did not bring nearly enough weapons.
In the first movie it was a small crew against a tall alien that has acid for
blood, a retractable mandible and a razor sharp tail. As the title of this
sequel indicates, this time there are hundreds of these nasty buggers and the
creature laying their eggs is not only huge but also smart enough to know how
to use an elevator. This is the ultimate example of a sequel going bigger than
the original.
Amidst all the
carnage, amplified by James Horner’s superb score, there are also great scenes
showcasing Sigourney Weaver’s dramatic skills, which earned her an Academy
Award nomination. Of all people, a little girl named Newt (Carrie Henn)
survived the attack on the colony and Ripley develops strong maternal feelings
for her. This leads her to not only face her own fears, but also head into
battle armed with a rifle, grenades, and a flamethrower. This also gives us the
iconic line movie line, “Get away from her, you BITCH!”
After I saw Aliens it became very rare for me to be
scared at the movies ever again because there is just no way to top this roller
coaster ride. I even got the director’s cut on DVD so I could get even more
scenes (totally worth it) and if I can ever find a movie theatre that plays it
on a really big screen you can bet I will be there even if it is for a midnight
screening. It turns out sometimes in order to face your fears you need to get
into that express elevator straight to hell and enjoy the ride.
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