Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is rescued and brought out of suspended animation fifty-seven years after the events of Alien. Since then, a colony has been established on the planet where the alien eggs were found. When contact is lost with the colonists, a group of space marines (Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Jenette Goldstein, Al Matthews, Lance Henriksen), a company man (Paul Reiser), and Ripley, mount a rescue operation.
It took me a little time to accept Aliens. Ridley Scott’s Alien is a startling film, intelligent, exotic, and terrifying. I have only been frightened by three films, and Alien is one of them. So, When James Cameron decided to change the feel of the Alien franchise, to remove the fear and replace it with thrills, I wasn’t on board. Don’t mess with the best. Silly me. One of the biggest problems with sequels is that they just give us what we’ve already been given. Cameron made a sequel the way it should be done: a new story, a new theme, mostly new characters, but continuity in style, world, and star. Aliens is as extreme as its prequel, but with a different focus.
For action fans, it doesn’t get better than this. It’s fast, it’s loud, and it’s non-stop. For the last hour of the film, there is barely time to breathe in the constant assault of gunfire, explosions, fire, and quick moving monsters.
With so many characters, Cameron cleverly uses recognizable, movie-marine templates (the wet-behind-the-ears officer, the bellowing sergeant, the butch female, the panicky private), but allows each actor to impart real personality into his stereotype. That makes these more than generic red-shirts. I know who is who when they die (or survive in rare instances), and I care. Paxton does the most with Private “We’re all going to die man!” Hudson but the cast is universally good. A real surprise is nine-year-old Carrie Henn who manages the least annoying child in film history. Sigourney Weaver was rightly nominated for an Academy Award for her multilayered performance; quite a feat considering how seldom genre work is noticed outside of effects categories.
There is little to complain about. A few plot elements seem odd or overly coincidental (the marines leave no one on the orbiting ship, the aliens appear again right after Ripley is found), but none that deserve more than a moment’s thought. The only thing that bugs me is that the aliens have become weaker in this second outing. Where the unstoppable creature in Alien survived the exhaust of a spaceship before drifting off, these new ones can be killed by a shotgun. Something of a comedown.
I first saw Aliens in ’86, in what is now called the “theatrical version.” Now, the more common version is a “special” or extended edition which adds seventeen minutes. Both are available on the newest DVD. Surprisingly, both films feel the same. The changes are substantial, but somehow do little to the pacing, action, or characters. The additional character development moments are all nice, and I’m happy to have them, but don’t notice them when they are missing. The automatic sentry gun sequence is the best of the added scenes, giving yet another source of tension to an already tense film. The biggest change is the inclusion of several scenes at the colony showing happy people, children, and Newt’s family finding a facehugger. It’s all unnecessary (we know what happens) and jolting as it shows us things before Ripley discovers them. If I could choose a version with the guns and without the thriving homesteaders, I would, but as is, I’m equally pleased with the available cuts.
The other films in the series are Alien (1979), Alien³ (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004), Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Prometheus (2012), Alien: Covenant (2017)