On paper, “Aliens” read as if the pretentious mockumentary metallers Spinal Tap had decided to switch to film – and turn the guitar amp up to eleven again, when actually ten is the maximum. “Aliens”, that was at first glance: military instead of workers, machine guns instead of stethoscopes, and aliens, many many evil aliens – instead of just one alien, like in the first part from 1979.
Director James Cameron, then 32, is said to have told the producers when the project was presented: “Aliens instead of Alien. Just imagine the ‘s’ as a dollar sign.” And how right he was: “Aliens” achieved the seventh highest grossing of 1986 with $85 million, impressive for a horror film at the time.
Today, anyone who browses through the popular lists of the “best sequels of all time,” or even “sequels that are better than the original,” discovers “Aliens” just as often as “The Godfather 2,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” , “Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan,” “The Dark Knight,” “Toys 2” or Cameron’s own “Terminator” sequel.
The actors have to pop, not the effects
“Aliens” offered more than ever higher, ever further, ever more, as is required of today’s sequels, most of which do everything wrong. Because it shouldn’t just be about making the effect spectacle pop more in order to captivate the viewer a second time. Because how do you retain the viewer again? By making the characters themselves, not the effects, a spectacle that pops even more.
Of course, not only because we learn the first name (Ellen) from the “Alien” survivor Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). We only get to know her in the second part. Planning security, determination and a healthy sense of rules is how Lieutenant Ripley presented herself in the fight against the first extraterrestrial (“Alien” from 1979), which her crew unintentionally took on board their freighter. In the end, Ripley is not only the only survivor of the alien attack, she also manages to blow the creature out into space. What drove her, why she can be so effective, and who she worked for remained unclear. The fact that she is committed to helping those in need of protection was demonstrated by her loving treatment of the cat Jonesy, for whom she risks her life.
In the sequel “Aliens,” Ripley is rescued from the escape capsule after 57 years of deep sleep. The biggest sacrifice she had to make in the fight against the alien: she never saw her little daughter again; she has since died of old age (in a heartbreaking scene that is only included in the extended version, Ripley sees a photo of the young woman who has grown old ).
Maternal feelings are strong
Later, the ex-lieutenant will defeat hundreds of aliens – and the queen of the aliens – because she wants to protect her new child. She finds eleven-year-old Newt (Carrie Henn), the only survivor from the planet LV-426, which the monsters have overrun. Ripley fights for her new daughter, just as the alien queen fights for her offspring.
Today’s critics see this mobilization of strength as a sexist idea because it seems to be closely linked to maternal feelings. But that’s nonsense. “Aliens” is simply about no longer letting beasts destroy you as soon as an instinct that every human being has within awakens. “Get Away From Her You Bitch” Ripley calls out to the queen to protect her new daughter, the quote has gone down in cinema history. Because it got to the point that two mothers are fighting among themselves.
Quite rightly, Sigourney Weaver was the first woman ever to receive an Oscar nomination for her first portrayal of a character. For the first time a woman in an action film. And Ellen Ripley became horror’s first potent heroine.
The pompous Marines
It is not clear whether director James Cameron wanted to caricature the military, its soldiers with the big cigars and the sayings, with “Aliens”. However, it shows how powerless men and women with big guns are as soon as the aliens attack. Almost all of them are killed in just two quick attacks. Ripley, actually an advisor on the team, quickly takes over the leadership and repeatedly grabs the haphazard head of the mission, Lieutenant Gorman (William Hope), by the collar.
“Comparisons to the Vietnam War,” Cameron said, “are apt. Here, too, we are witnessing a technically more highly developed military power that, after penetrating foreign territory, has to deal with an asymmetrically distributed, hidden enemy.” In the end, it is no longer about victory, but only about survival until you are allowed to escape .
The soldier ensemble is great, the actors seem as if they had gone through a joint boot camp in preparation. Cameron’s friend Michael Biehn (Corporal Hicks) is always a safe bet, but the three supporting actors are Bishop (Lance Henricksen), Private Hudson (Bill “It’s over man, Game over!” Paxton) and Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein), the ones that shine the most.
Fresh faces. In part one, “Alien,” when you think of John Hurt’s character of Kane, you always thought of the actor John Hurt. Henricksen, Paxton and Goldstein appeared so familiar but fresh together in “Aliens” that Cameron’s partner at the time, Kathryn Bigelow, saw further potential and immediately hired the trio for her vampire film “Near Dark” (1987).
57 years have passed since “Alien”, Ripley first has to arrive in the new world, the marines get into position and we get to know the new characters. “Aliens” treats itself to an attempt that has never been seen in the cinema to this day. Of the 137 minutes of play, almost half passes before we see the first alien – a risky dramaturgy, considering a monster whose appearance you already knew, so you couldn’t know whether it would still surprise you.
Then the magnificent inferno breaks out that made it easier to distinguish between “Alien” as a horror film and “Aliens” as an action film.
James Cameron is the master of action scenes that build on each other, with quick changes of location that advance the plot, in which the spectacle always reaches a further level of escalation. Action based on the principle of falling dominoes. The alien attack through the ventilation shaft is followed by Ripley and Co’s escape, then the rescue mission for Newt begins, and at the end there is a fight between the alien queen and the woman in the transport robot. Three scenes, each worth a finale in their own right. All in a breathtaking 45 minutes.
“Aliens” would then become the benchmark for adrenaline cinema. Five years until Cameron revolutionized the genre once again with his “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.