Aliens (1986) Review

The first Alien picture was so successful that a sequel was launched into production soon after. Brandywine Productions convinced 20th Century Fox to finance it and produce it. A young up-and-coming filmmaker was assigned to the task in the early eighties, James Cameron, who began developing the movie during the shooting of his feature film debut: The Terminator (1984). The studio had very little faith in Cameron, after all, he had no real credits aside from Piranha II (1982), a film he barely got to direct before being fired. It was only after the success of the science fiction touchstone that was The Terminator that the studio began to trust the director and invested a lot of money into this sequel. 

Finally, in 1986 the world got to see yet another sci-fi action masterpiece by Cameron: Aliens. Another picture that needs no real introduction, as it became so popular and influential that it helped shape several genres and the blockbuster arena in one swift blow. 

It has also been interpreted and analyzed through all kinds of lens, all sorts of angles have been applied to it when interpreting it’s story, from feminism, to masculinity vs femininity, maternity, militarism and more. While the subtextual elements have a lot of merit and are certainly present, the film mostly dedicates itself to exploring them through its storyline than through explicit dialogue. But the fact that it was such an important film that spoke to previously unseen audiences can't be ignored.

57 years after the ending of the first film, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is awakened from her state of stasis by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. She is rapidly recruited to help investigate a seemingly troubled terraforming colony after the company lost contact with it and suspects the xenomorphs are behind it. Ripley meets with the Colonial Marines, a little orphan girl named Newt who she must take care of and faces off against the horrifying and lethal colony of xenomorphs and their gigantic queen.

As the title suggests, Aliens ups the ante regarding everything that was previously seen in the original film. Nowadays when we think of the elements that comprise the Alien franchise we will probably remember a lot more from Aliens than from the other movies. For starters, action was always more of a Cameron thing than a Ridley Scott thing. The first movie created its own world in order to immerse you into a realistic but slow and eerie path, Aliens is more about all the dynamic ways an action movie can tell its story, it's more forceful and vigorous. Realism here isn't solely aimed at with the intention of scaring you and the detailed and highly believable sets aren't as filled with shadows for that same reason either, because it instead fills its surroundings with a plethora of threats and surprises, it's about the constant and overwhelming stimulation and the build up to it. It sticks to the fundamental ways action impacts us (as well as how it does it) and builds upon it, constantly popping up with new enemies and obstacles for our characters to battle against.

I consider it a perfectly paced movie that knows when to stop and when to be relentless, every shot is perfectly placed within a scene or a sequence to create the most powerful effect or to narrate skillfully and with seamlessness.

Aliens is astounding in how it balances out the lyrical and emotionally affective visuals with the unrelenting sequences that work because of its firm and tight mechanics, a masterclass in action direction. No filler. Never disregarding its rhythm and grabbing you by the hair through an incessant and horrific experience that pulls the right strings at the right time.

When it comes to its action women content, this is among the top ones. It's the movie that broke new ground regarding Hollywood and the mainstream American landscape of the subject, bringing progressive ideas to the industry in one potent explosion. It was about time, as Hollywood was very much behind when compared to other countries in this department. Ripley and Vasquez were notable for being strong, independent, aggressive and having unbreakable spirits. They also exhibited some very non-conformist roles and attitudes, subverting almost entirely the position of American women in the mainstream and typical fiction of its time.

Ripley demonstrated not only her survival skills but also her capabilities in a much more active and forceful way than before, something expected as the threat is bigger and meaner this time around. Her motherly instincts also play a huge part in the story, being one of the central themes and creating a certain thematic relationship between Ripley and the alien queen, which is fascinating, it adds another dimension to their rivalry.

It's also interesting how Sigourney Weaver never wanted Ripley to hold a gun unless it was the last option as she was (and still is) for gun control. So Cameron got around that in clever and imaginative ways.

Vazquez, played by Jenette Goldstein, is another breakthrough. Female characters that showed traditionally “masculine” traits or attitudes were often shunned, mocked or ignored in mainstream cinema, but Vasquez gave a prominent representation for butch women or simply women who had similar personalities and interests as her. Her toughness and femininity, challenged by some male characters, come out intact and vindicated. Such a positive non-traditional character was a genius addition. 

Both her and Ripley are also allowed to be messy, sweaty and get their hands filthy (literally), never tied to the beauty and standards of cleanliness major movie heroines are often shackled to (to this day). This also fits with the dirty industrial grunginess of the central locations.

Now, they were hardly the first ones or the only popular action heroines in Hollywood, but they were the ones that made companies feel safer when it came to showing female characters being active in genre cinema. Having said all that, I do wish the output of action heroines would have increased more than it did after Aliens' release, as some Hollywood producers were still a bit wary of having leading ladies in action movies. One example was James Cameron not wanting to do another movie with a female hero and rejecting the chance to make Tank Girl. There's no such a thing as too many of these movies after all. 

Another thing we need to talk about is the trope called “Vasquez always dies,” which refers to when a not-so-feminine female character dies in an action movie only to have the more feminine and traditionally attractive female character survive in order to satisfy a certain audience. Seen in films like Starship Troopers (1997), Annihilation (2018), Resident Evil (2002) and a lot of Aliens rip offs. 

The idea is that they wanna get rid of the more experienced and better trained woman and have the less trained newcomer survive just because she's prettier or sticks to her feminine role better. I guess it makes sense, but like any other trope we have to look at it on a case-by-case basis and see if it truly fits and what the context for it is. I don't think Aliens did this for shallow or strictly misogynistic reasons, I believe the idea was to get rid of all other characters in order to leave Ripley alone with Newt in the final battle and this simply included Vasquez. Cameron has said that the way he approached his heroines was to get rid of the traditional protectors in these stories and have them fight for themselves against the unrelenting enemy. That's usually the case with his films, to get rid of all competent people and leave the relatable normal character alone to fight the menace, as seen in The Terminator two years earlier.

There was an extended version released relatively recently, it features more scenes in the colony and we spend more time with Newt. I have only seen these new scenes by themselves, so I don't know how much it messes with the pacing but the sequences don't seem to change much of the overall movie and any version you can find is equally recommended.     

Widely beloved and economically successful, Aliens is among the fan favorites and it's often considered to be a sequel in the same tier as the original (if not superior). Proving that sequels don't have to be bad, and they dont have to do the exact same thing over again in order to be well received. Most sequels in the franchise would be influenced by this entry as it enriched and cemented key elements in the Alien universe that were previously unexplored.