ALIENS

     I don’t write about many big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. But writing about Aliens feels like a privilege—like describing someone you feel honored to know. It has all of this: solid story, great characters, action, atmosphere. And several subtle under-texts I hope I can do justice to. Most obvious: the opportunity Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) gets to love a child again. First I
need to confess I’m not a big fan of the original Alien. (Aliens was the first sequel to this original.) I remember being blown away by the first half of Alien, then sitting there watching the rest go downhill.
I realize most viewers will not agree.  (Alien shows up on so
many Best Horror/Best Sci-fi Lists). And viewers don’t really
care about my complaints with Alien. The last thing I want
to do is write a point by point comparison between the two
movies.

Ironically, I do want to give credit to the original for those elements in Aliens that carried over from the first movie…and there are plenty. It would be unfair to ignore those contributions.

One of the original’s strengths was the memorable Ripley, the only survivor. The rest of the crew was savagely slaughtered. After Ripley’s escape she was left floating out in space—a long while.
   Aliens brings her back, and seeks to develop her character in much more detail. That is a lot to ask but the screenwriting (James Cameron) and acting (Sigourney Weaver and many others) are up to it. Alien showed us a character who inspired us—tough, courageous, loyal, creative…someone who refused to freak out under brutally trying circumstances.
     Aliens shows Ripley’s strengths as well. But in addition it fills in a much more complete character—everything I mentioned before, but someone who can’t leave her past experiences behind. Every time she sleeps, more nightmares about what she survived.

Birthing a mass killer; another in an unending series of
nightmares

And the 57 years she spent floating in space afterwards cost her dearly—the chance to know her daughter. A child when Ripley left. She died two years before Ripley was found. Ripley promised to be home for her birthday.
Now, no way she can make up for her time away. She has simply
missed out on her daughter’s whole life.

Ripley’s only attachments, 57 years later — Jones the cat, and
corporate PR person Burke (Paul Reiser)

Now we get a chance to know Ripley’s vulnerable side. A simple description —someone suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome. Her first goal—simply put her life back together. No rewards for destroying the alien—the corporation she worked for does not believe an alien even existed. They revoke Ripley’s license to work in space.

She can live with that judgment; she never expected justice. What makes her furious is that the corporate people insist that everything is fine on that planet; the one where the alien was discovered, LV-426. They explain that colonists have settled there with no problems. What is there to investigate, the corporate executive asks her.
Many sequels face a tough task—simply to convince you that the hero would return to the same place, to a similar situation they faced in the original. Cameron’s great screenplay does a
believable job answering this question. Ripley is told that the
corporation recently lost touch with the colonists on LV-426. They suspect the worst, and are sending in a team of Marines. They would like Ripley to accompany the Marines—as an “advisor.”
At first, your reaction is the expected one—She would be crazy to go anywheres near there. But I think a lot of us can understand—even identify with, Ripley’s reasons. Most of all, she cares about the colonists who settled there. She knows what it was like to meet up with one of these creatures. Anything she can do to help, she is ready to do.

   And she wants to see the aliens destroyed…period. After experiencing the kind of killing just one can do, she wants to see the marines go in, like high-tech exterminators. Plenty of reasons—she not only saw the mature-stage alien kill friends, but watched the developing life-form killing others.

(You may be fortunate enough to see a scene cut from the original release, but shown later on, making it even clearer. Ripley finds Dallas, a man who was possibly her lover, dying slowly from an alien parasite.)
In Ripley’s nightmares she dies in agony—and releases another
savage killer loose on the universe. She hopes she can put the
dreams behind her. And getting her license back to work in space
again; that is part of the deal.

Ripley and the corporate negotiator Burke are the only non-marines aboard. The soldiers accept them only grudgingly. Nothing personal; you see the close-knit bond within this unit—they have learned together, grown together, bonded as a result. The officer in charge, Lieutenant Gorman, is a bit of an outsider too—most of his experience came from simulations…he is far from battle-tested.

.Marines; a close-knit group

Arriving at the planet seems uneventful but bad omens are
definitely there. Not a single human. Small spots of dissolved
metal. Evidence of destruction—and worse—signs that one wing of the building was secured…as if it served as the colonists’ last
stand.
Then motion-sensors detect someone—who changes Ripley’s life. A young girl with\ tangled hair, a dirty face, seemingly unable to speak. She runs for shelter in a closed space behind a store-room—bites a marine who tries to pull her out. They choose Ripley to talk to her—she crawls through a narrow passage to do this, no hesitation.
Ripley can sense this is the girl’s sanctuary—invading here is the
ultimate threat. In addition, a fan spins overhead—a potential
distraction, able to ruin many people’s concentration. Hard to
maintain any serenity here.
Through all this, Ripley does what she planned; grabs this child,
but then holds her gently, tells her again and again, it’s okay. No words in reply, just scared, angry whimpering. Outside, the Lieutenant tries to question her, but his patience is long gone. Ripley hands her a cup of hot chocolate. Liquid sloshes onto her face. Ripley wipes it off. Her words so gentle:

“That good, huh? Uh oh, I made a clean spot, guess I’ll have to do the rest. That’s a pretty little girl under there.” The girl stays silent but signs of humanity subtly returning to her face.  She finally speaks—tells Ripley her name is Newt; her brother, father and mother are dead—“Can I go now?” Instead of trying to take charge (and pushing her away instantly) by saying, “No you can’t.“ Ripley simply says she thinks Newt will be safer if she stays. Wonderful instincts.

But Newt’s words are chilling—more so because she stays quiet…no need to shout to make her point. It won’t make any
difference, she says.

Ripley makes the effort to bond with the lone survivor, Newt

Just about the same time, a marine detects lifeforms in one building—the marines assemble a team to search and destroy. The lieutenant, Ripley, and Burke remain in the vehicle—watch helplessly from the relative safety inside. (Alien used this device,
with great effectiveness.)
Not that the marine training—or the sergeant in command, is
incompetent, but one error after another spells sure disaster.
Ripley realizes the grunts are walking just above a cooling
system—stray fire could puncture it and destroy the whole
installation. High power weapons can’t be fired; the grunts must
use flame-throwers and other short-range fire—fight the creatures at close range.

And the place is crawling with them. The lieutenant watches as the team is slaughtered— tries to come up with strategy on the fly—finds himself freezing up. It’s simply all going too fast for him—not simulation anymore.

Well-trained, well-armed, intelligent—Yet still walking straight
into disaster

Ripley tells him to pull the team out—then takes the wheel of the
vehicle, and drives into the carnage to pull out the survivors. The lieutenant tries to grab it back, almost wrecking the vehicle. She reaches the few left—smashes her way outside. An alien lands on the windshield, breaks through it, reaches out for her. Ripley brakes, throwing it off, then runs it over. Corporal Hicks shouts at her that they are safe now; she is grinding the axle, close to destroying it.
No contempt in his shouting; he knows she is sky-high on
adrenaline. Hicks is a blend of quiet calm, and ability to think
and make decisions in a split-second; she may remind you of the
presence Audie Murphy brought with him, back in the 1950’s.
Only three Marines who went inside get out alive. Prospects for
survival feel like they’ve gone from poor to—even worse. Yet with
all that, positive relationships still develop. Ripley’s courage
under fire impressed Hicks. His ability to find his gentle side
when he can afford to, and his tough side other times—both draw
Ripley to him. Promise me you’ll kill me if the aliens ever get
through, she asks.
     “Both of us,” Hicks tells her. He introduces her to a close friend—his high-power weapon. Hicks is a good teacher and Ripley a good
student. She is fast to learn the basics.

Hicks; A corporal—now highest in the chain of command

Meanwhile, Ripley bonds with Newt—not an easy task. At first, only traumatic memories link them—past violence and unending bad dreams. Sleeping is an ordeal for both. Newt tells Ripley her mother used to tell her there were no monsters…”but there are.”
Again, Ripley knows better than to condescend to Newt—and ruin her credibility in an instant. “Yes. There are,” Ripley tells her. Not all of it clicks like Hollywood dialogue. Ripley tells Newt that her doll Casey doesn’t have bad dreams.

“She’s made out of plastic,” Newt tells her. No snappy comebacks from Ripley. But she has the sense to know—you don’t always need them. She does promise Newt always to be there for her, gives her a locator device that Hicks had given to her.

The story still has surprising twists and turns left. I wanted to mention some under-texts giving it more power. Okay… Like the original team of marines, Ripley eventually has no choice but to fight an alien at close range. Without the luxury of any gun. Either that or leave Newt behind as food for alien larva. You know what choice Ripley makes.

Absolutely committed to keeping her promises

Cameron’s script is effective in creating vivid characters. But
Cameron also shows good judgment—(generally) keeping elements thought up by writers of the original. Alien was not the
first movie to use the concept of parasites in its story. But it probably took more time and energy on this concept than any movie before—carefully giving you a series of nasty glimpses…watching the alien grow from one stage to the next.

The facehugger

First a lifeform with legs that wrap around a face, then shoves a tube down into your gut. An exterior skeleton falls away, but something remains alive inside you. Growing into an eel-like creature with sharp teeth that uses them to tear its way out. This lifeform grows into a fully mature alien.
     Aliens keeps most of this. One surprise; we find that the first stage (the “face hugger”) can move freely when outside its egg. One of these comes after Ripley and Newt with a vengeance. The rest of the crew is unaware of danger…unable to hear the two as they scream—another ironic reference to the original. Last—I need to mention this; highly unusual in the mid-80’s, especially in a mainstream Hollywood production. I apologize for not giving credit for this insight; I just can’t remember who wrote this, where I read it.
The writer mentioned Ripley’s sudden realization that one alien is a female—and a mother…like herself. She looks this alien in the
face just a second, before annihilating a roomful of offspring—a momentary look of apology…one mother to another. I didn’t catch this the first time I watched Aliens; watching again, I am still not sure I see it. But forget me a minute; my job is point things out that others may appreciate; I wouldn’t want to leave out this point. Decide for yourself if you notice it.

Woman, samurai, mother