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 and Best Sci-fi Lists). And viewers don’t really
care about my complaints with Alien. The last thing I want
to do is to write is 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, as a result of encountering the
alien. 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 taking 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