ALIENS REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

In 1979, Ridley Scott's second feature film, Alien, went on to become one of the most iconic science-fiction motion pictures ever released in cinema. Its dark atmosphere made it an incredibly tense film and Sigourney Weaver in a career-defining performance. She made Ellen Ripley her own and portrayed her as a strong and brave individual. After its release, it went on to become a commercial success and made over $80 million at the box office. In this sequel, Weaver is the only actor to return and James Cameron takes over the directing reigns from Scott. 

Due to the events of the previous film, Ripley is the last surviving crew member of a corporate spaceship destroyed after an attack by a vicious, virtually unbeatable alien life form. Adrift in space for half a century, Ripley grapples with depression until she's informed by her company's representative, Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) that the planet where her crew discovered the alien has since been settled by colonists. Contact with the colony has suddenly been lost, and a detachment of colonial marines is being sent to investigate. Invited along as an advisor, Ripley predicts disaster, and sure enough, the aliens have infested the colony, leaving a sole survivor, the young girl Newt (Carrie Henn). With the soldiers picked off one by one, a final all-female showdown brews between the alien queen and Ripley, who's become a surrogate mother to Newt. 

Creating a sequel that is as good as its predecessor can be a challenging task. Nevertheless, director Camera has succeeded as Aliens capture the dark atmosphere from the previous film. With an alien on board the ship, this film is never loses its intensity. Throughout the film, we're constantly wondering when the alien is going to make its next appearance and whether anyone will survive. 

Despite its 137 minute runtime, it still moves at a quick and brisk pace. In the opening of the film, Ripley tries to convince her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation what happened to her and her crew, unfortunately, they are skeptical of her claims. After losing contact with a colony, known as Hadleys Hope, the Corporation sends out a new crew to investigate the disturbance. Because Ripley is traumatised by her encounter with the Alien, Ripley initially refuses to join the crew but she relents after experiencing recurring nightmares of the creature. However, she makes the crew promise to exterminate the Alien rather than capture it. This leads to another thrilling and action packed encounter with the Aliens. 

Weaver improves on her performance in Alien and makes Ripley more dimensional. We see a new side to her when she is given the task of looking after Newt, a young girl whose family were killed by aliens. We see Ripley become a motherly figure to Newt and brings out a softer side. However, she hasn't lost her fierce personality and isn't afraid to stand up for herself against the other members of the crew. She is determined to kill the Aliens once and for all and even encounters a battle with the Queen in the brilliant climax. Because of her strong performance, she received an Best Actress nomination at the 1987 Academy Awards. This was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action movie.

Henn is perfect as Newt as she captures her true fears really well. We know she's recently lost her family and instantly feel sympathetic towards her. However, we're soon reassured when Ripley takes her in and cares for her. We know that Ripley isn't going to let anything happen to her. 

Another actor worth mentioning is the late Bill Paxton who plays the technician, Private Hudson. According to him, he improvised many of his lines including "Game over, man! Game over!" which made him one of the most memorable characters. He also featured in a scene where another member of the crew plays a knife trick on him by placing his hand on the table and moving the knife quickly between his fingers. This scene wasn't in the script and the adding of Hudson's hand to the trick was discussed with almost everyone, except Paxton himself. 

While Scott opted to have the deaths occur off-screen, Cameron shows plenty of violence and gore which has a deeper impact on the viewer's reactions. There are also a lot of jump scares making unsuitable for the faint-hearted. The most tense sequence occurs halfway through the film when members of the crew visit the Aliens' colony and are soon viciously attacked. Cameron barely gives his viewers enough time to breathe as he plunges his characters from one dire situation to the next. It's because of this film and The Terminator why Cameron is regarded as one of the best directors working today. This films gave him the success and further lead him to creating heartbreaking drama, Titanic, and the visually stunning, Avatar. 

Cameron co-wrote the script along with David Glier and Walter Hill and together they've written a deeply intense and incredibly thrilling sci-fi horror. The blend of sci-fi and horror works exceptionally well, especially in this sequel. At first, Weaver didn't want to return to the sequel, however, she was impressed by the high quality of Cameron's script, specifically, the strong focus on Ripley, the mother-daughter bond with her and Newt and the incredible precision with which Cameron wrote her character. Because of this, Weaver agreed to feature in the sequel.

 It's not hard to understand why this and its predecessor, Alien, are known as classics. Sigourney Weaver shines in her career-defining performance as Ripley. While Alien was a marvel of slow-building, atmospheric tension, Aliens packs a much more visceral punch.

8/10