Aliens

“Maybe we’ve got them demoralized.” -Hudson

Continuing with the Alien blu-ray box set I treated myself to, here are my thoughts on “Aliens.”

I watched the director’s cut this time. My default is to watch the theatrical version unless I know that the director honestly prefers the director’s cut. There’s an intro to the director’s cut where Cameron states that he prefers this version - as well as my friend Kong's urging to watch the extended version. 20+ minutes were cut for the theatrical version. Multiplexes weren’t around in 1986 and there was more pressure to keep movies to a two-hour limit so that theaters could show more viewings per day.

This, like “Alien,” is an amazing film. Considering the precedent “Alien” set, Cameron pulled off a tremendous feat of writing and directing the sequel. There are many things to talk about, but I’ll throw out my thoughts on the editing, the story and characters, the acting, and the special effects.

The film starts out with an immediate continuation from the first - Ripley’s ship being rescued. It’s not always possible, but to immediately continue where the last movie left off lends a nice continuity. Yes, it was 50 years later, but that was spent with Ripley floating around space in the deep freeze. During her rescue there is a very nice dissolve of Ripley’s face matching the earth - a little too on-the-nose symbolism, perhaps, but a nice effect.

Storytelling and editing merge wonderfully in the movie to establish a smart pace. Shortly after Ripley’s rescue, we have a scene where an alien bursts out of Ripley’s chest, which is then revealed to be a dream. Not an original technique, but not only does this effectively ratchet up the tension quickly, it also establishes Ripley’s psychology and phobia. Later, the evidence of a ferocious battle, the acid holes in the floor, etc., in the first reconnaissance squad scene help to foreshadow things to come as well as tightening the tension. The scene where Ripley washes Newt’s face is tender, superbly-acted, and yet also accomplishes another click on the ratchet of tension with the following dialogue:

Ripley: “Newt. Look at me. Where are they?” (Newt’s parents)
Newt: “They’re dead, allright? Can I go now?”
Ripley: “Don’t you think you’d be safer here with us?”
[Newt shakes her head]
Ripley: “These people are here to protect you - they’re soldiers.”
Newt (quietly): “It won’t make any difference.”

The tension continues to build when Ripley discovers that they’re near cooling tanks during the "rescue" mission, relays this information to Lieutenant Gorman who then commands Sergeant Apone to retrieve the squad’s ammo. The squad then discovers the not-quite dead colonist, her chest bursts, they torch the wriggling alien and then, finally, we see the aliens. After they get “their ass kicked,” the situation goes from bad to worse until the firefight ensues with Aliens coming out of the ceiling and the floor. All the gloves are off at that point, and it hurdles along to its conclusion. It was skillful and brave to hold off introducing the aliens until the pacing called for it - an hour or more into the movie (something like that) and not bore your audience in the meantime. In the commentary, Cameron notes that the studio felt the lead-up to the aliens reveal was too long and scenes prior to the reveal were cut.

One of these is the scene wherein Burke tells Ripley that her daughter is dead. It’s central to Ripley’s character and her relationship with Newt later - it helps fortify Ripley’s instincts towards Newt. Additional scenes that were cut are the scene of Newt’s family going to the derelict alien spacecraft and the scene where the working stiffs inside the facility kick the kids out of a work area. These scenes establish the notion that colonists with families were working there, but its omission in the theatrical version was less of a disappointment in my eyes to find left out than the Burke/Ripley scene. Both Newt’s parents and the working stiffs are (as always, in my humble opinion) the least-talented performances in the movie. The creators also admit that the tension around the alien derelict ship was much better in the first movie.

Overall, though, the acting is very good. Sigourney Weaver earned an Oscar nomination - something unheard of for a science fiction movie at that time. This was well-deserved - she is really good.

Cameron relates in the commentary how Weaver wanted 3 things in the movie that she didn’t get - she wanted to die, she didn’t want any guns (what?! Cameron rightfully chuckles at this), and she wanted to make love to the alien (interesting - eeeew). He notes that, thankfully, she didn’t get any of these, but when her power increased in the subsequent films, she got what she wanted - which is probably why those movies suck. It’s also probably why she is painfully absent for the commentary. We've seen Cameron be a huge dick on live TV, so I'd like to get Weaver's perspective - it's disappointing that she isn't on this commentary. He also notes that although he respects that the directors in the final films had their own vision, he was disappointed that they didn’t honor the “family” relationships - Ripley, Hicks and Newt. I am going to watch them since I had to buy them as part of the set, but I don’t think I’m going to reverse my previous opinions of the first two being really great films and the final two being disappointments.

I also HAVE to mention Michael Biehn who plays Corporal Hicks. His performance is brilliant - his eye movements, timing, volume, body posture, etc. He finesses it well - the best performance in my eyes. Well, actually, Carrie Henn is also amazing as Newt - this was her first acting, PERIOD. No school plays, no disturbing beauty pageants, nada. Gale Anne Hurd (producer and Cameron’s wife) relates in the commentary that what set her apart was that the vast majority of girls who auditioned had been trained to smile so much that they didn’t accurately display the trauma that Newt went through. Henn didn’t make her career in acting, though - she’s in the commentary briefly and Hurd notes that she chose a “normal life,” but no details. I’m guessing she became a basket case after the movie and mostly eats cats for sustenance - mostly.

Lance Henriksen, as always, does a magnificent job. Bishop’s character is compassionate and anxious to please. Ripley and the audience are immediately suspicious due to Ash’s betrayal in “Alien,” when, in fact, Bishop acts exemplary throughout, although the suspicion is triggered again by Bishop’s fascination whilst examining the face-hugger and also at the end when he seems to abandon Ripley and Newt. A little piece of commentary trivia is that Henriksen, at one point, wanted Bishop to have two pupils in his eyes - he’s fond of having something physical to associate with his characters. Cameron nixed this as being over the top - a good decision in my one-pupiled eye.

Regarding the ensemble acting, Cameron’s direction and Ray Lovejoy’s editing accomplishes a difficult task - capturing 5+ actors in a scene with rapid dialogue in a fashion that doesn’t betray the audience or the actors. It’s not something you usually pay attention to, because when it’s done well, you don’t notice, but when it’s not done well, it’s sometimes the reason you’re looking for when a scene doesn’t work. Cameron and Lovejoy make this an example of how it’s done well.

Stan Winston is also on the commentary. He was a second unit director and, more notably, created the alien effects. His commentary gave me a new appreciation for the type of miniatures work that was done - this was before CGI was an affordable option. The use of models involves a “forced perspective” to make the models look their intended size. In addition, cameras were run at a high-rate of speed to give this illusion. As a result of the camera speed, the crew manipulating them had to make them move that much faster. It’s a great technique - it looks so good that I wonder if its ever used today - obviously I’m not much of a special effects geek or I’d know - it’s probably too expensive when digital effects are available. Oh - the first shot of the queen, and most of the queen shots, however, aren’t a miniature - it’s a 14 foot puppet. Impressive stuff, throughout. I want that puppet. With a SDM built-in (see previous post).

Some trivia:
- The shoot for this film was only 65 days.
- Sigourney Weaver got a million bucks for the film because the producers didn’t work out the deal before numerous other commitments had been made and, apparently, she had a great agent.

Nitpicks:

- The Marines’ behavior rings false to me in the beginning. The characters are too stereotyped and the lack of discipline shown seems out of place. This doesn't persist throughout (mainly because they die off - Hudson, Vasquez and Gorman start acting like soldiers eventually when the shit hits the fan). There are valid arguments to be made (they’re special forces, traumatized themselves, among others), but it’s my gut reaction.
- The long shots of the drop ship flying show the age of the movie even more than "Alien," I think - they’re pretty 2D - it looks like a model in front of a screen. Given the amazing illusions involved with the miniature work elsewhere, the long ship shots in space and flying back into the burning facility at the end stick out to me - a true nitpick.
- The only possible writing/direction misstep I see in this film occurs when Ripley rescues Newt and purges the egg room with fire. She launches grenade after grenade, round after round, and she NEVER targets the queen (except for her egg sack)? It could be argued she was distracted by the face huggers and the warriors, but she seems to have time to select her targets and given Ripley’s character, I think she really would have launched everything at the queen until it was dead. There is the neat dynamic where she looks at the queen, the queen recognizes her precarious position and the warriors back off - but then Ripley torches the place anyhow? This certainly isn’t a major misstep, but I think a shot of her targeting the queen and the queen getting cover or something would have sufficed to account for this. I’ve probably missed something here. If I did, then it’s a misstep on Cameron’s pacing (joke).

A great movie - I haven't mentioned Bill Paxton or Paul Reiser, either - Hudson's quotes live on in pop culture, and Reiser's performance is also very good. I'll have to let them get the short end of the stick for this post.

More info:

Wikipedia article on "Aliens"
IMDB "Aliens" entry