Aliens

I took some time off from this to finish up what was a busy semester at school. Now I'm back and I'm already breaking rules on this thing. First of all, I am considering offering my wife the chance to pick any remaining film we have left each time we get a chance to watch a film together. That way we can watch things of interest together without trying to plan a night around a particular film. Also, I have decided that instead of having to wait to watch movies I buy that I have passed alphabetically I can just watch the new movie when I get a chance. These are the thoughts that keep me up at night.
This brings me to Aliens, I film I had previously only watched on VHS and now have on DVD for the first time. Believe it or not my wife was not interested in watching this one with me. And when I was done watching it I was actually a little sad about that.
Now keep in mind that my wife does not like scary movies and the few times that we have tried to watch a scary movie together the night ended quickly. I bring all of this up not to make fun of her because in truth I admire her sensibility when it comes to things like not wanting to watch something designed to provoke a negative emotion. Instead, the reason that I wanted to be watching this film with her is because I believe it is so much more than a scary movie.
It is a sequel of course to the Ridley Scott film Alien in which Scott placed a group of blue collar workers out in the middle of space and created a film that was 50% Hitchcock style thriller and 50% sci-fi terror. It's been over thirty years since that films was released and it remains as one of the best films ever made in it's genre.
And James Cameron's Aliens complete blows the original out of the water. Comparing the two is almost unfair, but doing so shows exactly why it is one of the greatest sequels of all time and one of the few that you can definitively state that it improved on the original.
The film itself picks up with the discovery of the first films lone survivor floating through space. A few decades have passed and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has survived in a cryogenic state. She is picked up and returned to the company she had worked for to face interrogation for the events of the first film. As she tells her story she also finds a company man by the of Burke (Paul Reiser) trying to help her out. Burke manages to get Ripley's flight status re-instated if she is willing to return to the site she abandoned in the first film with a team of marines to check on a colony the company had a established there and recently lost contact with.
After some arm twisting Ripley agrees to go along as a consultant for the marines who are colorful and confident in there ability to take on anything that comes there way. They arrive on the colony and eventually they get their chance to show their mettle.
I think at some point I may start writing poetry about my feelings for James Cameron, but for this entry let me just say that for a man making his 3rd feature length film to choose a project like this is an incredible risk that paid off bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. By the mid 1980's Alien had already cemented it's place in film lore and the fact of the matter is that sequels typically only exist to show how great the original was.
Aliens trumps that notion in every way imaginable and Cameron finds a voice in film making that he has continued to use successfully ever since. To film itself takes it's time introducing the characters and letting them breathe awhile before the chaos starts. Even the one dimensional marine characters are given a life that one would not expect in a lesser film and we find ourselves enjoying getting to these characters. We also pick up a survivor from the colony who is a young girl that has seen the same things Ripley has seen.
Cameron takes his time with the story because he trusts his own abilities to create a pay off that is worth the price of admission (and perhaps more than that). It's a full hour into the film before we see the Aliens but once we do the film grabs you and never lets go. The tension and excitement is virtually incomparable in films and Cameron shows has his trademark sense of scale in creating an Alien who is larger than the rest while providing Ripley with a means for doing combat with that Alien.
When I finished watching it I went on Wikipedia and looked up Aliens. It turns out I am not alone in my love of this film. I knew that Sigourney Weaver had earned an Oscar nomination for her role which is incredibly rare for the genre. The film one countless awards outside of the Academy Awards and it's praise amongst critics has been universal ever sense. Even Weaver is quoted as saying that she believed this film makes the original look like a "cucumber sandwich."
There is a part of me that just loves talking about films and I suppose that's why I which I could watch this with my wife and talk to her about it. This is a one of a kind film experience that is not for the faint of heart, but does not require a bloodthirsty nature to enjoy. It creates a sense of constant lurking terror in a way that is almost unimaginable and yet when the film ends I wanted to start it over and watch again. I doubt I will ever watch this film with my wife and that's okay. She is already great enough, there is no need for her to be perfect ;-)