Carrie Henn
Michael Biehn
Lance Henriksen
William Hope
Paul Reiser
How often is a sequel better than the previous part?
Happening after Ellen Ripley woke up from 57 years in hypersleep, Aliens
— a sequel to Alien (1979, directed by Ridley Scott) — was directed by James
Cameron. He had just finished working on The Terminator and was interested in
doing a sequel to Alien.
The difference between Alien and Aliens (Alien II) is the genre. While
the former was more horror with some action, Cameron went for more of an action
movie, taking cues from The Terminator.
The action kicks off right from the start. After some quick
introductions and setup, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is sent to LV-426, the
planet where she and her crew first found the Alien eggs. She’s brought in as a
consultant to escort a crew of marines to investigate a terraforming colony
that has gone silent. As soon as they land, chaos breaks loose.
The mission feels off from the beginning. The colony is eerily quiet,
and the deeper they go, the more the tension builds. Ripley, still haunted by
her past, finds herself once again face-to-face with a threat no one else fully
understands. The marines are confident, cocky even, but they're walking into
something way beyond standard combat.
As things unravel, trust becomes shaky and decisions get desperate. The
team is pushed to its limits in a setting that quickly turns from a rescue
mission into a full-blown survival situation.
I have to say, even though I loved this movie, the switch of genre took
away all the suspense from the first movie, which I actually liked and felt
this movie would have also benefited from. Then there's very little to no
character development for the rest of the cast, although they did their best to
make their presence felt.
Cameron wrote a 45-page story and presented it to Fox. He was given a
deadline and a minimal budget of $18 million to meet a 1986 release date. After
ten months of production, Cameron pulled it off and met the deadline, despite
issues with filming methods in England, where the movie was shot.
There was also the issue that Fox wanted to proceed without Sigourney
Weaver, who wanted to be paid $1 million for the role. I’m glad they paid her,
because I cannot imagine this movie without her. Her performance was amazing,
and she really solidified the whole Ripley image in this franchise.
Aliens is a film I recommend, and it will keep you glued to your seat. A
lot more improvement was done to the graphics, and the Aliens were given
close-up shots where we get to see them move — unlike the previous version
where they were mostly shown using camera work and lighting.
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