Rediscovering James Cameron’s Aliens

I'm glad to be able to bring you another article by Jordan Siron. Jordan has previously written about the first "Alien" movie and what he thinks makes it so great.
This time Jordan takes on the sequel "Aliens" and illuminates us as to why he thinks it is a lesser movie than the original.

The (not so) cleverly named Aliens has been considered by many fans to be the best in the series. While I respect others’ opinions, I am afraid I have to respectfully disagree. Directed by Hollywood Hot Shot, James Cameron, Aliens is vastly different in terms of tone, themes, and effects. It’s so different from Alien that one such as I have often wondered if it had originally been planned as the first entry in a totally different franchise. It is by no means a bad film – it’s downright entertaining, to say the absolute least – but it left me a tad sad over what might have been.

The Story
It just so happens that the planet from the first film has since been colonized, but all contact has been lost. A team of Marines, accompanied by Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and an obnoxious bureaucrat (Paul Reiser), venture to the planet’s surface in hopes of discovering the catalyst behind the radio silence. The team discovers the entire colony has been torn asunder by the titular creatures, and must fight to survive.

The Cast
Much like the first film, Aliens is complimented by a fairly strong cast. Each player infuses their character with the personality and humanity we expect, but their efforts are almost all but lost due to paper-thin characterization. We have the tough-as-nails female soldier (an archetype Cameron is rather gung-ho about), the annoying soldier who won’t shut up (and is easily panicked), and our valiant protagonists who want only to save the day. Oh, and we have the despicable bureaucrat whose only motivation is the thought of making a profit. This might be my biggest complaint about the film – along with most of Cameron’s films – is that the characters feel more like lazily written archetypes, and little else.

We follow a group of Marines who have gotten to know one another quite well, but the dialogue between soldiers lacks a personal touch. Where the salty crew featured in Alien had their share of witty/vulgar back and forth, they also acted and felt like a group of people who knew one another on such an intimate level. We don’t get that here, and instead have to listen to obnoxiously stereotypical “soldier speak” – insults, mainly, meant to seem clever, but come off more as sophomoric.

The Cinematography/Design
This is an area in which Cameron never disappoints. Under his direction the art/design teams (once again aided by the mind of H.R. Geiger) create visually striking backdrops that look like natural fits with all we saw in Alien. In the terms of sets and technology, Aliens truly feels like a part of the popular franchise.
The cinematography is perfect in all the right places – from the very sterile confines of the Marine Space Vessel to the filthy, dark, foreboding ghost town where once a bustling colony stood. There’s enough convincing dirt, grime, and viscera to keep audiences engrossed.
Personal Gripes

Considering how strong and unique Alien was (it is often described as a haunted house horror film, but in space), I personally found it disappointing to see the franchise reduced to what is essentially an action film that just so happens to feature our favorite Xenomorphs. The tone is so drastically different that I genuinely feel like this entry was meant for a different franchise – especially when one considers how it is sandwiched between two films that possess different tones and pacing.

While the action scenes are shot and choreographed very well, I feel as though there were too many of them. By reducing the titular antagonists to little more than bullet fodder, I can’t help but feel as though they ceased to be scary. Sure, they’re still semi-unstoppable, but considering how a single alien in the first film obliterated all but one member of the crew… One would think that the strength in numbers that the protagonists are up against would provide for a greater challenge. Alas, no such luck.

Finally, I cannot help but stress how copy/paste the characters are. Aside from Ripley and Bishop, the android in this installment (played by Lance Henricksen), every other character seems incidental. The marines are only there to provide a challenge for the aliens, and the bureaucrat exists only to force Ripley to confront her fears by making her accompany the marines to the lost colony. By and large, the only purpose any of the supporting characters serve is to die – but the deaths carry no weight, largely because we don’t care about them. At the end of the day, that is the greatest disservice an artist can do to a film.

Jordan  Siron is a blogger living in Orlando, FL, and is addicted to anything Sci-fi. He urges other aspiring bloggers/authors to share their work via online printing services.




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