Alien is my personal favorite horror film ever made. Everything about it works wonders. From the immaculate production design, the brilliant creature effects that made the Xenomorph a household horror antagonist, the terrifying tone and feeling of loneliness in the entire film and an incredibly well directed cast that made every death feel upsetting and shocking. Alien is a classic and I adore it. You know it's a classic and there's not a dispute on that. So, why am I not talking about Alien, but rather its sequel, Aliens, instead? Well, because Aliens is one of very few sequels to ever be made that is arguably just as good IF NOT BETTER than the original. Aliens works so brilliantly, because unlike a lot of other sequels, it doesn't try to be the original movie. Too many sequels just try to be the original over and over again, trying to make magic happen again, but it just doesn't work. New stories have to be told, and Aliens understands that. Aliens is still remembered fondly to this day because it understands that it needs to chart its own path as a story. So instead of one Xenomorph, we have countless. Instead of a helpless crew struggling to stay alive, we have a band of cocky marines who get themselves killed anyway because they underestimated their opponent. Instead of horror and a bone chilling atmosphere, we get action and thrilling sequences that keep you on the absolute edge of your seat. Aliens is a masterclass of a second chapter and should be studied by all who attempt to get lightning in a bottle twice.
I always come to a point of where to begin with every single one of these I've done, so, le't start with the reason it's called Aliens- the Xenomorphs! Adding a simple letter s to a movie's title can change so much, my goodness. The brilliance of just having multiple Xenos in in the simplicity of the idea. 1979 showed us the kind of damage just one of the demons can do. So what happens when you get an entire colony of them? Madness. Violence. Pure chaos. It really is crazy how dangerous just one is, so when we get this scale of them, it's pretty damn terrifying. I think the best sequence involving them is actually one where a single one is seen for the entire portion; the sentry gun scene. It's a really chilling scene, watching all our current survivors locked up in one small space seeing the ammo counters going to, almost like a countdown to doomsday. Meanwhile all we hear is the screeches of the demons in the background. It's a really intimate scene that almost feels like it could be placed in a zombie movie and work just as well. Every scene they appear in puts you right on the edge of your seat and it is brilliant. And that's just the fully grown drones. We still get thrilling sequences with all stages of the life cycle. An intense facehugger scene with Ripley and Newt, a brilliant chest bursting moment when the next is first infiltrated, every stage gets to be shown of extremely well. And of course, you cannot talk about this movie without talking about the Xeno Queen. Holy crap, it is amazing. Brought to life by Stan Winston, the puppet had I believe up to seven people inside operating it and bringing it to life and it looks incredible. It happened to be coincidence that I mentioned Stan Winston's unprecedented career two weeks in a row, but it just stands to show how incredible the man's work was, and just how good practical effects work. The Xenomorphs were on a long list of things that had to be done right in order to make Aliens stand out, and they just absolutely NAILED it.
The next thing it had to do right was have a cast that was enjoyable to watch and was likable. I personally believe that in action and horror, you do not need to have the most in-depth characters in the world. You definitely can, and if you do, it makes a good movie, as opposed to JUST a good action or horror movie. But that's where films like Alien and Aliens get bonus points and are so stand out. The cast and characters in Alien were really good, and seeing them get murdered really sucked because we got to have a nice amount of time with them before and after the original Xeno started killing them all off. So, though it might not have been necessary for any other action movie, it in my opinion was absolutely necessary for Aliens, and the cast and characters are awesome. Starting with our only returning character from Alien, we got Sigourney Weaver reprising the role of Ripley. It always takes me aback when I think about the fact she received an Academy Award nomination for this movie, and it totally is deserved. It's hard, REALLY hard to portray a story and character like in the stakes of Ripley honestly, and she somehow does it amazingly. A big reason this film is so fondly remembered is because of her. From the true fear she is showing when even thinking about the monsters to the bravery she has in the end facing off against the Queen, she is a true bonafide badass and is one of my personal favorite leading characters in a film ever. And of course she is surrounded by all of the Colonial Marines who join her to fight the Xenomorphs. My favorite thing about them is something I couldn't put into words until a friend of mine said it recently: it's almost as if all the Colonial Marines are fighting to be the lead protagonist. Then by the time they all get massacred in the hive, and start listening to everything Ripley was saying in the first place, it then shows how capable she is leading them all in the first place. Everybody is going to have a favorite of the Marines, and to no one's surprise, Hudson played by Bill Paxton is certainly my favorite. Look, it's simple. He makes you laugh and is insanely cocky, but you still feel really bad once he gets dragged down to become cocooned for a new facehugger to latch onto. You like all of the Marines and you feel really bad once they all start dying because of how entertaining they are. Aliens had to build upon the solid and interesting characters we got introduced to in the first film and it did that and more. Simply put, the performances of the main cast make this already awesome film ever better.
Last what I'm going to talk about is the amazing atmosphere of the film, notably in its soundtrack. The original Alien has one of the most incredible production designs of all time, with painstaking effort going into every moment of the film, even using glass paintings to getting the job done, and Aliens equally has an impressive production design made for it with its lavish sets and haunting environments explored. But where the atmosphere is really nailed is in the soundtrack made by the late great master James Horner. Pieces throughout the movie are exciting, haunting and getting you ready to throw down all in one score. The atmosphere is yet again perfected and it leaves you just as impressed and Alien did, if not having an even better environment due to how much work went into the sound of the entire affair. The music is used fantastically to sell the stakes of every scene and it does a terrific job.Now we come to the part everyone has to talk about: Alien, or Aliens? Well, I will still say I like Alien SLIGHTLY more, but I know without a doubt more will find themselves liking Aliens more. It's just a bit more palatable of a film than Alien is. While I do personally like Alien a little bit more, I could never and will never not anyone for preferring Aliens. Because through its runtime, you get brilliant performances and environments to gawk at, tension better than most thrillers and horrors you'll ever see, and an innate sense of excitement you'll be hard to find elsewhere. Aliens like Alien before it is a classic, and it is a movie that I just cannot help but admire. If you want a good film to study on how to make a good action film, then you really cannot get much better than Aliens.
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