Whilst away in India I managed to watch what I think is the best of the four Alien movies, and that is Aliens. Alien, the first movie was pretty good, with plenty of Atmosphere, number 3 was just pants, and 4 (resurrection) was so ridiculous it was hardly worth the money to remake it. Yes indeed Aliens was the best of the lot, and here is why.
Set 57 years after Warrent Officer Ellen Ripley blew the alien that destroyed her entire crew, she is awakened from a hyper-sleep to discover her worst fears, LV-426 the planet where she first discovered the Alien spaceship has been colonised. Worse still she is stripped of her rank, and flying license and sacked from the company. But when all contact is lost from the planet, the company want her back as a consultant to a bunch of space marines, Ripley agrees as long as they are going to wipe the aliens out, but the company has other ideas...
Who will win the battle the Aliens or the Marines? No contest really, especially when the Marines are been led by an inexperienced and inept lieutenant.
Ripley and the Gang
Aliens is the type of film that leaves you hoping for a sequel, and hoping that the sequel will be just as good, but like most films that have more than 2 in their arsenal, the third and 4th films are a total load of crap!
The battle scenes in Aliens are pretty believable and well acted throughout, and Carrie Henn, who plays Newt is a very accomplished young actress. There is also humour in the film, such as my favourite when Hudson says "Hey, Vasquez have you ever been mistaken for a man?", to which she responds "No!, ........Have you?"
There is not all that much blood and guts at all in the film, as it relies on the tension and 'mind games' as the first Alien did. The music sets the tone perfectly, and the dark lighting produces the atmosphere of a foreboding planet, that has yet to be made fully habitable.
Probably the most used image of the film
The special effects in the film, are pretty good too, and although the film was made in 1986, some of the effects are pretty visual, and you're left wondering as to how they could create that image on the screen. Indeed the film won the Oscar for it's visual effects, it also won an Oscar for the sound effects editing.
One of the effects that still has me wondering how it was done is when Bishop, the artificial lifeform has been ripped in two, by the Alien Queen, and is pulled toward the airlock hatch, with pipes and cables spewing out his guts. Truly amazing.
Bishop you have a lot of Guts!
Weeks after the film had finished there were still teenage girls all over the country, saying the immortal line "Get away from her, you BITCH!!", when her friends were in trouble.
It is such a shame that parts 3 and 4 had nothing going for them whatsoever, that very fact has ruined any chance of another Alien film been made, although a prequel may not be a bad idea!
Starring;
Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn
Certificate; 18
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