ALIENS (1986) Retrospective / Review

that's it man game over man it's game over what the [ __ ] are we gonna do now what are we gonna do we better get back because it'll be dark soon and they mostly come at night mostly i don't understand this we have been here for three and a half hours how many different ways do you want me to tell the same story we sat down there on company orders to get this thing which destroyed my crew are there any species like this hostile organism on lv-426 no it's a rock no indigenous life why don't you just check out lv-42 because i don't have to there have been people there for over 20 years and they never complained about any hostile organism you mean what people terraformers planet engineers they go and set up these big atmosphere processes to make the air breathable ripley we have to talk they've lost contact with the colony on lv426 you're going out there to destroy them right not to study not to bring back but to wipe them out that's the plan you have my word on it all right i'm in who's know what she's supposed to be some kind of consultant apparently she saw an alien one whoopi [ __ ] do all we know is that there's still no contact with the colony and that the xenomorph may be involved what exactly we're dealing with here we sat down on lv 426. one of our crew members was brought back on board with something attached to his face some kind of parasite i only need to know one thing where they are just one of those things managed to wipe out my entire crew in less than 24 hours and if the colonists have found that ship then there's no telling how many of them have been exposed okay let's go but it looks like the barricade didn't hold any bodies no sir last stand yo stop your grinning and drop your linen multiple signals they're closing pull your team out gorman get them out of there do it now shut up man close your eyes baby july 18 1986 aliens burst onto the screens and proved a huge success at the box office fans had to wait seven years for a sequel to the epic sci-fi horror alien the sequel was met with glowing reviews from critics and fans alike and would become the most popular film out of the series with the fans of the franchise and endless amounts of merchandise was released over the years even spawning a comic book series in 1988 continuing the adventures of ripley newt and hicks it grows 131 million dollars worldwide on a budget of 18 million dollars and earned an additional 50 million on home rentals once it hit vhs when it came time to the academy awards it was nominated for seven oscars with sigourney weaver being nominated for her performance in the end it won two awards for its visual effects and sound editing in late 1991 and early 1992 an extended cut of aliens was released this was the intended version to be released in theaters but fox felt it was too long so a number of scenes were trimmed out to reduce it by 16 minutes the special edition cut turned up on laserdisc and was a must-have title it also popped up on vhs but many wanted to get their hands on the new collector's set on laserdisc the new scenes show you the people on lv426 newton her parents discovering the alien ship ripley discovering her child has passed away more scenes of the marines you see them set up the gun turrets to protect themselves from the aliens and hicks reveals his first name the extended cut became the version of aliens everyone chose to watch from then on and people tend to ignore the theatrical cut david guyler declared that back in 1979 brandywine productions was intending to make a sequel to alien having the full support of 20th century fox president alan ladd jr however alan ladd jr soon left the company with fox's new transition to new owners and the new management had no interest in the sequel despite alien doing well at the box office come 1983 fox had new executives that got interested in continuing alien david garla pitched the project to one of the executives as a cross between walter hills southern comfort and the magnificent seven the executive said that sounded great and things started to move forward the producers sought out to find a writer for alien 2. they came across james cameron's screenplay for the terminator and it was passed on to guyler and he was impressed and even put cameron forward to direct it geila then approached cameron who was completing pre-production of the terminator a fan of the original alien movie cameron was interested in crafting a sequel that would respect the 79 classic but also provide a continuation wanting to go with a full-on combat movie after four days cameron produced an initial draft a scheduling conflict with actor arnold schwarzenegger caused the filming of the terminator to be delayed by nine months as schwarzenegger was filming conan the destroyer this allowed cameron to return to his alien script while filming the terminator cameron wrote 90 pages for aliens and although the script was not finished fox's new president larry gordon was impressed and told him that if the terminator was a success he will be able to direct aliens following the success of the terminator james cameron and producer partner gail and heard were given approval to direct and produced a sequel to alien which was scheduled for release for the summer of 1986. sigourney river who played ellen ripley was thrilled to return she had a good meeting with james cameron and offered her opinions on the character to help improve the dialogue 2070 fox however refused to sign a contract with weaver over a payment dispute even though she wanted to return she wasn't cheap fox had wanted to write her out but cameron refused on the grounds that he wouldn't do the movie without sigourney weaver attached with cameron's persistence fox signed the contract and weaver obtained the salary she wanted which i believe was around 1 million dollars david guyler did reveal that when they got feedback from the public regarding the first film the public wanted a male lead if they made a sequel straight afterwards ripley wouldn't have returned the alien series never had a strong female audience even with the sequel pushing strong female characters they still didn't turn up in strong numbers they set up production at pinewood studios in england and started filming in late september of 1985 and ended in late february of 1986. they also shot sequences at the decommissioned acton power station the crew thought it was a perfect place to film because of its grilled walkways and numerous corridors but had to spend money to remove asbestos from the station you may recognize the set as it was used as the axis chemical plant in tim burton's batman cameron drew inspiration for the alien story from the vietnam war and the marines attitude reflect that they are portrayed as cocky and confident of their inevitable victory but when they find themselves facing a less technologically advanced but more determined enemy the outcome is not what they expect the vietnam theme was used for the visual design of the outfits and vehicles concept artists syd mead and ron cobb were brought on to make the future seem believable giving a real industrial design sydney designed a dropship solaco and apc ron cobb had a hand in designing hadley's hope and the interiors with production designer peter lamont bringing them all to life james cameron was bound by a low budget and tight deadline he found it difficult to adjust to the working practices of the british crew who were part of the unions they were entitled to tea breaks lunches and dinners which brought the production to a halt each day the crew were admirers of ridley scott but many believe that cameron was too young and inexperienced to direct despite cameron's attempts to show them his previous film the terminator which had not yet been released in the uk they refused to watch it the crew were dedicated to their craft but had no emotional investment in the movie unlike james cameron so there was personality clashes down to the pace of their work all i can say is us brits need a cup of tea and a sandwich to function without a cup of tea especially we are useless cameron also clashed with the original director of photography dick bush who was dictating what the film should look like and wasn't lighting it how cameron wanted it so he was fired and replaced with adrian biddle who had worked for many years with ridley and tony scott in the appetising business there is a big cast of characters most of them consisting of the marines but here are the principal cast members for aliens sigourney weaver returns to play as ellen ripley being the sole survivor of a alien attack on her ship the nostromo she continues to have nightmares of the monsters and struggles to gain the confidence of the company who failed to believe her and the events on the nostromo she is persuaded by carter burke to return to lv-426 under the notion they will destroy the aliens the legendary michael bean who played carl reese in james cameron's previous movie the terminator plays corporal dwayne hicks he is one of the squad's leaders he was hastily cast after three weeks of filming and thus was not present for the military training that the other actors playing the marines went through james riemar was originally cast as hicks in an interview a couple of years back remark stated that he was replaced after a short while of shooting due to being fired after he was arrested for the possession of drugs which did mess up his working relationship with producer director walter hill there is one shot of remark in the film which is the entrance to the alien hive but they cut away just before he turns around corporal hicks is a born leader and is certainly the coolest character out the marines when it comes to coping under pressure he seems instantly infatuated with ripley and she seems to be falling for his charms stand-up comedian paul ryja plays carter j burke he is a representative from the weyland-yutani corporation sent to investigate lv426 he comes across as very kind and supportive for ripley as she struggles to cope with being in hypersleep for so long and helps her with her case with the company and the reasons as to why she destroyed the nostromo but soon burke begins to see the monetary gain from the aliens and soon shows his true signs of being a heartless company man lance henriksen plays the android bishop and serves as an executive officer lance is another returning actor from james's previous film the terminator bishop is a more advanced android and is programmed not to harm humans and with his personality he is very honest and open but ripley is still paranoid about androids after her last experience with ash on the nostromo jeannette goldstein plays private vasquez she is an expert on the smart gun she is a headstrong tough woman who shows no signs of fear against the aliens and doesn't like to follow orders instead would rather solve her issues with a gun kerry hen plays rebecca known as newt and is the only survivor of the conley on lv426 according to the casting director newt was the most difficult role to cast hundreds of school children were auditioned including many kids who did adverts kerry was chosen despite having no previous acting experience her brother also got a small part in the film playing newt's brother shown in the extended scenes later in life she chose not to continue acting and chose to pursue a career in teaching and still remains good friends with sigourney weaver bill paxton plays private hudson bill had met james cameron four years earlier while he was working as a sec director and bill also turned up in the terminator at the time bill had just made weird science and just after working on aliens he would star in near dark which also starred lance hendrickson and jeanette goldstein he is a very cocky character and likes to mess around but becomes a nervous wreck once the aliens attack and struggles to control his emotions william hope plays lieutenant gorman the marines inexperienced commanding officer he struggles to gain any respect from the marines due to his age and lack of combat drops like hudson he struggles to cope under pressure and makes fatal errors when the marines enter the alien hive al matthews plays sergeant lupone matthews attributed his casting to his military experience and helped train the actors during the production some folks may remember him from his appearance in superman 3 as the fire chief at the chemical plant how can i help get this man a helmet forget the helmet how bad is it my god superman it's a nightmare everything in there's either explosive or inflammable or worse and finally we have mark rollston playing private drake drake is another expert on the smart gun and is clearly in love with vasquez the movie opens with ellen ripley drifting in space she is discovered by a deep savage team and taken back to a space station above earth she is resting in hospital and meets her rep from weyland yutani carter burke passes on the details of her long hype asleep she has been floating around in space for 57 years and she finds out her daughter has passed away her employers then debriefer over the destruction of the ship than nostromo they are skeptical of her claims that an alien killed the ship's crew and forced her to destroy the expensive ship the planet she claims they found the alien was lv-426 the reps say there is no life on that planet and revealed people have been living there for over 20 years as part of their terraforming business when contact is lost with hadley's hope carter and colonial marine lieutenant gorman ask ripley to accompany burke and the marines to investigate why contact has been lost traumatised by her encounter with the alien ripley has been having nightmares she refuses at first but makes burke promise to destroy the aliens for her to take part aboard the spaceship the uss suloco she is introduced to the colonial marines and the android bishop towards whom ripley is initially hostile following her experience with the homicidal android ash from the first movie bishop says the older androids were a bit twitchy and says he cannot harm humans but ripley struggles to believe him she explains to the marines what happened on the nostromo but they don't take her seriously and fail to comprehend what dangers they face they prepare for battle and the dropship delivers a team to the surface where they find a colony deserted they find makeshift barricades and signs of a struggle but no bodies acid burns two live facehuggers in containment tanks in the medical lab and a survivor a traumatized young girl nicknamed newt who uses the ventilation system to evade the aliens hudson uses the computers on site to locate the colonists route beneath the fusion-powered atmosphere processing station the team are baffled as to why the colony is grouped together they head to the location in the apc and descend down the levels to find the alien hive they find the colonists cocooned serving as incubators for the alien's offspring when the marines kill a newborn alien the aliens wake up and surprise the maroons by coming out the walls they kill and capture several of them gorman panics due to his lack of experience and struggles to make them fall back to the apc ripley loses her temper and takes control of the car and rams it through the nest to rescue the remaining marines hicks hudson and vasquez whipley says they should nuke the entire site from orbit but burke pleads they can't exterminate these species with hicks now in charge he orders the dropship to recover the survivors and follows ripley's idea but a stowaway alien kills the pilots causing it to crash whipley newton burke and the remaining marines barricade themselves in the colony they find out it would take 17 days for another rescue team to come ripley does some investigating and discovers that burke deliberately set the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship and didn't warn them about the aliens burke believes he could become wealthy by recovering alien specimens for use as biological weapons she threatens to expose him but bishop informs the group of a greater danger their power plant was damaged during the battle and will soon detonate with the force of a 14 megaton thermonuclear weapon giving them only four hours to escape the academy award-winning effects have for the most part stood the test of time even watching them on blu-ray the miniatures and rear projection work look fantastic james cameron and his team made use of every trick in the book to make the visual effects work and pretty much all of them are within camera with limited optical work brothers robert and dennis skotak were hired to supervise the visual effects having previously worked with cameron on several roger corman movies such as galaxy of terror and battle beyond the stars two stages at pinewood were used to construct the colony on lv-426 using miniature models that were on average six feet tall and three feet wide james cameron used miniatures and several effects to make scenes look larger than they actually were including rear projection mirrors beam splitters camera splits and foreground miniatures the most impressive being the entrance to the alien hive practical effects supervisor john richardson declared the biggest challenge for him was creating the forklift power loader exoskeletons the giant model could not stand on its own requiring either wires dandling from the shoulders or a pole through the back attached to a crane while sigourney river was inside the power loader a stuntman standing behind it would move the arms and legs the alien suits were more flexible and durable than the ones used in alien they removed the plastic light dome on the alien's head from the original design in fear it would break easily despite the creature designers making attempts to use it the new design suits expanded on the creature's movement and allowed them to crawl and jump around set dancers and gymnasts and stunt men were hired to portray the aliens they would often use wires to make them crawl up the walls or jump from side to side to attack their victims mannequins were also created to make aliens stand in in human poses and would have their bodies explode to simulate gunshot wounds stan winston's team created fully articulated face huggers that could move their fingers which were operated by a little motor working very much like a wind-up toy wires were used to pull them along or make them pounce on the camera the redesign of the facehugger wasn't as detailed as the 79 version but were far more practical to use in aliens the most difficult effect involved in the film was the alien queen and her interaction with the power loader a life-sized mock-up was created by stan winston's company in the united states once the design was approved the crew working on the queen flew to england and began working on the final version standing at 14 feet tall it was operated using a mixture of puppets control rods hydraulics and a crane above to support it two puppeteers were inside the suit operating its arms and sixteen other operators were required to move it all sequences involving the full-size queen were filmed in camera with no post-production manipulation no rotoscoping was used to paint out anything james cameron knew exactly how to shoot it to hide the crane and cables operating it additionally a miniature alien queen and power loader was used for certain scenes some of the most impressive sequences for me is when the drop ship lands and drops off the apc seeing the dropship explode and the footage they took they reprojected behind the actors so they could react to the explosion and when ripley is left on the platform as everything around her is falling apart it cuts to miniatures and rear projection the shots are all so seamless the added lighting on set perfectly blends the footage with the background plate certainly some of the best in-camera effects from the 80s there are a few shots that are a bit wobbly the stop-motion puppet of the queen always made me laugh the blue screen shot of the power loader is very obvious it was nice to see they repaired the effects shot of bishop catching newt used to be a visible hole in the ground for lance to hide his torso but thankfully it's been digitally removed superman 4 was released about a year later and had a similar size budget and that film looked super cheap but aliens looked like a 40 million dollar movie it just goes to show when you have a director who knows what he is doing and what he wants restricted budgets can push people to be more creative and aliens is a perfect example the late james horner who was now an established and well respected composer in 1986 thanks to his efforts on star trek two and three and krull composed a score to aliens james cameron and his wife galen hurd put horner under a lot of pressure due to the constant changes to the film they gave him little time to write the score horner arrived in london expecting the film to be locked down with its final edit but to his shock there was still filming and editing so any music he wrote for a scene could be later cut out or trimmed destroying the timing of his music abbey road recording studios were outdated and he struggled to patch in the synthesizers he wanted to use adding further to his problems with the theatrical release looming there was only six weeks left and he wanted cameron to push the film back by four weeks so he could be 100 satisfied with the score but cameron wouldn't budge and honor felt he could only achieve 80 of what he wanted the final cue for the scene in which ripley battles the alien queen was written overnight cameron completely reworked the scene leaving horner to rewrite the music which kept him up all night trying to make the music fit he felt he was treated badly by both cameron and his wife due to their lack of experience with working with orchestral scores and the time needed to produce a soundtrack when it came to recording the music he did it in roughly four days despite his troubles and extreme stress horner received an academy award nomination for best original score so all the hard work did pay off in the end the tension between him and cameron was so high he felt they would never work together again but come 1997 cameron wanted him to score titanic after being impressed by his work on braveheart and they rekindled their friendship the soundtrack did get released on lp about a year after the film's release and had roughly 40 minutes of music and was later reissued on cd and given a deluxe edition featuring more tracks the score itself i find to be far more effective than jerry goldsmith's work on alien jerry's is certainly more lush and romantic with its themes and of course it has those unsettling moments in the music to really build up the tension but horner's music is really effective in making you jump and seems far more threatening to heighten those shock moments horner does homemade some of the sounds used in alien and due to his lack of time they use part of jerry's score when the queen alien chases ripley into the lift the famous part of the score is the climax at the end when ripley and bishop escape the atmosphere plants and when she finally defeats the queen the music cue was used in endless amounts of trailers it's proper trailer fodder music and i've used it a couple of times in my reviews of other films it's a perfect way to build up excitement quickly the military march is very simple and works well throughout the film but really comes into its own when it kicks in during ripley's attempts to save the marines it's a really aggressive percussion sound that does the whole scene justice i do really like the score but i don't think it lends itself to easy listening a couple of the tracks you can happily enjoy by themselves but the music works better with the visuals alien 3 for example is a score i can enjoy by itself and listen to it all the way through the soundtrack is easy to obtain the deluxe cd was given a wide release so you should be able to hunt it down for a cheap price aliens got tie-in games released across a number of platforms during the later part of the 80s for the 8-bit micro computers there were two releases one developed by software studios and the other by activision the first version is known as aliens us in the uk it was a game consisting of six mini-games the first level you're flying the drop ship the second you're searching the corridors the third you're shooting oncoming aliens the fourth making your way through the ventilation system the fifth level you're trying to find newt and then the final level you're facing off against the queen reviews were certainly mixed when it came out but it seems to have received more favorable reviews over time the second release was a totally different game it had a first person perspective as you switch between the characters as you search the colony and try and kill the aliens i played it as a kid and it was pretty intense but it didn't really offer much variety and gameplay but it was a unique game for the time the reviews were strong when it was released and it's certainly worth giving a go for a quick play through aliens also turned up on the msx console developed by squaresoft titled aliens alien 2. it's a standard platform game as you play as ripley you make your way through various stages in an attempt to find newt you face off against a queen alien who pops up as an m boss on many of the levels with it being released in 1987 the graphics aren't too bad the animation and detail is pretty good so it would be worth giving a go if you enjoy your retro games for the arcades konami released a two-player action game in 1990. it was a fun and enjoyable platform shooter that took many liberties with the license but didn't deter anyone's enjoyment of it it was a serious coin guzzler so don't expect to complete it on 50p or one pound it was never ported to any consoles or computers at the time so it remained in the arcades but you can easily emulate it on your pc or apple mac alien trilogy popped up on the playstation sega saturn and pc in 1996 and was a big success especially in europe on the playstation the game was loosely based on the series and is really inspired from the second film you have all the weapons featured throughout aliens and even features footage from the film it was an enjoyable shooter for the time and had some good graphics returning to the game recently i found the controls to be very clunky it's certainly worth hunting down though to add to your collection you can probably find it very cheap on ebay aliens colonial marines arrived in 2013 on the ps3 360 and pc the hype for this game was huge it had been announced back in 2006 and was delayed heavily over the years and bits of information and photos were released to wet people's appetites a demo was shown at a3 in pax showing off what the game looked like and fans got super pumped to finally play a dedicated aliens based game for a long time you could play as a colonial marine in the alien vs predator series but to have a game dedicated to them was a dream come true and with it being a sequel to aliens it intrigued many on how they will continue the storyline when the game was finally released it was a total mess the game was riddled with bugs glitchy graphics and broken gameplay mechanics the game failed to live up to the promises made in the demo that got everyone so excited it ended up looking worse gamers were furious feeling that they had been lied to there was a patch for the pc version to improve the detail and lighting of the game and to correct many of the bugs and dodgy ai but it wasn't enough to make up for the promises they made i picked up the game on release for the 360 and just before i set out to pick it up i saw the reviews that were published that day and i was gutted but i thought sod it i loved aliens i wanted to play it no matter what i played it through that weekend and to be honest i didn't think it was awful there were obvious problems with it but i think the amount of hype and changes made to the final game people went a bit overboard with their overall review and critique they were right to be upset but some reviewers made out the game was unplayable i'm not saying it's great it's a very mediocre game but i did get some enjoyment out of it it's super cheap now on consoles because no one wants it anymore so you can get it for about five pounds or less my first experience with aliens was in the early 90s my older sister who i have mentioned before rented a lot of horror movies and i would often sneak in to watch some of them my parents were pretty strict on what i could watch as a kid so i would have to do it when they were not around when i watched aliens for the first time i couldn't sit through it as a kid it terrified me it wasn't until later on once alien 3 came out on vhs and the desire to seek out the other movies i finally got to see aliens all the way through and it blew me away it was one of the most impressive movies i saw growing up and with it being a sequel it just surprised me how it managed to match the first film but also contribute so much more to the universe and expanded characters seeing the aliens in large numbers jumping off the walls and falling through the ceilings to surprise the marines was intense and thrilling to watch it makes no attempts to hide what it is it's a combat movie it's all out action with horror thrown in some may not put the film into a horror category but i disagree i think the level of horror and scares really match any movie that is declared a straight out horror you can be more terrified by this movie than say a halloween on elm street film it is as scary as alien but uses horror in a different way in the first film i think the way it goes out to scare the audience is different alien gives the viewer a stronger sense of atmosphere and the unknown whereas the sequel it relies on jump scares and a sense of being outnumbered and having little time to escape which amplifies attention throughout people always make comparisons to this one and the first movie they are both great films and have many positive aspects but they are really different movies and it boils down to one's personal taste and what you want from an alien film i think aliens is easier to watch it's a movie that offers a lot more story and excitement alien is a slower movie and relies heavily on its atmosphere and the unknown to keep you going you're constantly second guessing when the alien is going to attack watching alien you often have to be in the right mood to sit through it whereas aliens is more accessible the sequel i think has a wider appeal it has the horror the action the humor and characters you feel more invested in and care about what makes aliens so enjoyable is its characters many horror or action films with a large cast it's hard to be invested in all of them but james cameron has given enough screen time and dialogue for the principal cast to make the audience feel invested in their journey and their well-being obviously burke is an [ __ ] and is written to be one but gorman who's inexperienced in the field causing the team to fail their first mission pushes the audience to be frustrated with him but redeems himself near the end by showing he still has the courage despite his errors in the past hudson is clearly everyone's favorite so many classic lines of dialogue and seeing his enthusiasm on screen makes even the most skeptical viewer fall in love with his performance hudson cracks mentally once they first encounter the aliens and seems to be losing the plot but he gains his confidence back and shows his true colours but sadly gets pulled through the floor and is taken away when seeing this happen you feel so gutted that he is essentially killed off because he is such a great character this is what the movie does so well you care about them if so you put on alien versus predator you don't give a toss about the human characters and if they are going to get killed off that's the beauty of james cameron's writing and direction you are emotionally invested in its story sigourney weaver is amazing yet again in a sequel her nomination at the academy awards was totally justified it's just a shame she didn't win i love how ripley is not portrayed as a macho woman she doesn't have superpowers she's just a normal person just as fragile as the rest of us she is emotional and has strong motherly tendencies but what keeps her together is a headstrong attitude and willingness to fight on even though she is terrified of these monsters she's the only one to take charge and think clearly on how to keep everyone safe until they can find a way to get off the planet once newt is captured she totally conquers her fears and goes straight into the alien's nest to save her whipley has now become the surrogate mother of newt in a short space of time once she defeats the queen newt calls her mummy it's such a sweet way to end the film it's just so annoying what happened to newt and hicks and alien 3 i wanted them to be a family with the announcement of alien 5 and seeing ripley and hicks return in the sequel to aliens ignoring the events of alien 3 and 4 we'll hopefully get to see that family unit again i hope what it eventually becomes is great but it could just turn out to be mad fan fiction that backfires and ends up being a letdown the company i.e waylon newtani doesn't seem as evil as they're made out to be in the first alien and even the third film she gets grilled by the company but isn't charged with the damages to the nostromo but told to seek psychiatric help and has her pilot licence taken away when it comes to returning to lv426 they are willing to reinstate her position within the company if she assists them now with obtaining the facehuggers to return back to earth it seems that burke is operating on his own accord seeing their monetary value in them and not following orders from the company he may have had confirmation from the military side of the company to retrieve them but that is never made clear burke himself seems totally cool when everything kicks off it's like he seems untouchable because he is with the company seeming totally unfazed by what's going on i've never had any problems with aliens it's pretty much a flawless movie with its storytelling visuals and performances the only minor issues i have with it is the special edition version the acting from newt and her parents are a bit hammy and cheesy we can't blame carrie hen because she had no acting experience but the parents i presume have and it feels like a scene from a cheap b movie the repeated shots of the aliens exploding during the gun turret sequence you can see they have been lifted from the hive sequence so they obviously didn't shoot enough footage of the dummy aliens exploding during production they edit these shots quickly so it's not blatantly obvious but on repeated viewing you can tell the budget is limited but that's only a minor nitpick i personally don't watch the theatrical cut anymore last time i saw it must have been on tv like 15 years ago all the added footage in the extended cut and scenes that are valuable to the main story i think in a theatrical sense yeah it could be seen as a bit too long hence why they cut it down people may start fidgeting in their seats or their bums go to sleep but on a home video medium it's totally ideal and worth its running time james cameron treats ridley scott's film with the utmost respect he doesn't attempt to remake it but add further to it and builds upon it with fresh new ideas it's a solid sequel that too many matches and even beats the first film the original 79 classic is a gorgeous looking movie and is a piece of art whereas aliens is a bit more rough around the edges because it relies on a more industrial look for its production design so on a visual level it's not as strong but it makes up for it by giving you a larger world breaking away from the corridors and tight conditions of the nostromo some people may prefer that more claustrophobic feeling but with a sequel you have to give the audience small and it does that to an exceptional level the sound design for the film is incredible the sound of the pulse rifles and smart guns are probably some of the best uses of sound for a machine gun it's up there with robocop's pistol it makes it a joy to listen to and watch once the marines let rip and gun down the aliens it's always so much fun playing video games based around these weapons it makes it exciting just to relive those great moments on the film aliens is in my top five favorite films in my eyes it does everything right it's probably one of the best sequels out there it has a start middle and an end and it's not reliant on a follow-up to continue its story thus giving the movie its own identity and making it stand on its own alien is its backstory to give it momentum but it takes everything in a different direction you would be a fool not to own this film it's one of james cameron's best movies and one of the best sci-fi action horror films ever made you don't talk much do you well i don't know how you managed to stay alive but you're one brave kid rebecca who my name's newt nobody calls me rebecca except my brother newt i like that i'm ripley it's nice to meet you how long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue 17 days 17 days hey man i don't want to rain on your parade we're not going to last 17 hours they grabbed the colonists they move them over there and they immobilize them to be hosts for more of these which would mean that they would have to be a lot of these parasites right one for each colonist that's over 100 at least yes it follows each one of these things comes from an egg right so who's laying these eggs it must be something we haven't seen yet maybe it's like an ant hive bees men bees have hives you know what i mean there's like one female that runs the whole show yes the queen yeah the mama she's badass man i mean big so get away from her you [ __ ] if you enjoyed the video you can find more on my youtube channel and also you can follow me on twitter if you want to help support the channel you can donate through patreon and receive monthly perks such as updates on the latest news on my channel early access to reviews and commentaries before they go live on youtube even the smallest donation can help keep this channel going thank you

Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 771,968

Rating: 4.9079394 out of 5

Keywords: aliens review, aliens retrospective, aliens movie review, aliens oliver harper, retrospective review, oliver harper retrospective, aliens 1986, james horner, gale ann hurd, stan winston, visual effects, soundtrack, colonial marines, c64, alien trilogy, james cameron, sega, ollie harper, oliver harper, retrospective, review, trailer, ollyh82, aliens, 1986, Sigourney Weaver (Film Actor), bill paxton, jennette goldstein, Lance Henriksen (Film Actor), arcade

Id: XOwTCvn0UIg

Length: 39min 52sec (2392 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 03 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/twoplustwoisyellow]

Best sci fi movie of all time

[u/itza_me]

He had me until he started defending Colon Marines, the game literally is unplayable - the queen boss fight is impossible to complete solo.