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ALIENS"Game over, man. Game over!"The best example of why the length of movies shouldn't matter. (18 July 1986) Director: James Cameron In Cameron's words from the DVD intro:
"What you're about to watch is
the
Special Edition of ALIENS.
BAD ROAD 1. Ripley has a DAUGHTER! In the Theatrical Release Ripley never had a daughter.
In the
Special Edition there
is an additional
short scene after the nightmare and before the Inquest where Ripley
meets Carter Burke in
a holodeck, and asks him if he was able to find out anything about
her daughter. Burke tries not
to tell her, but she insists. He has a report, and shows her a photo of her daughter
Amy (Amanda Ripley McClaren) who had grown up, gotten married (no kids), lived into her 60s, and died just
two years before Ripley was found. Ripley tells Burke she had
promised she would make it back for her daughter's 11th birthday.
Wow!—only to find out the child lived out her whole life without
her. (Unimaginable news!) Because of this, we understand and
empathize with Ripley's need to protect Newt beyond just the fact that Newt's a little girl. And the promise Ripley
makes to Newt not to leave her becomes more meaningful since we
know she left her daughter. Also, it makes the moment
at the end when Newt calls Ripley "Mommy"
that much more
poignant. The importance of Ripley losing her daughter
in emotionally investing us in the relationship between Ripley and
Newt cannot be over emphasized. It adds immeasurably to the tension when Newt is taken,
and our being able to relate to what Ripley is feeling.
Later
in the movie in the scene when Ripley tries to get Newt to take a nap in the MedLab,
a portion was cut that showed Newt asking Ripley if Aliens growing
inside us are like the way humans
have babies. She also asks Ripley if she has any kids. Ripley tells her she had a daughter, but she's
"gone". "You mean dead", Newt says. I think it's
an important connection that they each lost family.
Another short scene that is
related is one that shows the remaining crew inside the tank
drive around to where the Marines are in the Colony complex, to join
them now that it's "secure". As Ripley, Gorman, and the "pendejo
jerkoff" get out of the tank and walk toward the entrance to
enter the facility for the first time, Ripley freezes up. I remember
thinking that she had been through so much to get to that point. In crossing the line of going inside, she/we knew would be the beginning of
all the bad things that were sure to happen. Like her, we were
fearful and resigned, and at this moment, accepted whatever would
come. There was no going back. Ripley faces her fears and goes on,
just as she had done so many times before, but this small scene
speaks volumes for her courage by showing her fear, and gives depth
to her feelings for Newt—that she is willing to
go to such lengths and enter the belly of the beast (practically
literally) in spite of her fear. It helps so much to
appreciate her bravery knowing how much she doesn't want to be here.
In the Theatrical
Release this is a pitiful amount, and there isn't much they
can use to protect themselves in order to stall for time so that
Bishop can get the second drop ship remote piloted down to
them (they need four hours). They call up some schematics and decide to re-weld
shut the two places where Aliens broke through to attack the
Colonists, and then also weld shut
three more access points in a limited
area close to where they are holed up.
Once Ripley and Newt
escape the Face Huggers and the Aliens cut the power, they have
to use the weapons they have almost immediately
in retreat. This makes the
ending move much too quickly.
The Aliens come in hordes, and it
all goes to shit in record time.
In the Special Edition
there is a Last Stand feeling created by the casual
mention of it by Pvt. Frost in reference to the Colonists' making a
"last stand •
First, way back at the beginning of the movie before the scene where the crew awakens
in their sleep chambers on their way to LV-426 there is a
long loving look at the cargo hold locker area, which has an
arsenal of rows and rows of weapons,
missiles, and even houses a drop ship. The more military preparedness, the
greater the terror when they fail. This show of this amount
of munitions so early in the movie sets up more confidence
in the soldiers' abilities. Even though they show all this same
stuff as they gear up to leave later, shown separately it made a huge
impression, and I think they should have left it in. •
Second, Bill Paxton's
bravado speech on the way down to the planet "I'm ready, man,
check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the bad ass
art! You do NOT wanna fuck with me. Check it out! Hey Ripley,
don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate bad asses will protect
you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam
phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical
smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic
electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp
sticks . . . " This list of weapons we never get to see used
builds more confidence, and his cockiness makes us think they
have a chance. Plus Action Movie Freaks just eat up trash
talking (but more about that below). •
Third, is the one big difference in
the remaining weapons inventory: 4 robot sentries (UA 571s).
BIG
difference!
It's plenty scary when the Aliens break
through the first set of barriers, but, as what you imagine is a flood of aliens
triggers the first robotic sentry and the guns go off,
you're terrified. You count rounds with the crew members like
those bullets are all that stands between you and sure death.
Their depletion is a countdown to annihilation. How many Aliens
are there? I remember thinking I wish they had shown more Aliens being
blow away. Seeing a swarm overrun the guns would have added to
the terror. But they show only a couple, and most of the time,
they just show the guns firing. Maybe they didn't show them here
because then the scene later with so many of them in the ceiling
panel would lose its impact, but I think they should have shown
a few . . .
As the sentinels fire,
you're wondering how many bullets will it take, because they have only
2,000 rounds (500 x 4 sentries. So many Aliens attack that they
drain the first two sentries, and break through to the
second barrier. It's at this point that Bishop comes in over the
radio and announces: "I have some bad news." And what does
Hudson say? "Well that's a switch!" But you can't even laugh,
you're so decimated. You
are thinking: this is it! This time the swarm of Aliens will break through the final barrier and
kill the remaining survivors.
The Aliens don't merely discover where the
crew is hiding, they cut the power, track them down, and come
at them in scary numbers. It's that intense closing-in feeling
that gives a choking urgency to the time frame. Just when it seems
like the second set of sentries will be depleted and nothing's
going to stop them, the Aliens finally back off when the last
automatic gun (according to the display) has just 10 rounds left
(good thing the Aliens can't read).
In the Special Edition only,
we get another of Hudson's jokes:
GOOD ROAD
3. Weyland-Yutani
EVIL CORPORATION | The Fear of NOT KNOWING
4.
Introducing NEWT
| UNSEEN COLONISTS and ALIENS
The Winning Team
The diversity and
bravery of the Marines combined with a lack of discipline and overconfidence—what could be more American?
LOL
Here's one of every
Paxton moment:
Paxton was the
mouth of the military, but the whole Colonial Marine unit, complete with the
trash-talking, cigar-butt-chomping, deep-voiced, scream-it-at-me Sergeant, was
loved by the audience. Being part of a group of
elite soldiers, the uniforms, the camaraderie, the military
speak—"Get on the ready line!"—are all reasons people loved
this movie, and
Predator
(which came out a year later). It's all about being a bad-ass
soldier: talking the talk and walking the walk. Military toys
help too. The bravado speech Hudson gives listing the impressive array of firepower they
have at their disposal was only
in the Special Edition.
Because of that you're just
waiting for them to break out the heavy artillery and shoot the
shit out of everything, and they do! (More so
in the
Special Edition, because when everything falls apart
Cool
Factor
(You know something's
cool when they make a toy
of it.)
It's another reason this type of video game was invented.
People identified with the various characters and wanted to be
them—You pick which person you would want be—so
let's introduce them:
The Colonial Marines "5 by 5"
The Monsters
• Fear and dislike of an evil, greedy
corporation, and getting back at them
•
Taking control over a critical situation from a
weak leader • Taking charge of your own destiny in the face
of adverse orders • Using your common sense no
matter what you are told to do, and not blindly following • Doing the right thing even if it means
risking your life (heroes don't think about it, they just act).
I love how they start off with
the biggest 'monster': your and Ripley's worst fear—The Chest Burster/nightmare scene
in the beginning of the movie. Thankfully it puts to rest the audience's fear that
there is an Alien inside Ripley or inside the cat. Once that fear is
out of the way, there has to be another danger introduced, and kudos
to them for kicking it up a notch by placing 60-70 families in
harm's way. It's unthinkable that the Corporation started a colony
on LV-426, and that
people have been living out their lives without know what danger
lurks nearby. Only
Ripley (and you) know the danger and the risk. Understandably, she does not want
to go back. Who would? But she is a hero, and heroes do brave things. This movie keeps kicking it up a notch on Ripley's bravery, and each
time, she faces the challenge and exceeds our expectations. From
being too scared to enter the facility, to taking charge when Gorman breaks down, she keeps
on keeping on.
When they get to the MedLab and you see the Face Huggers
in formaldehyde, it confirms our worst fears that, yes, all the
Colonists were probably killed by Aliens and that there are
undoubtedly some Aliens still there running around. When I saw
the
Theatrical Release in 1986 (were you born yet?), it was like
the audience was holding its breath. When Burke tapped on
the glass of what you thought was a dead Face Hugger and it moved, the
entire theater jumped in their seats at
once. After that, you knew the worst was coming,
because if one of those things was still alive, there must be
more, and there was nothing
you could do to stop it. So we just hung on for the ride . . .
. . .
and it became a Horror Movie.
Your
anticipation for this elite fighting unit to start shooting was as
great as the characters'.
Let's Rock!
The Marines all had to give up their ammo
earlier because they are basically in a big fusion reactor and
firing a gun might blow the whole thing sky high. They were
supposed to use only the flamethrowers. Vasquez gave up her ammo
clip when asked, but of course, immediately pulled
out a back-up
clip. You have to love her! Not only was she the first in ("take
point"),
twice, she had enough replacement
ammo for herself and
those around her. Nobody wanted to be unarmed. When the Marines
torch the Chest Burster and the walls come to life (Aliens literally come out of the
walls), their flamethrowers don't seem like enough. As the Marines
are attacked and start to get taken away or killed, when Vasquez screams
"Let's rock!" and starts
blasting with bullets, you don't give a damn about the cooling tower or where
they are. You're just thinking "Kill those things!" Vasquez
is in a league of her own. Not afraid of anything and handling
the big gun!
This second part of the movie has the reduced
core cast:
Hicks, Gorman, Vasquez, Hudson, Burke, Ripley, and Newt.
We never really got to know Ferro and Spunkmeyer before they are
also killed as the first drop ship crashes.
What a classic Action Movie scene that is. It looks so real as
the flaming wreckage pieces come hurtling toward the crew and
they have almost no time to get out of the way. Once it's
over, Hudson picks up a piece of the ship, still smoking, and
begins his oh-so-famous lament:
Real Pretty Shit
Enter a monster of another kind:
Greed. Now the villain is
Carter Burke.
We love this core cast (except for Burke). We wish for this
remaining group to somehow get out alive, and we're right
with Ripley when she kicks up the escape scenario yet another
notch and suggests they nuke the entire site from
orbit! Ripley gets her wish when they realize the
reactor is doing emergency venting, which is a sign it will
blow.
As the core cast gears up for the last stand, the sound of the Aliens banging on the doors is what nightmares are made of.
They keep coming and they cut the power. Somehow they find a way
in and now it's a retreat against the clock of the whole
place blowing up on its own. Vasquez fights valiantly to
her last bullet in the mouth of an Alien. Gorman redeems
his cowardice and absence (he got knocked unconscious) when goes back to try to save Vasquez.
He stays with
her to detonate a grenade just before an Alien gets them (killing
them, but hopefully buying some time for
the others to flee. The explosion causes them to lose Newt
down a vent. They find her with a wrist tracker Hicks gave
Ripley ("Doesn't mean we're engaged.") but then she is
taken by an Alien in the water. I guess the motion tracker
didn't pick up that one . . .
Hicks is injured when he shoots an Alien trying to get into the
elevator with them at close range. The acid eats through is chest
plate.
Ripley saves Hicks, and then, despite the incredible shortness of
time, goes back for Newt. Could you
have done that? Mothers will say yes. The rest of us cowards
are not sure. We know there must be an Alien Queen somewhere laying eggs,
and when we finally do see it, Ripley is way too close for
comfort. I love that they used the fact that she knows she can communicate
with these creatures. With the threat of the flame thrower she
negotiates their escape, but then the Queen renegs, this
gives Ripley the freedom to let loose and torch the place. You
wanted it to happen anyway. It helps you hate the Aliens.
The fact that it rides the elevator can't be underappreciated in the
terror factor either. You know somehow it's going to get on board.
They give you just a hint as the ship scrapes the platform, dragging
some debris off . . .
Fucking A! Still, when it happens it's a surprise. The
turnaround of Bishop as a good Android is nice. He saves Newt.
They also did a great job of showing how Ripley uses the power loader
as a weapon. It evens the playing field. The teeth and the
tail keep Ripley busy but what a great payoff for that equipment,
and a nice parallel to the first movie when she runs back to her
astronaut suit.
This movie is so enjoyable, I never get tired of watching it.
This is my all-time favorite, #1 Action Movie, or maybe it's
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