'Aliens' (1986) Review: James Cameron's Action-Packed Sci-Fi Sequel Adds Even More Aliens Into The Franchise
Sigourney Weaver returns to fight more extra-terrestrials in James Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's classic 1979 original film.
“Game over, man. Game over!” - Hudson
With Alien Romulus, Fede Alvarez’s latest entry in the sci-fi horror movie franchise, releasing this week, I decided to watch the first two Alien films to prepare myself for the upcoming sequel. Now, I have already seen 1979’s Alien before a couple of times; which I think is a phenomenal piece of claustrophobic terror, coupled with one of the most iconic creature designs put on film, and masterful performances across the board. In other words, it is one of my favorite movies of all time. But, secondly, I had actually never seen its sequel - 1986’s Aliens - before. It was one of my answers to the question: “What is the most popular film you have never seen before?”, one of those movies that proved to be a glaring gap in my knowledge of film. That is, of course, until now.
Set 57 years after the events of the original film, the sci-fi action flick follows Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as she has re-awoken from her stasis-induced sleep after a nearby salvage crew discovered her life pod while exploring space. Once she is briefed that a group of colonists were sent to the very planet where Ripley’s original team found the alien species, all contact is lost, and communication with the colonists on that planet is down. As a result, Ripley is enlisted to join the Colonial Marines to investigate and search for answers.
Directed by James Cameron, Aliens marks the filmmaker’s third directorial effort after The Terminator gave his name more credibility across Hollywood in 1984. And if you count Piranha II: The Spawning, James Cameron truly is The King of the Movie Sequel. He followed his break-out hit The Terminator with its ground-breaking sequel Terminator II: Judgment Day. A decade after the first Avatar film became a box-office smash hit and a cultural phenomenon, he gave us Avatar: The Way of Water which wrote its own box-office success story and became a worldwide crowdpleaser. In other words, Cameron knows how to deliver a sequel that both stretches the world-building and expands our view of familiar faces from the original films. When it comes to Aliens, a sequel in its own right, the filmmaker does an excellent job at doing just that. He adds big-budget spectacle, infuses more action into the story, and superbly injects fresh perspectives and more dimensions to characters both old and new.
Whilst I was watching Aliens, I couldn’t help but think how much it reminded me of James Cameron’s other films that he would eventually go on to make. Before Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) became a fearless survivalist hellbent on saving the world from a robot uprising in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cameron had Ripley; who, in a way, may have acted as a source of inspiration for Hamilton’s evolved character in The Terminator sequel that was released five years later. Like Sarah Connor in T2, Ripley has a working knowledge and experience of the threat that lies ahead and would do anything in her path to take out the danger. So, in other words, Aliens acts as a precursor to Terminator 2: Judgment Day in terms of how they are both James Cameron-directed female-led sci-fi action movie sequels. There was also a part in the film when Ripley wakes up from her deep sleep and is briefed on the situation she has woken up to, that reminded me so much of Jake (Sam Worthington) waking up on Pandora and being told what they are doing there in Avatar. To put it simply, some of the areas and aspects of Aliens were a sign of things to come from the director.
Following on from her break-out role several years earlier with Alien, Sigourney Weaver is back as Ripley and delivers - arguably - a better performance as the character here than she did in 1979. She gets a lot more to do, in terms of what she has to deal with and take charge of, and I think it only serves to deepen the evolution of her character and strengthen Weaver’s performance in the process. It is a more expansive role, showing how the actress can go from this caring maternal figure by looking after Newt (Carrie Henn) to this fearless warrior on a warpath taking out the hive of aliens infesting the station. Weaver, for her part, does an incredible job at doing so and I loved her in this.
Outside of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, I thought Bill Paxton’s Hudson stole the show and was my favorite character when it came to the supporting players in this sequel. He goes from this cocky, arrogant marine full of confidence to this scared soldier out of his depth, and Paxton gives the character a real humane quality that you can’t help but love. You care about what happens to Hudson in the end, regardless of the fact he was this pretty unlikeable person to begin with and it is all thanks to Bill Paxton’s memorably goofy performance. Plus, his line deliveries (“17 days? We’re not going to last 17 hours”) will live inside my head rent-free for a long time.
From a technical standpoint, Cameron’s sequel fully delivers on sight and sound producing some truly terrific effects. I loved the decision to continue with the use of practical effects and design from the original, I thought the puppetry that was done for the face-huggers was superb and only added to the pure terror that comes with those creatures - especially in a scene when one was loose in a room with Ripley and Newt. As for The Queen, which was the centerpiece for the film’s final third-act showdown, it is an incredible piece of work by legendary special-effects creator Stan Winston. It is both beautiful to look at, but absolutely hideous to see in action.
All in all, then, Aliens is a worthy follow-up to one of the all-time sci-fi horror classics and is - in my opinion - one of the best movie sequels ever made. Sigourney Weaver is back in arguably her career-best performance, Bill Paxton’s Hudson is essentially the audience, and Michael Biehn is also there playing the war-torn heartthrob who cooks up a romance with Ripley. It is also a technical marvel, with the puppetry adding a sense of thrilling realism to proceedings whilst The Alien Queen is one of cinema’s most majestic yet terrifying crowning achievements in creature design. If you haven’t seen this movie yet (let’s face it, you most likely already have because it is one of the most popular and revered ‘80s films out there!), then I highly recommend it. With that said, Aliens is a must-watch!