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Movie of the Week #26 - Aliens
Another strong female lead with Sigourney Weaver in Aliens from 1986.
Besides any thoughts on this movie, what did you think of Sigourney Weaver s performance in this? How do you rank compared to the rest of movies in the Alien-franchise?
The rest of the schedule for April is:
- 29th: Fargo
This is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, not because of acting or horror but because of the set design and technical aspects. That entire aspect of 1970s-80s set design works very well for a space freighter because real life features many utilitarian technologies within industrial and nautical settings. Even spacecraft have extremely low-spec systems in our modern world. Alien isolation did an excellent job of this as well, by ditching that ultra-futuristic feel they made the station feel more unique and practical.
Here is a good read up on the symbols and typesetting used in the film
One of the all time perfect action movies. Solid acting, the plot is on point without being too lean and still leaves room for things to breathe and character moments to happen naturally, and the action is top notch through out. I'll admit I like the extended edition a bit more but it's relatively minor changes (the two main differences I can recall are an early bit with Newt's family finding the face huggers and the turret scene).
From a slightly more meta perspective, it's incredible how smoothly it changed genres considering the original was a nigh perfect haunted house in space movie AND that it's one of the almost unheard of examples of a sequel being as good or better than the original (the only other example I can think of where the whole thing was intended or adapted as a trilogy is Terminator 2, also from James Cameron).
Absolutely agree with everything you said. I’ll like to add while often it’s considered and described as one of the greatest action movies of all time the horror aspect are not to be overlooked. I’ve always found it incredibly uncomfortable and unsettling to watch hitting that sweet spot where you want more/and just want it over with. Combined with a great build up in tension mixed in with effective jump scares. One of my all time favourite movies.
In many ways, Alien to Aliens is similar to Terminator to Terminator 2 in that regard. From horror to more action, while still keeping some of the horror elements. For me, Aliens really started to get me when Newt and Ripley are trapped in that room together with the facehugger. Ripley is also clearly a character that influenced Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, with how no one believes her in the beginning but it turns around and she saves everyone in the end.
The pre-production story on this is also kinda whack, with how the studio at first didn't really want Weaver back and instead wanted a male hero. Thankfully Cameron insisted.
This has always been one of my top 2 movies of all time! One of the biggest reasons is how, much like the first movie, it's about people who are legitimately in way over their heads, against a superior. They try their best, may be overconfident, but they are getting bested because of stupid decisions and passing the idiot-ball around.
But the director's cut is a far superior film than the theatrical. The only thing they could have left on the cutting room floor was the intro with Newt's family. But the part about Ripley's daughter is a nice kick in the gut, the extended hearing, Hudson bragging, the turrets, and especially the talk about hives.
One thing I never noticed until someone pointed it out though... during the hearing with execs at the beginning, during the initial pan you can see one of them doing a crossword puzzle just highlighting how bullshit the whole thing is to them.
I recently watched Alien and Aliens for the first time. My impression is that Alien (1979) is a masterpiece through and through with some of the best horror/suspense I ever saw. I love everything about it. Sigourney Weaver in her prime is quite a treat too.
Cameron's Aliens in my opinion isn't horror, it is an action romp with grotesque elements. I can appreciate Cameron's genius in understanding the franchise's potential in that direction, but those movies scratch very different itches and I personally much prefer the slow build and psychological mood of the first.
Aliens (1986) is an extremely enjoyable and brilliantly made action sci-fi. The original Alien is, to me, an universal masterpiece.
I agree 100%. Alien was and still is a masterpiece. Aliens might have more fun action scenes but that doesn't make it a better film. There are opposite opinions in this thread and that's fine, but as you state the two are not directly comparable.
Yeah I agree with this. There are two types of people in this world, those who prefer Alien and those who prefer Aliens. The cinematography in Alien is just incredible.
Like Terminator 2, it's paced so well whenever I watch it I'm sucked into the world once the Colonial Marines show up and never lets up until the credits. Also copious amounts of iconic one-liners mostly from Bill Paxton. Mostly.
The behind the scenes footage of this movie are equally fascinating in how they achieved all of it with practical effects. The production team with Cameron were insistent on doing everything "in-camera". What the camera records is what you get. Those scenes are real because they are real.
Cleverly putting miniatures in front of the camera at the right distance to blend in with the main set to make it look bigger than it is, playing back previously recorded footage with a projector on a screen behind the set if they needed a wide shot, and showcasing the dirty future by getting rubble from Pinewood Studios and opening up the soundstage during bad weather to dirty up Hadley's Hope. There's also some fun ones like the ovipositor where someone below the set had to hold up an egg as it gets placed down so it didn't roll away.
They also used a lot of simple camera tricks to keep it on budget, like turning the camera upside down for aliens on the vents, yanking a prop and playing the footage backwards to make a facehugger "jump", and bigger alien scenes were carefully recorded in such a way that you never see the big crane behind it so they never needed to hide it.
Seeing the movie magic just made me love the film even more. Gale Anne Hurd said that it initially fooled the execs into believing they blew all the budget on sets instead of effects.
Yes! Another detail (but from Alien) to make things look bigger is using children in space suits in the Space Jockey scene.
A great movie. It still holds well to this day.
I originally owned this movie on VHS, then I bought the Extended Cut when it came out just for the scenes with the automated Sentries. They were so cool.
Apparently the Directors Cut is shorter and faster paced. That's three different versions of the same movie available.
Is anyone aware of this streaming anywhere? I've been on the lookout for it on my services the last few months but hadn't seen it
It's on Max in the US.
Thanks -- one of the few streaming services I'm not currently subscribed to lol. We are looking to pare down and maybe pick up a different few so Max might be one of those
It's on my Jellyfin server. I originally bought this as a Directors Cut on VHS a very long time ago.
I know your question has already been answered, but for future reference JustWatch is the best way to find this info. You just search for the show/movie and select your country in the dropdown (if it didn't auto-detect it correctly) to see where its available for streaming.
E.g. Here in Canada Aliens on Disney+ for subscribers, or digitally rentable on AppleTV for $5.
Aliens will always have a special place in my heart. I wasn't allowed to watch R-rated movies, but I was over at my friend's house in Hawaii watching this on HBO back in the 80's and was blown away. I was ten and had never seen the original Alien, but Aliens was a fist pumping piece of cinema full of guns, flame throwers, robot suits directly aimed towards the amygdala of a young boy. It was feminist without being political. It made you wish your mom had a pulse rifle to mow down hordes of xenomorphs. It had a lesbian coded Latina who was a hero in her own right. The heroes became cowards, but some of them still became heroes in the end. Aliens is as close to a perfect movie as I can think of. It will always belong in the pantheon of classics. It is the perfect action movie following the perfect horror movie.