Finding out if the Sequel is BETTER | First Time Watching ALIENS (1986) Special Edition Commentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- Everyone tells me Aliens is better than Alien so today we find out if it's true. My review for this James Cameron follow up.
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I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that showed so much support and watched my video on the first film 🙌🏼❤ My plan after this (in terms of films between my regular TV show videos) was to cover both Predator and Blade Runner, though please do put below if people want me to cover additional Alien films. I want to cover Romulus when it releases outside of theatres, too.
I appreciate that this video is a little longer than the first video. Truthfully, there’s simply more parts to this film, in my opinion, that makes it succeed as a sequel and this meant that there was simply more to break down, more to talk about, and with my style this of course means some long ass pauses 😂 I considered cutting down more off the final edit but I figured considering the comments made beneath my Alien video and how I was made aware that so many folks hold this movie in such high esteem, I wanted to give all the time and care to giving my full opinion and breaking down why I think this movie hits so many people the way it does. While the length of this may ultimately impact the performance of the video, I felt it was appropriate to keep it as is. Hope you enjoy!
Alien 3 (Assembly Cut) is actually pretty decent, but still far less good that the first 2. Skip Resurrection, it's terrible. Prometheus is okay, Covenant is meh.
Predator 1 & 2 are great, as is Prey. Skip everything else.
Also, check out Terminator 1 & 2. Again, skip everything else. Sarah Connors is up there with Ripley, imho, but her trajectory is different (and for spoilers, that is all I will say) but another great example of two movies that are basically different genres but which form a fantastic pair.
EDIT: Also, you should check out Dog Soldiers. Its a low budget werewolf movie that I totally describe as Aliens with Werewolves. Not as good, of course, but its fun and I feel the similarities were purposeful.
Alien 3 is a clearly worse movie than the first two, but it has it's moments. Prometheus is unpopular, but I quite like how it tried to do it's own thing, so I recommend it. Imo, it's the best after Alien, Aliens and Romulus.
Alien Covenant is meh.
Avoid Alien 4: Resurrection and the AVP movies at all costs.
I love the longer form, it was totally worth it to see your reaction. I'd agree with everyone else to just stop with the Alien(s) franchise here, I didn't enjoy any of the movies after this and haven't even seen Covenant as I thought Prometheus was an utter mess, although I'm told Romulus is reasonably good. All respect to anyone who likes any or all of the movies, we all get to like what we like.
For example, Alien Vs Predator (AvP) is objectively terrible but I kinda love it. So maybe if you do Predator you might have fun with it after that?
Gracias a vos por esta reacción. Sin dudas la mejor que he visto, junto con la primera. Muy inteligente, profunda, sincera y graciosa. Un placer de ver. ❤
A lot of people will recommend not watching Alien 3, and depending on the reactor, I often agree. But for all its flaws, it's rich in themes and ripe for analysis, which I know you love. It pulls the franchise back towards horror, but is different enough to not just feel like a retread. It's underappreciated because of what precedes it, but I say go for it.
First time you watch Aliens, you think the Company people are awful for not believing Ripley. On repeat viewing you realize that they knew she was telling the truth...they just didn't care. They're actually worse than awful.
Well, it's not like they were going to admit it and let her sue them all.
Honestly, I don't think they knew. I mean, they also didn't care; if they knew or believed, they would have investigated. They were still slime. But Burke is the only one who believed. So he sent the colonists to the ship without telling any higher-ups; that's why he was talking about an "exclusive".
I expect that 57 years ago, another Burke-level asshole sent the Nostromo to check out the signal and planted the android. That guy also didn't tell anyone, so when the ship vanished he wrote it off as a bad idea. This is why the company folks had no idea what happened to the Nostromo or even where it vanished.
@@kevinsullivan2153 The company has been sniffing around that sector for decades trying to find the aliens. Why do you think there a colony in the middle of nowhere with nothing important nearby?
Burke was the one out of the loop. He didn't believe her, he just sent someone to check and then he realized what it would mean once everything went silent.
@@kevinsullivan2153 Apparently it's been revealed in something supplemental that a group of people at the company knew about the signal (and possibly the creatures), which is why they put Ash on the Nostromo to covertly find its source. When that went bad they deleted all records related to it so they couldn't be held accountable for the loss of the ship and its crew. They were probably all dead by the time Ripley was found, given the time that had passed.
@@JediMB That tracks; a small group rather than a single "bad guy". Burke could easily also be part of a small effort rather than a singleton. I just get a bit frustrated when people think of Weyland-Yutani as a single entity, since it matches people who think of "the government" or any large group as a single entity. In reality, any group of 3 or more people will have politics, internal struggles, and internal secrets. They're not "evil", usually, but they are very often "selfish/greedy". Match that with short-term thinking and you get lots of unpleasantness.
I felt this film cemented Ripley as one of the great heroes in cinema. The first film she was just trying to survive. She clearly has PTSD from the traumatic events on the Nostromo and Narcissus. But James Cameron elevated her even more by having her actively CHOOSE to confront her fear and trauma. As a little girl growing up in the 80s it was eye opening to see the hero trope subverted. Super powers and muscles don't make people heroic, brave, and courageous. Ripley was such a bad ass to me because she was scared shitless and yet answered the call anyways. She literally goes into the Gates of Hell (Queen's Nest) to save Newt; her surrogate daughter.
This film inspired me to go to USC film school and write action/dramas in the film industry. I thanked James when we interviewed him for an indie doc at his studio. th-cam.com/video/e1AKrk8cA8g/w-d-xo.html
She did confront her fear (definitely when she saved Newt) but she also wanted to go with the marine mission to monitor what the Company was up to, doing what she could to make sure they didn't bring one back. That's why she was on to Burke so quickly, despite his assurances. She couldn't sleep at night knowing what the Company did previously. They said her role was a consultant, but she regarded it as supervisor.
I've come to appreciate that Ripley is allowed to be angry, and that the anger is mostly shown to be an asset. It helps her step up and do the right thing, and only backfires when corporate bootlickers like Burke see her as a threat to their profits.
@@JediMB 6 years later, _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ was an anger-fuelled world-saving machine. I wonder whether Kirsty Swanson or Sarah Michelle Gellar took inspiration directly from Sigourney Weaver.
Part of the reason I fell in love with my wife is because she showed so many features that reminded me of Ripley. Strong women are awesome
If you like this, then if you haven't seen it, look up Tom Savini's remake of Romero's Night of the Living Dead. It's a truly underrated performance from the actress who was an actual stunt performer in the role of Barbara. If you haven't seen it, then check it out. You see that change in her character of going through something really traumatic but pushing through it. As a disabled Army veteran who personally knows what PTSD truly is like, her performance to me was truly Oscar worthy. Tony Todd also gives a great performance, and this was before he ever did Candyman or The Crow. I truly believe that film was more of an inspiration to The Walking Dead than any of Romero's other work, Greg Nicotero was the one who was in charge of all the effects of that film.
Aliens is exquisitely crafted.
Every single scene has a purpose.
Zero bloat ZERO
But unfortunately this was the directors cut, said the meat worm.
....and all in vein, because Alien3
@@gambar Honestly I prefer Resurrection over Alien 3, even if it's ridiculous. At least stuff happens and they explore interesting ideas in Resurrection and have memorable characters. Alien 3 goes nowhere and doesn't do anything with its cast.
@@gambarAlien 3... sigh. There was a trailer like a year before it was released that strongly implied it would be set on Earth. We were so excited.
It's because they were considering that but hadn't chosen a final script yet.
The actual plot, the prison planet thing... just wasn't my bag. The director's cut certainly improves it and in some ways it's a handsome movie. But, well, if Alien is horror and Aliens is action, Alien 3 is mopey and depressing. From the very first scene and it doesn't let up.
@@silikon2 Regarding the premise that this would be set on Earth didn't 20th Century circulate a commercial with the tagline:
"On Earth everyone can hear you scream."
You were right when comparing the confidence of marines to the confidence of the US going to Vietnam.
James Cameron later admited he was thinking along those lines when writing the script. Nice catch.
Great reaction keep it up.
It wasn't even an admission, it was deliberate. Most people don't see it now because it's been so long since the US-Vietnam war.
The Sulaco is the US marching into fight an entrenched enemy they arrogantly believe they easily outmatched.
The Marines in the movie obviously substandard in many cases and this reflects the US lowering recruitment standards during Vietnam.
Gorman is a noob Lt, likely incompetent and certainly placed there so the company man Burke can easily control him.
Btw, Weyland-Yutani being called "the company" was an allusion to the CIA, and this was present in the original as well.
I wouldn't say it's better, but it is equally good for different reasons, which makes for a perfect sequal, in my opinion. After having seen the first Alien movie as a kid, I had to persuade my parents to take me to a doctor because I had convinced myself there was an alien growing inside my stomach. When I saw Aliens, I nagged my parents an equal amount, but this time, it was due to me ranting about how cool the movie was. Not to suggest that the first movie wasn't cool or that the metric of horror is the only determining factor in judging the quality of either movie. I love them both equally!
Entirely fair. My opinion really comes down to personal preference but each film is so strong in its own right 😄
Hope all was well at the doctor 👀😂
I would. If it wasnt for James Camerons 3D storytelling in Aliens and trust me, his 3D magic tricks are all over this movie, this franchise wouldve gone the way of Jaws and its horrible sequels
For me Alien is a 99 versus Aliens which is a 97. Very close and it's cool how they actually explored different stuff while keeping the essence of the first film.
@@devildante9totally agree. Alien to me… the scene with the alien (which we now know what it was) was soooooo spooky. Alien was a sci fi horror film. It will always be a perfect film. Aliens is a fun sci fi action movie done exquisitely well.
Paul Reiser (Burke) brought his mother to the opening night. When Burke was killed, she stood up in thr theater and cheered.
and he was known to play the nice-fella in various TV roles and movie roles, etc. So making him a scummy villain was a GREAT movie.
@@kinagrill He's part of the 80's homage series Stranger Things. He's in the sci-fi 80's hall of fame because of this movie. Started as a stand up comedian.
Fun fact, the picture of Ripley's daughter is actually a picture of Sigourny Weavers mother.
When the female computer voice tells them how long Ripley has to get Newt before the place blows up, it is the literal run time of the film before that happens. I love it when a film gives you a deadline and actually sticks to it.
I'm just sad you didn't include the most iconic line "Stay away from her, you b*tch!". I saw the film again in the cinema in 2015 on the big screen and the whole audience dutifully chanted the line along with her and cheered.
Seriously though, Alien and Aliens are a fantastic pair of movies. Maybe all sequels should try shifting genres in to tell a continuation rather than just reheating the original?
I could go on at length about how much I love both of these movies, but you've done a great job already. Plus there are already some great comments here too.
Keep up the amazing work.
Also shoutout for Hick's complete unquestioning faith in Ripley.
Plus, I don't know who came up with it, but "Queen Takes Bishop" is now the unofficial name of the scene where Bishop gets ripped in half.
Yes, perhaps the best line in
Cinematic history.
"Get away from her, you bitch!"
A horror film as a sequel to a horror film is hard since you already have expectations but it doesn't always make sense to switch genres. Horror to action works because it's natural but the other way around would be really stupid. Action to thriller could be a very interesting combination. Most other combinations seem odd. Most of the legendary sequels stick to the original like Top Gun and Maverick, Terminator 1+2 or the Lord of the Rings trilogy,.
Paul Riser, the company wonk Burke, was hired for Stranger Things season 2 to give everyone who met him in Aliens and added level of not trusting him. Brilliant use of an actor's previous role to cast a feeling over another role. Its really well done.
They also used him that way, but opposite in this movie in the first place, as he was mostly known at the time from playing very likable characters in funny and romantic movies and TV shows. So here people at first had the feeling of being able to trust him although he was from the company.
But it gets you type cast
1:05:41 Queen takes Bishop.
Had to get that chess reference in there. Also matches up very nicely with the black carapace of the queen and the white blood of Bishop.
That comment is EVERYTHING!! 🤣🤣🤣
Queen takes Queen, check mate
I love how Hicks takes on the "team mom" job, happy to let Ripley be the leader.
"I am missing the horror of the first film" hehhe, perfect timing.
Newt's wail of "mommy" gets me every time. That kid is just too cute.
Turns out the best therapy, sometimes, is the destruction of your enemies.
No shame in having a preference! Both are great, just different flavours.
A small detail I just recently noticed, after decades of watching this off and on, and I was there in 1986 on opening night...the crowd went wild, as they say, but the small detail is that when the door is cut open at the beginning, that harpoon gun is still in the same position from the first film.
I’ve also been watching this movie for 30 years and never knew that until reading your comment 10 seconds ago. Cheers!
I never noticed that either. Excellent attention to detail.
Though I'm surprised she didn't have to move it to allow the door to seal.
A detail that I’ve not seen someone else mention is that the Chestburster from Ripley’s dream doesn’t reach from out of her chest, but from her belly. In fact, the cut to her waking up, holding her heart, draws attention to that “error” in continuity.
In fact, I am certain that this was deliberate foreshadowing of Ripley’s character arc-in which she slowly reclaims her perceived role as a maternal, matriarchal leader. Specifically through her relationship with Newt.
Interesting thought! I always assumed it was something about not exposing her breasts.
It was absolutely deliberate. As a big fan of the books, they constantly play on her fears as a mother. She spent 57 years in cryo having the same nightmare on repeat: the aliens got Amy. It’s a whole other level of true horror. Exquisitely done. The only real problem is that this was revealed and made canon to the story decades after the movie was made. It’s just yet another testament to the quality of story crafting the first two films had and the talents of amazing authors more than twenty years later weaving the story together (and managing to get the official canon to boot).
which is something I hadn't considered before, and it makes me hate Alien 3 even more
Yeah, also the fact that it was mother versus mother at the end versus the queen, it's so cool.
58:57 Not so much at that point but later, when Ripley and Newt are standing on the empty platform, Bishop and the drop ship are gone and the queen is coming up in the lift while the entire structure explodes around them. That was my - "Well, unless they can beam out, "STAR TREK style", they're just DEAD" moment of PURE bleakness. It was opening night, 1986 and the film got me to that point. When the drop ship emerges behind them, along with James Horner's incredible musical sting, it was a moment of PURE EXHILARATION I will never forget.
@@tulinfirenze1990 word has it, at some point, it was suggested that they would jump to avoid the alien, as bishop never showed up. But then, decided to change the ending.
@@Fernando-dt8je I have a vague recollection of them getting ready to do that in the novelization of the film.
same! I had the exact same reaction in the theater. and had no idea the queen stowawayed, thought they were all clear
The audience at my first show went crazy when Bishop showed up. It was wonderful.
'best 2 minutes of movie making'.
Alien and Aliens are the perfect pairing. Doesn't rehash the original or take away from it. Extends what we know. Gives us something different (a war film vs space horror) and does it well. They complement each other so the pair together are greater than the excellent single films. I completely understand your preferences. I think I lean more into Aliens because we get to see the effects of the PTSD on Ripley and that just gives her character a chance to grow in a different direction. But, it stands on what Alien did. Great sequel, great reaction.
Another piece of trivia about this film: Sigourney Weaver received a best actress nomination for her performance. I’m glad you’re watching the extended version because it adds so much to the story then what was released into Cinemas.
Should really watch the Theatrical first. Slightly shorter, and no Hadley's Hope spoilers early-on in the movie. So we basically don't know what happened to Newt before we find out the fate of the colonists in the hive. Watch the S.E. after the theatrical for the back-story scenes and a few extra bits of cut footage.
Hearing you talk about Ripley being pretty much destined to die by the end of the movie, because of Newt being a satisfying terminus of her character arc...it really sets Ripley up to not be enveloped in "plot armor," you know? Like, once you as an audience member come to that understanding, you then start to see her as actually vulnerable. She doesn't HAVE to survive the movie just because she's the hero. In fact, she doesn't even need to wait until the very end to die. She could die before the climax (saving Newt in the process of course), and then it would be up to Newt to save the team. Wow, I really never thought of it that way before, but that's a clever way of stripping away plot armor and making your hero's survival a genuine question.
To understand this in the context of release is to understand that this wasn't only the sequal to alien, but it was james camerons' next film after the terminator.. which was groundbreaking 80s cyberpunk cinema, and he was doing the sequel to alien. I waited in line 8 hours on opening day to watch this..
21:30 They don't necessarily expect her to fail. They are just surprised that a former flight officer can drive a power loader, which is lower-class type of work. Which Burke mocks in her apartment. She only learns to drive the power loader because the Company revokes her flight officer license and she can't get a better job, which sets up the fight with the queen at the end.
I love practical effects, they age a lot better than digital.
After watching your review on Alien I went want tried watching your older reviews but your energy/commentary didn't have the same feeling. But I really enjoyed your Alien review so when I saw this pop up I wanted to how you handle this one and you earned a new subscriber. Your much more chill now and provide a unique commentary that others dont. Your not afraid of pausing the movie and talking. I dont watch reacts to watch a shorten movie I want to know what people think about the movies they watch.
I like how you called out that setting up boundaries was just a false sense of security only to then get pulled into the false sense of safety and lament the lack of horror moments. It's a bg part of why this movie works so well, they were never safe and both the characters and the audience get sucked into the same illusion and drop their guards.I love how memorable the cast is in this one, they firmly established who all of them were before they started picking them off, really made each death have the most impact it could.
You can actually hear the Queen screaming right after the flame the chestburster, calling the rest of the hive to attack.
When Ripley first sees the Queen Alien that was also the actress' first time seeing it, she'd stayed away from it the whole time they were shooting so her reaction would be authentic.
The actor who plays Hicks actually changed during filming and his original actor is actually in a scene or two in the final movie though it';s hard to spot since the shot is mostly from behind.
I'd recommend watching the other Alien films. Though if you watch 3 make sure you watch the extended version, for some reason the theatrical release cut out way too much footage and the film really suffers for it. Though there are a couple minor differences between the two.
Back when this film came out I heard an Aussie film critic say that he thought Aliens was possibly the most American treatment of the subject matter possible. It simplifies and fully explains all of the details that were either unexplained in the first film, or only vague and only suggested details about this world. The gung ho military, the non stop action and violence, and the family values that are central to the theme. Everything is fully fleshed out, de-mystified and unobscured in this iconoclastic sequel, for better or worse. Big YES from me re Bladerunner and Romulus reviews. Looking forward to your take on these too.
Sometimes the Americans get things right, though 😁
Solid script, solid story, solid characters, solid acting, solid sound design and music, amazing cinematography, pretty damn good visual effects. Very different tone from the original, without insulting or contradicting it.
Aliens is the perfect sequel, James Cameron knew not only to not do the first film over again but also had the guts to change genre. Best is to stay here, while there are more sequels they are basically just retelling these two first films over and over AND most importantly part 3 ferociously kills the perfect ending that Aliens gave us.
And the modern stuff with Prometheus, Covenant and Romulus is unfortunately only Ridley Scott believing that he somehow created the first movie (so completely ignoring the script by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett and the ambiance created by HR Giger) and tries to spin his own take on the Alien saga that just doesn't work (Ridley is a very talented Director but couldn't write a story to save his own life).
I used to think the first alien was scarier, but after learning more of the lore I realized the hive was equally if not more terrifying. The hive adapts, when alone the alien is more careful, it won't produce a queen without others, when in a group it behaves differently it works in brute force it will attack without thought of self preservation. where there is one there will be another like cockroaches, if you even see one there are likely ten more hiding behind the walls.
This is what I feel is often missed by people who criticize the behavior of the creatures in the second film. Well, that and the fact that the aliens are more easily killed because the characters in this film are using MILITARY GRADE WEAPONRY.
"The alien in the first film was impossible to kill!"
The crew of the Nostromo couldn't risk spilling its blood everywhere and having it eat through the hull while traveling in space.
@@BioGoji-zm5phalso Ripley woonded the first alien with small harpoon
@@БелаяВорона-б6й Wounded, but not killed.
Thank you for noticing the transition from the facehugger on Newt's dad's face to the slow pan down Ripley's hand holding the smoke. I first noticed this well crafted transition upon first viewing, opening night in 1986 and NOBODY ever before until now has ever noticed it as well. Very well spotted.
How you noticed that in 1986 is insane! Ya know considering the footage was only added in the 1991 special edition on Laserdisc and VHS and wasn't in the original 1986 theatrical release lol
@@tjdw5251 Yeah - mental brain fart - lol - thanks for pointing it out. I meant when I first saw the special edition. Like the alien for Ripley, I guess the SE has been in my life so long, I don't know anything different.
It doesn't go as hard as the cut from ... oh, yeah, spoiler, I guess ...
... spoiler for Bram Stoker's _Dracula,_ which was a while ago, but spoiler ...
... the cut from Lucy Westenra's head flying off when Abraham Van Helsing decapitates her to the same Abraham Van Helsing carving a joint of meat for everyone at dinner.
My dad took me to see this on opening weekend in 1986. I was ten years old at the time. It was, up to that point, the most intense in-theater experience I had ever had.
I'm and old dude and I remember watching this movie opening night in a packed theater, the crowd reaction was epic! When Ripley came out in the powerloader and said "get away from her you bitch" the crowd lost its collective mind! Unforgettable cinematic experience. This was one of the few movies that exceeded expectations and is widely consider one of the best sequels since Terminator 2 and Godfather 2.
T2 was promised, and then took many years to finally be filmed. I was hoping for a good sequel. It was even better than I expected, and that’s rare. The same can be said for this movie and I put it as a sequel on the same level as T2, a great horror movie with sci-fi bits followed by a great sci-fi movie with horror bits..
Fun connection to this film. After the movie was completed, Carrie henn the little girl. "Newt"
Her father who was in the Air Force got reassigned to Castle Air Force Base.
Right behind my then future husband's home.
At that time he was in high school and had a part-time job as a gymnastics instructor being that he was a level 1 gymnast.
And the little girl was one of his students for a Time.
This was of course before he had actually seen the movie.
And did not know who she was.
But the little girl fell in love with him on a platonic level of course.
She is now a school teacher still living in Atwater California.❤😊
If I recall, there is a brief discussion that's in the director's cut/extended edition of ALIEN that the detour to LV-426 was going to put them several months behind and she was going to miss her daughter's birthday.
"It's not a Kinder Egg, is it?" No, but its contents are certainly a choking hazard.
I met Janine (Vasquez once) I told her , "I started doing pullups because of you"
She said, "Looks like you never stopped". I was over the moon.
I do also think part of what fueled the DEEP horror of the first movie was the consistent looming of the UNKNOWN. We and Ripley only slowwwly learn what the Alien is, and how the Alien operates, and each new revelation is preceded by a long period of confusion, uncertainty, and unease. And the filmmaking is equally deliberate in the gradual unspooling of visual information, only revealing the Xenomorph's full appearance in the final minutes of the story. So we're often more afraid of what we don't know and don't see.
This movie starts out at a disadvantage, because we and the protagonist already know most of the "rules" of how the threat operates, and we already know what the threat looks like - the only big new discovery in this story is the Queen, and even she just operates like a bigger version of the established Xenomorphs.
Aliens did build really well on the briefly utilized camouflage bit from the very end of Alien. How they can be all around you and you have no idea until they strike.
From memory the first film did the slow reveal on the alien because it looked pretty crappy, very much a man in a monster suit. So to cover the costumes shortcomings they did it the way it was done. Very zoomed in partial views and quick flashes of it coming out of the darkness etc
In the game "Alien Isolation" you play as her daughter Amanda.
I like Aliens better, but it’s very close - aliens is probably my fave film of all time tbh
I watched this the first weekend it came out in the Empire in Leicester Square in London, the same huge cinema that was used for the London red carpet launch.
I booked tickets, front and center of the upper circle, in this 800 seat cinema.
So, you remember the scene when they first enter the laboratory and see all the face huggers in jars… let’s just say that the “face hugger jerking towards Carter” jump scare caused such a surprise that my full huge portion of popcorn went flying over the balcony… causing even more screams from below. 😂😂😂 a 4D experience
Excellent analysis! I'm so happy you caught the Vietnam parallels which I think, due to our distance from that war time wise, is often overlooked by people seeing the film for the first time. The best movies in this franchise are the ones that show the horrible reality of this universe: The xenomorphs aren't the most horrifying thing in these stories, Weyland Yutani is and we see this through how they treat the human cast which consists of historically exploited groups. In Alien, it's blue collar workers and in Alien it's soldiers like those sent to Vietnam. To have the most horrifying monster imaginable be the second scariest thing in a story like this is so brilliant and partially why it's my favorite franchise.
That being said, for Romulus the only other films you really need for any sort of major context is Prometheus and Alien Covenant. They're definitely not masterpieces like the first two and have their flaws but I personally love them and they introduce lore that plays a pretty significant role moving forward.
It's always a joy to watch someone who gets it on their first viewing. Attention to detail and appreciation of the art form.
They need more people like you helping them develop further stories etc. If they did that we'd end up with better sequels then those we ended up with. So much wasted story potential and we are now reduced to watching the greatest hits in sequel form.
I don't think Ripley's daughter was even mentioned in the original theatrical release, which led to Newt being unfairly referred to as "Jones the cat" in many reviews. Cameron fleshed out Ripley's daughter using cut scenes in the extended version, as well as adding the early scene with Newt's family.
He wasn't fleshing out or adding anything new. He was RESTORING the original story he wrote and filmed.
The daughter was not mentioned in the original theatrical release. I don't think knowing about her adds anything to the movie. It's fair enough to equate Newt with Jones the cat, because of course you want to see the hero protecting the most vulnerable character in the story.
@@pollyparrot9447 Riiiight, because a cat is the same thing as a child the same age as the child you lost 🤦 I hope you don't have children.
@@pollyparrot9447 Pathetic.
I think there is a small side comment about her birthday when they get woken and diverted.
38:22 Ripley is one of the most fully realized heroic characters in a large scifi franchise. She grows in her capabilities over the course of the series, but fully out of the core character traits that were established in the first movie: she’s smart, she’s takes no bullshit, she pays attention to detail, has a strong moral center, and she’s a fast learner. I love a smart hero much more than a physically superior hero
When people say that my dislike for modern female heroes is because I'm sexist, I point them to Ellen Ripley. I dislike modern female heroes, because they tend to be Mary Sues, or they are portrayed as having superior strength that doesn't fit their body type. Ripley is excellently written, and her character development over the franchise makes her very believable.
Aliens is quite possibly my favourite movie of all time.
"We get there and they're all fine" that's the funniest line in the video...that would definitely change up the story!!!😂😂😂
Every time I watch this movie it always hits me how well the characters are written and portrayed specially all those who survive the hive incursion.
The one that I feel always gets the short end of how people perceive them is Lieutenant Gorman. Yes he was very inexperienced and its made well aware in the movie, but even during the hive incursion he is being level headed and tries to adapt to the situation when he is informed that explosive rounds would not be a good thing to use in the area the nest was located in. When the Aliens finally reveal themselves and attack the marines he still tries to order them to retreat orderly with the flame units covering but nobody is listening in the confusion and comms getting cut out randomly. This is where people think he fails because he then goes into apathy of not being able to help his soldiers who were not listening/hearing him anyway. Ripley then takes charge and moves the APC to pick them up. Gorman reacts to this totally normally in anger because Ripley is not a soldier and on its own decide to operate a military vehicle. He gives up stopping her after Burke pulls him off of her and most likely knows it the right thing to do to go save the soldiers. Then next time we see him putting out the fire inside the APC next to the door that was caused by Drake accidentally shooting the flamethrower through the door after getting hurt by the acid from shot alien. He then gets knocked out by some containers when they escape with the APC. Later when he wakes up he tries right away apologize to Ripley who tells him to forget it. Rips one of the medbay facehuggers off Ripley's throat with Hicks. Condemns Burke with the rest and guards him during the attack until Burke uses the confusion to run the medbay and lock the door. He goes through the medbay door after Hicks cuts it open second last Vasquez coming last as she was holding the Xeno's off. He follows Hicks in the vents while yelling to Vasquez to move faster. He then tells Hicks to go on while he goes to get Vasquez who gets hurt by acid and can't move. They get surrounded and Gorman pulls out grenade and they blow themselves up before the Xeno's get them.
For me his actions are totally inline of good leader even if he was inexperienced originally. After the hive incident he does realize that listening to the more experienced Hicks and Ripley is not wrong and shows real leadership after in every scene we see him. He is not afraid to fight and does not let apathy or panic to consume him second time. He could have easily send Hicks to go get Vasquez even ordered him but he tells him to go on and goes himself.
As a sidenote, the actor playing Apone, was a true military officer and was the first African-American to receive a high metal of valor in Vietnam. So his acting as a sergeant is very much true too his own personal story.
"You need a napkin" I fell off the chair! lol
When George Cameron filmed the seens with Newt , he would film all HER seens then redo the same seen with the Xenomorphs then splice the seens together in post-op. When she fell into the water a VERY close family friend almost like her Loved Uncle played the part of the Xenomorph when it came out of the water and took her. This was all done to prevent Trauma to the child actor.
Doesn't sound very like James Cameron to want to avoid traumatising one of his actors 😁😁😁
@@pollyparrot9447 oh it was fair game for the adults but the British gov sad no for the kid
Also, you're watching it on a tiny screen, which will affect impact. This was MIND BLOWING in the theater. The effects, the soundtrack.... Just hits harder seeing it on a huge screen. The action is undeniable. The horror here is corporate greed, and that she's the only one who truly understands the danger, while everyone else is blasé about it.
Alien and Aliens has a very similar route of Terminator and Terminator 2. Many love the sequel more, but I prefer both the originals for the same reason you mentioned of them being a very tight stricter horror over the robust action. All mentioned are fantastic, just all taste with which appeals more.
I'm so glad you watched the directors cut. Sigourney Weaver was so upset it was cut from the theatrical release.
If you're commenting on how good the special effects and sets are for this movie, do keep in mind that James Cameron used to be a special effects specialist before he became a director. So he brings a vast knowledge of how sets work and how it looks on screen.
Also, this was James Cameron's second movie as a director, so he was still relatively unknown and inexperienced.
By the way, good catch in spotting the Avatar parallels. Cameron has said on occasion that he wanted to do a movie where he could bring back that loader from this movie.
*Special edition*
The Theatrical cut didn't have any references to Ripley having a daughter, so the whole parallel with Ripley and her daughter, Ripley and Newt and Ripley and the Queen was lacking the impact. To me, that felt like they cut out the central theme of motherhood. It was such a surprise to watch the Special Edition afterwards and finding entirely new central themes for the same movie. It also removed the exchange of first names, so for the Theatrical Cut we never get to learn Ripley's first name.
*Weyland-Yutani*
I think the original movie didn't even mention the name of the company. They all just referred to it as 'The Company', as it was all-encompassing. So this plaque was technically the first time we can put a name to the company when it shows you that sign. Of course the Theatrical Cut also removed the footage of the settlement on the planet and them finding the ship, because they wanted to have a regular runtime of 1.5 hours. Which in turn removes the footage of Newt's parents being the ones to find the eggs in the first place (which also fits into the central theme of parenthood, by _not_ bringing your kids to an alien spaceship and letting them sit there while you explore it).
*Sequel*
James Cameron does interesting things with this sequel in that he understands what works for the original, so he should keep that. At the same time, the facehugger and the xenomorph have already been revealed, so he can't use that mystery to the horror/suspense of the sequel, so he needs to find a different angle. The sequel can't do the same thing as the first one, because Cameron knows he can't top that horror/suspense, so he made it action/horror/suspense instead, to give it a twist that fits the situation why Ripley would return.
If you look closely, he reuses more similar scenes. In fact, he uses a lot of them.
- The gaslighting of Ripley from the first movie (Ash opening the door, letting Kane in; Dallas overriding her ideas) is already shown in the boardroom, but Gorman does it as well.
- The long panning shots of the interior at the start.
- The android analysing the facehugger and calling it an interesting species.
- Introducing Newt as a replacement for Jones, while adding to the theme.
- Making the movie last as long as the timer Mother set for blowing up the ship, so the sequel does the same thing to actually make the movie scene to rescue Newt last as long as the 14 minutes until destruction.
- "Ending" on a bang explosion.
- After the feeling of safety at the end of the movie, make the creature appear again.
- Airlock to dispose of the final alien.
- Finale scene of Ripley in the cryo unit.
And he's subverting your expectations as well.
- Ash was an 'evil' robot in the original, so we're led to believe that Bishop's programmed the same way.
- No weapons except for a flamethrower, while in the sequel the flamethrower is the least powerful weapon.
*Social commentary*
I personally think this is a bit of a social commentary on the patriotism (and military might) making you overconfident and therefore sloppy. There's also some social commentary on putting inexperienced people in charge of dangerous missions, which in turn is like having CEOs in charge while they only see the numbers and graphs, rather than knowing what's actually happening in the company on a workfloor-level, yet make decisions on those numbers for the entire company.
I really like the movie ramping up the arrogance and military might and then just wiping them out like it doesn't matter. It's one thing to have a survival movie, but having _competent_ soldiers getting obliterated makes you really feel how dangerous these creatures are. So technically Cameron built up the confidence for the audience and then shatters it, which amplifies the anxiety and suspense. This ties in with finding new ways to use suspense plausibly after the first movie already showed you the different alien transformations.
*Cast*
Of course, having two dozen of marines bloats the cast and you can't get invested in all of them, so they made a good decision to kill most of them off in a very plausible way to have a core team of survivors that already have established personalities you care about. You can see how they've set that up, by putting a little spotlight on Vasquez in the locker room to establish her character and doing the same for Hudson in various moments. Hicks only gets real screentime once he gets promoted, which shows you the growth of him from being a corporal to becoming the commanding officer. Before that moment you hardly see him getting spotlighted aside from stopping Drake from shooting Newt in that hallway.
Sure, they've also given other characters lines, but that's to make sure people knew who they were; Ferro (pilot) was talking to Vasquez in the locker room, Spunkmeyer was mentioned several times, Apone already showed his leadership drills when they woke up, so there were little bits and pieces to flesh out these characters that were going to die so they wouldn't just be cannon fodder.
*Game over*
Back in the 80s, gaming wasn't really a thing except for kids and nerds. Bill Paxton was one of those nerds and he improvised that line of "Game over, man." Cameron thought that was a more fitting line than in the script, so he kept it in. It became much more iconic once kids started to watch this movie and gaming became more common.
Most people gloss over it nowadays because it's so common for us in gaming that we don't pay any attention to it, but back in 1986 the only gaming console you had was the original NES (the Sega Master System came out around this movie) other than arcade machines. That should give you an idea of how much of a niche the gaming industry was back then. Super Mario 1 and The Legend of Zelda (also 1986) was the pinnacle of gaming at this time.
*Franchise*
- Alien 3 has some interesting aspects to it and a good ending for a trilogy, but most people feel it's just a movie that can't live up to the first two movies. In fact, most people think it's a rather boring movie despite the interesting cinematography. To the point that you can't even recall the names of the characters, because they don't make enough of an impression.
- Alien: Ressurrection is a bit of a campy movie. It has some humor to it that works, great aliens and it has some really good sets, but people feel like its too detached from the original horror, not to mention that there are some plot decisions that don't vibe with them. Personally I like it a lot more than Alien 3, but that's just a personal opinion. You should consider this more of a tribute to the original movies rather than an actual continuation, even though it _is_ canon storywise.
So most people say to stick to the first two and avoid the rest, but if you're curious, you can watch them. Just don't have the expectations it manages to do as well as _Aliens_ .
As for _Prometheus_ and _Covenant_ , they're part of a trilogy with _Romulus_ rounding it off, so if you plan to watch that one, you may want to watch the predecessors as well. Though truth be told, while they're decent movies, they have their own problems. _Prometheus_ suffers from a lack of answers/conclusions to questions it poses, so people find it frustrating if they're not watching it solely for the horror aspects and look for themes and such. _Covenant_ suffers from the slasher-principle, where people just keep making bad mistakes all the time to drive the movie forward. It has some good moments, but once again, frustrating. They kind of feel like books that are intended to be a trilogy, so you're just left hanging without a conclusion, rather than a proper wrap-up.
They're decent movies to watch, but don't expect too much of them in terms of the Alien-franchise.
Game Over:
Arcades were pretty big in the 70s and 80s, so the public consciousness was very much aware of what the term meant.
Franchise (spoilers):
Even if you're just watching Prometheus as a horror movie and ignore the philosophical and lore elements, it suffers a lot from Idiot Ball character writing to drive the plot forward. The geologist who is literally carrying a digital map of where he is manages to get lost, after he and the biologist were both scared 💩-less by fossilized corpses and holograms. Said biologist then shoves his face up to an angry alien cobra, as he apparently lost any semblance of survival instincts.
@@JediMB To be fair, in my experience, most of the audience were kids, not adults. As a kid/teenager in the 70s and 80s, most adults never bothered to play a game in the arcade, but just let their kids play there while they went shopping. When I went there, there usually were only kids and teenagers, with an occasional adult.
I don't know how packed with adults it was every evening, but when I was there in the evenings (which wasn't that often) it was still mostly teenagers and perhaps a couple of adults (or teenagers that just looked older). But perhaps that audience differs per culture/country/area. Here, adults looked down on arcades and rather went to a bar.
(Also, why the spoilers? You can simply cut it off after "drive the plot forward" and it's not a spoiler anymore, so he can actually read it.)
@@TheRemyLeBeau While it was mostly kids in dedicated arcades, Pac-Man Fever was a real thing (especially in the US) due to arcade games being placed alongside pinball machines in diners and other establishments.
A lot of adults played them, and the phenomenon even inspired a hit song by Buckner & Garcia after they saw people swarming around an arcade cabinet in a restaurant.
Nice, thoughtful comment.
During the debriefing scene, you cans see Nostromo's crew bio rolling on the screen in the background, sharing some nice details
Like the fact that Dallas worked previously for Tyrell corp (Blade runner), Kane did medical studies but did not achieve his degree, Ripley got pregnant without permition, Parker took medication to boost his initial low IQ, Brett was a child abuse survivor, Lambert was transgender and Ash had an heavilly redacted bio (reportedly because of his previous "classified assignations"), being the only one not having a full name (just "Ash")
Yeah, Alien and Aliens are both solid enough films that which one you prefer really genuinely comes down to personal taste. Like you, I like the first film better, but I still like and respect the second a lot, completely understand how some people might like it better. And, like you said, it's not many sequels that can even boast that much.
Great commentary as usual--hour + was totally worth it!
Just found your channel and I absolutely love how you’re dissecting these films, and how comfortably you dig through the nuance and context!
Keep ‘em coming, mate!!!
the most dystopian thing about Aliens is that Ripley's daughter died a year after hitting retirement age
I guarantee you that was false propaganda by the company… because I got her killed in her 20’s a couple of dozen times in Alien Isolation.
@@paratus04 hahahah
Well done! Thank you for watching this - both as a fun experience, and as a review of a masterpiece. I personally don't think I can answer if it's better than the first, because of that difference in style, not now or ever. It really depends on the mood I'm in when picking a film to watch.
Both of these films, to me, are examples of perfectly crafted movies. I was a bit young to see the original in theaters, but I was 18 when the sequel arrived. The entire room was riveted! Leaving, everyone was nonstop chattering about their favorite characters, quoting the lines, and a million variations on "Ripley is a badass!!" were heard. In the decades since, I don't know how many people I have convinced to watch both films. Often reluctantly at first with "oh, I don't like space movies" or whatever. I'd say about 85% admit they loved it.
And, so many great lines! Hudson with his panicked "Game over man, game over!" Ripley's calm nuke it from orbit delivery. Newt's utterly chilling "It won't matter". So so many!
Keep up the great work.
Interesting side note - When Hicks pulls out his shotgun and says "I like to keep this handy ..... for close encounters", it's the same shotgun he had used in "The Terminator", also a James Cameron film
57:42 that shot is ART
Given your final thoughts, I think you'd really appreciate Alien 3, which often gets unfairly dismissed. It's a sharp turn from the feel good, Hollywood ending of this one, but re-centres on the bleakness of the movies' universe and what it takes to be a positive change within it, complete with existential and appropriately apocalyptic religious themes. I think it works, and bookends what could have been a trilogy in an excellent way.
(Of course, the happy ending of this one wasn't cheaply slapped on, either; it felt very well deserved. But as we know from another excellent movie: "deserve's got nothing to do with it".)
The only problem with the Special Edition is the scene of the facehugger at the beginning spoils the suspense. The og version has even more suspense, imho
yeah, I love seeing the Hadley's Hope scenes for completion, but on original view you keep Ripley's (and the Marines') point of view and don't know what has happened. Maybe it would have been better as a flashback or something? It's the classic horror of "delay seeing the monster".
Long before the advent of director's cut dvds, there was an Aliens graphic novel of 'Newt's Story' that had those scenes (plus an additional spoiler for Alien 3), which was our only chance to see that material.
The autogun scene is the only tiny bit of lag on such an otherwise trim movie, we're basically spending a couple of minutes watching an electronic counter.
Disagree. Everything makes much more sense in the director's cut
Aloha Tyler, I really appreciate your in-depth analysis into what you watch. You take the time needed to discuss what needs discussing. Rewind if needed. Pause and talk it all out. This is proper commentary. The whole reason I seek out this type of video is to get a different perspective on something I think I understand. So many folks on the old youtube just regurgitate the same old same, add nothing to the discourse. I found you through your original Alien watch, and this time around is even better. Please continue, if you can, in this manner. Mahalo from the mid-Pacific.
While Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection don't come anywhere close to matching the quality of the first two movies, they're still worth watching just to see different creators' takes on the franchise. Alien 3 was directed by David Fincher (of Se7en fame), but he was young at the time and allowed the studio to meddle way too much with his vision, and Alien Ressurection was written by Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Back when there were only two Alien films I remember an art teacher, Mr Britt, explaining to my class that where Ridley Scott had the first film play on fears and themes about impregnation and birth, (eggs, the facehugger, "Kane's son", etc,...) Cameron followed the through-line from that to have the major theme of his sequel focus on the fears of motherhood and protection of offspring (both Ripley and her surrogate child, Newt, contrasted with the Queen and her own brood of children. And later in the SE there is the loss of Ripley's first daughter but we didn't know about that at the time.)
That factoid is probably quite a well-known bit of trivia about the series nowadays, especially in the age of the internet, but I remember for this young impressionable film enthusiast in the 80s this felt like one of the most eye-opening insights into movie-making I'd ever recieved, haha. It wasn't just that Cameron had made the typical sequel where there's more of everything, more aliens, more explosions, more noise and action, but he found a way to build on the subtext of the first film, and make it an emotional undertone that helps you invest in the characters throughout all the horror and gun fire.
Strong female character without being an insufferable girlboss doorknob. This is how it's done.
It was fantastic to see this in the theaters. Went several times, because you knew you were seeing something special. The first film was so great, it was hard to believe a sequel could accomplish this. Sequels were a dirty word back then, this one changed minds.
if you haven't seen it already I'd recommend the movie "Tremors" it's widely considered to have a perfect script and a horror movie that doesn't rely on people being absolutely stupid.
I'm glad you watched the only two Alien movies. It's a shame they didn't make more.
I saw this in the theater as a kid and it was the scariest I'd seen since The Thing.
The video game, Alien Isolation, is the story of Ripley's daughter searching for her mom.
I like the first movie more myself. This movie stripped the mystique surrounding the alien away and made them more familiar, less frightening and more vulnerable. It goes only downhill from here for the franchise.
I agree. This film is NO Alien (1979) for sure. One of the most overrated films and for sure one of the most overrated sequels of all time. Opinions on this film do seem to be shifting towards a more negative stance than the "flat out masterpiece" opinions of the past. This film is no masterpiece. It somewhat ruins the original film.
@@tjdw5251 I'm definitely on team Alien as the superior film but there is no reality where this movie is losing it's moniker as a masterpiece or that public opinion is becoming more unkind to it.
I agree. I also feel the feminism was far more powerful in ‘Alien’ due to its implied nature; the overtness in ‘Aliens’ (eg ‘Get away from her, you bitch!’) seems somewhat self-congratulatory and insincere to me. Just my opinion.
Sergeant Apone starting his day with a fresh cigar before even getting out of the pod makes me think he eats several every day. Maybe they are his five-a-day? Tobacco is a plant, so they count as vegetables, right?
Not sure why you think they "dismantled" the idea of not being able to defeat the aliens in a fight as was established in the first film. This entire 2nd film shows the marines losing and dying every single time that they stop running and try to faceoff with the aliens. In fact, Ripley only survives her own faceoff with the help of the power suit (and a little luck that the queen didnt stab her first).
I think the horror is just as alive in the sequel. In the first movie the horror is that regular people are trying to fight a single overwhelming creature that simply sees them as hosts and food. In the sequel I think it's scarier. The true strength of these aliens is not the strength of the one. The swarm is the true strength, and the true horrific nature of them. The space Marines had the tech, the intellect, the numbers and the attitude. And, it meant nothing. The outcome was exactly the same. Tuck your collective tails and run, run run!!
Note that when she called Burke on a video call, it was all pre-recorded. Two-way video calling did not exist then.
Just gotta say, I really think the theatrical cut is superior. It was so tight, not a second out of place. This one feels slightly bloated to me. But worse than that, the inclusion of the colony and newt before they arrive (while neat to see after you’ve watched the movie), to me, almost ruins the movie. Keeping the audience in the dark along with Ripley provides so much more intrigue, suspense, and connection to the characters. And meeting newt after the fall of the colony makes her character a lot more interesting.
I don't like the Director's Cut as much as the Theatrical, for many reasons (including the loss of suspense when we see in advance the colony, and the clumsy foreshadowing dialogue of the queen bees/ants). The worst offenses, in my opinion, are two: 1) Too many contrived coincidences. There's no logical connection between Newt's family finding the first facehugger and her bein' the only survivor, it's only there to show the viewer her personal trauma in a direct way - while it was much more effective when we had to imagine how she lost her family. It's also very convenient that Ripley lost her daughter at 11yo, and she finds another girl the same age. 2) It turns the motherhood subtext into plain text. To me, Ripley's struggle with PTSD was perfectly fine as a motivation to hate the aliens, and her newfound motherly instict was an added strenght that she found along the way; but more importantly, the Director's Cut ends up overlapping two different concepts regarding Ripley and Newt. In the theatrical, it's clear that Newt represents Ripley herself, her inner child: a survivor who's lost everything to this nightmarish enemy, just like her. When Ripley saves Newt, she's saving herself. It's like that scene in Seven Samurai, when Toshiro Mifune hugs the crying baby after saving him from the fire ands yells "this baby... he's me". But of course, the less elegant Director's Cut also presents Newt as her replacement daughter, and to me that's distracting from the more interesting internal/subconscious meaning of her character.
Good comment. Sometimes the director's cut is not the best version.
On patriotism:
I think my favorite expression of patriotism is cuisine and art.
people can definitely be pretty obnoxious about food tbh
I first watched this in 86 ,it was the first horror I was allowed to watch as a kid and fell in love,I envy you brother
Thank you for watching the special edition. This is the version James Cameron intended audiences to see and the Theatrical release is just the studio’s cut down version.
1:04:25 "Wet."
Best reaction, bar none.
I really like your reads Tyler.
Just have to make one comment about something I've noticed with Aliens reactions in particular (but also true for other films), which is that everyone seems to watch the Director's Cut for their very first viewing.
I can understand that it would be easy to assume that the Director's Cut of any film is likely 'better' than the original, but for this film I don't believe that it is. For example, getting that brief glimpse of the colonists before the company asks her to go on an expeditionary mission takes away a whole lot of suspense: In the vein of "The monster you don't see". It does take away the opportunity for the viewer to imagine what might have been going on at the colony for the last 20 years.
Having worked in entertainment for years, there's a reason that Editors usually aren't the Director. I have a lot of respect for Editors, and the general concept of editing in general (in most things really), and from this era of film, the Director's Cut usually came out many years, if not decades later, and was primarily done to sell more DVDs/VHS by giving super fans a bunch of footage they haven't seen before. This may or may not be the case with newer movies, but I'm not so sure that the Director's Cut should be considered the go-to (i.e. the best) version of any movie when it comes to anyone's first viewing of the work.
Another interesting thing here is that they changed genres. Alien is horror. Aliens is action.
As the tagline said "this time, it's war"
"How many are there. Three? Four, five, six? Burn it to the ground."
Oh, there's more than six . . .
The xenomorph is supposed to be engineered to be the perfect species, the movie prometheus actually is the prequel
Please do yourself a favor and stop watching the series from here on. The story ends perfectly here. She has a great character arc from essentially conquering her fear of the Aliens, gaining a daughter and learning to trust androids. It's great!
The rest of the series only ruins that but if you do watch Alien 3 try to find the "assembly cut" of the movie.
Last chance I have to tell this dream. A few years ago I dreamt that I was a Xenomorph and that I bought tickets to watch Sleep No More in New York City. But I could not make my way to the play because the only way forward was a narrow hallway that was completely dark. So I turned around and returned to the ticket counter, angrily demanding to return my ticket for my money.
“I can’t even see the screen through this rib cage! Zero stars!”
I love dreams like that!
56:50 RIP Vasquez, the woman who made me (and I suspect many, many others) realise just how much I'm attracted to muscular women who could beat the tar out of me.
Also, love that SHE is one of the team's two "heavy weapons guys", really breaks expectations, not just having women as soldiers, but having one of them fill the classic "big guy" role.
That comment from your 1st video sums up the boardroom scene in a nutshell
' no one listens to the woman, everyone dies, the cat lives 5 stars'
Also Ripley didn't try to cancel the detonation because the crew was alive in Alien. Encountering Dallas with only a few minutes left on the clock stalled her resulting in her failure to stop the countdown.
Hi! Professional visual effects artist here, WE ALSO WISH THEY WOULD GIVE US MORE TIME TO DO THE EFFECTS.
When you're talking about how the smaller group gels well, I think that's one of the best elements of the film. It's interesting to see the dynamics play out, because you can see that Hudson and Vasquez are 'battle buddies', partners on the team initially, so they are familiar. Hicks is the Junior NCO, so 'mom' to Apone's 'dad'. I always thought it was cute that Newt kinda glommed onto Hudson, imitating his Affirmative and screaming for him to help her in the medlab. Even the foils, Gorman and Burke have their moments, and you really feel each character's death like a punch in the gut. Well, except for Burke... His is like the release of tension, lol. But you FEEL it.
I have a personal theory that when it comes to Alien vs Aliens, you prefer the one you saw first. I didn’t see either until I was a teenager, and I watched them in order, and I prefer the buildup, the tension, the horror of the first. But Aliens is an amazing film too and it goes as hard as I could ever want an action movie to go.
..or mayhaps just what "mood" you're in?
Because you mentioned genre bending at the end I wanted to add that one of my favorite things about the Alien franchise was how, whether intentionally or not, all the first four movies ended up representing different genres of storytelling. I know a lot of audiences found the third and fourth Alien movies to be jarring, and they have valid reasons for that opinion, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for the entire quadrilogy.
One of the things that’s understated about the movie is, there are no weak female characters, unlike the last movie where “blue eyes” just completely fell apart. In this movie, it’s the men that fall apart. And what I particularly loved about Aliens as a horror film is that, once they realize the trouble they were in, they scrambled like hell to live. They start doing what Marines do and try to find a way out of the situation. They do everything that I would do. The horror comes from knowing that it does them no good.
The scene with Bishop getting welded into the tube gives me claustrophobia every time.
The Power Loaders legs and arms were puppeteered since someone was inside them as Ripley stood on a platform attached to the legs. So Sigourney Weaver was being walked around by someone else as she "controlled" the PVC & fiberglass machine. The knife game was the actor doing it and it wasn't sped up. He practiced for a really long time with many different knives to prepare for the scene. 1:05:03 Just like the first movie when you can see the Alien stowing away when Ripley is heading to the ship controls, when the ship's landing pad/gear hits all that debris and gets stuck, you can see the Xenomorph Queen on the landing pad being pulled up into the ship by accident. So both movies visually show the reemergence of the Xenomorph incoming. Also using ours and Ripley's trauma from the first movie to subvert the audience's expectations of the android possibly turning on us, but he ends up being the goat. The 15 minute self destruct countdown was real-time in movie too! I haven't even seen any other Alien movies, because to me 1 and 2 is all there is. 3 fell off so hard is what I I have always heard.
Congrats of finishing up the Alien series, you can now move on to a new franchise.
Tyler: I feel like I miss the horror from the first movie.
Me: Oh, that wish will be fulfilled real soon!
1:15 minute Video. 10 minutes of film and 1:05 minutes of Commentary. This guy really like to hear himself talk.
I would say that the Xenomorphs don't lose anything by being susceptible to firearms. In the first movie it was untrained miners and the aliens had the upper hand but, still had a weakness.
The Marines being a much more powerful force balances things out more.
I think it's different but, the number and acid becomes more of a guffin than the horror. We know the Aliens now and they had to shift gears. The horror aspect would be missing that was front and center in the first film.
I think the Aliens using numbers in the standard for them based on gathering the humans into one incubation room so, this would have established that this is how they typically operate vs the first film where it was only one.
Love your analysis and I will def be looking into your backlog.
Cheers!
There is no third movie. It was very unusual, but they went straight to a fourth film without a third.
For me, one of the reasons this works so well as a sequel is that it isn't a remake but moves things on. What happens is all consistent with the previous film but also a logical continuation of it.
Some sequels just tread the same path.
It's like the difference between the original Terminator and Terminator 2. One fairly small and one bigger budget and larger in scale.
Actually, Lance Henrickson, who plays Bishop, was in Terminator and at one stage was actually gonna be the Terminator till they got Arnold.