Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic Alien was a tough act to follow.
It combined surreal visuals, murky atmospherics, and subconscious male
sexual phobias into a suspenseful concoction.
In its own way, it was just as influential as the all-time top grosser Star Wars. No one dared try to follow it up. No one, that is, except for a young Canadian
that just helmed a modest sci-fi/action hit starring an Austrian born
bodybuilding champion. Preproduction on
a modern updating of Spartacus had
fallen through when another project caught the attention of James Cameron: a
sequel to Ridley Scott’s space faring nightmare. Instead of trying to outdo the maestro at his
own game, Cameron chose to offer something else entirely.
57 years after the horrifying events that took place on the
space freighter Nostromo, Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)remains adrift in
space and deep in a hyper sleep. When
her ship is recovered by a deep space salvage team, she finds herself at the
mercy of the Weyland Yutani Corporation for destroying their ship. Her story about the deadly creature that made
such drastic action necessary falls on deaf ears. She is further horrified to learn that the
planet from which she and her crewmates recovered the creature has now been
colonized. When communications with the
colonists suddenly cease, Ripley is commissioned to accompany a platoon of
marines on a reconnaissance mission.
Once they land on LV-426 however, the marines find that their weapons
and training are of little use against the malevolent hive of Xenomorphs that
have overrun the complex.
Alien was a
deliberately paced tour through an extraterrestrial haunted house. Cameron, however, had something else in
mind. The Terminator revolutionized the sci-fi and action genres,
arguably creating the truest hybrid of the two up until that point. Cameron would now create a three way meld,
with horror being the third component. While
the first third of Aliens is indeed
relatively slow, once the space marines stumble upon the Xenomorphs nesting
area, the emergency break is ripped out of its housing. The film becomes a roller coaster careening
out of control. Cameron takes the basic premise of Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress into darker waters
than Lucas ever dared.
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| Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) uses a power loader to do battle with the alien queen. |
Like The Terminator,
Aliens does take quite a few
breathers in between gun blasts and acid splatters. This time out, Ripley isn’t merely a
protagonist, but the female incarnation of Rambo. Well, maybe that’s not entirely
accurate. Ripley is not a meat eating
super warrior who longs for combat, but a strong and determined woman who dons
automatic weapons and ammo belts only when necessary. Weaver, despite her tall and gangly appearance,
brings femininity to the role. She and
Newt (Carrie Henn) form a Lone Wolf and
Cub sort of bond.
Though the film was seen as a breakthrough at the time,
fanboy revisionism has taken it’s toll in recent years. Aliens
is now seen as merely an unoriginal, though undeniably entertaining, concession
to the militaristic blockbuster mentality of the 80’s. Cameron supposedly eschewed the suspense and
psychosexual subtext of the original for something deceptively lowest common denominator. Such a reading of the film is both short
sighted and indicative of a self-loathing fanboy contingent desperate to shed its
stigma of immaturity. Aliens is both deliberate and layered. Those that wished for a mere
continuation/elaboration of Ridley Scott’s take don’t understand that serious
sci-fi need not be devoid of action, thrills, or convention to be noteworthy.
Made for 18 million dollars, Aliens went on to make 131 Million worldwide. The budgets of Cameron’s films would increase
exponentially over the next 23 years, as would the scope of his cinematic vision. Sigourney Weaver would continue to stay in
the good graces of both critics and peers for quite some time, but would always
be synonymous with the role of Ellen Ripley.
The Alien franchise would have
two more lackluster entries (four if you count the ill-conceived Aliens Vs. Predator films). Ridley Scott is currently filming the prequel
Prometheus which will hopefully be a
return to form for the ultimate monster movie brand. Still, it will be hard to top the shot of
adrenaline administered by Cameron.
Happy Birthday, Ellen Ripley.
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