Aliens (1986)

The planet from Alien has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?

Director:

James Cameron

Writers:

James Cameron (story), David Giler (story),

Stars:

Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn

Top 250 #57 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sigourney Weaver	...	Ellen Ripley
Carrie Henn	...	Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden
Michael Biehn	...	Cpl. Dwayne Hicks
Paul Reiser	...	Carter Burke
Lance Henriksen	...	Bishop
Bill Paxton	...	Pvt. Hudson
Jenette Goldstein	...	Pvt. Vasquez
William Hope	...	Lt. Gorman
Al Matthews	...	Sgt. Apone
Mark Rolston	...	Pvt. Drake
Ricco Ross	...	Pvt. Frost
Colette Hiller	...	Cpl. Ferro
Daniel Kash	...	Pvt. Spunkmeyer
Cynthia Dale Scott	...	Cpl. Dietrich (as Cynthia Scott)
Tip Tipping	...	Pvt. Crowe

Storyline

Fifty seven years after Ellen Ripley survived her disastrous ordeal, her escape vessel is recovered after drifting across the galaxy as she slept in cryogenic stasis. Back on earth, nobody believed her story about the "Aliens" on the planet LV-426. After the "Company" orders the colony on LV-426 to investigate, however, all communication with the colony is lost. The Company enlists Ripley to aid a team of tough, rugged space marines on a rescue mission to the now partially terraformed planet to find out if there are aliens or survivors. As the mission unfolds, Ripley will be forced to come to grips with her worst nightmare, but even as she does, she finds that the worst is yet to come.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | space marine | nightmare | rescue | cat | 

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Taglines:

This time there's more.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for monster violence, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 July 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alien 2

Filming Locations:

Acton Lane Power Station, Acton Lane, Acton, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$18,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$85,200,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Brandywine Productions, SLM Production Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min 154 min (1992 special edition)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Cameron:  [flying vehicles]  The flying vehicles in Cameron's films exhibit helicopter-like flight characteristics regardless of their design. Specifically, the noses of the vehicles dip to initiate forward movement (also: Terminator, Terminator 2, True Lies, Avatar).

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Goofs

When Burke, Ripley and Lt. Gorman first enter the colony building, they pass through the pouring rain outside and get soaking wet. A few seconds later, inside the building, their clothes and Ripley's hair are dry again. (This scene is part of the extended edition)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Salvage team leader: Bio-readouts are all in the green, looks like she's alive. Well, there goes our salvage, guys.

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Crazy Credits

The ALIENS title forms slowly during the opening credits. The full title isn't seen until the opening credits are finished, and the "I" illuminates brightly.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood's Top Ten: Monster Movies (2011)

User Reviews

Excellent sequel--matches the brilliance of the first film

Series note: It is strongly advised that you watch this film only after seeing Alien (1979). This is a direct continuation of that story.

57 years after the events of the first film, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found and awakened from hyper sleep to discover that a terraforming colony has been set up on LV-426, the planet wherein she and her fellow crew of the mining cargo spaceship Nostromo first encountered the titular aliens. When Earth-based communications loses contact with LV-426, a band of marines are sent to investigate, taking Ripley and a representative from the company that financed the colony, Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) along for the ride.

For the difficult job of following up Ridley Scott's excellent Alien, director James Cameron decided to go a completely different route--to make a fast moving, slightly tongue-in-cheek, boisterous action extravaganza. Remarkably, he was able to do that while still maintaining a stylistic and literary continuity that melds Aliens seamlessly with the first film.

Ripley is much more fully developed in this film, although unfortunately, some of the most significant scenes were deleted from the theatrical release (if at all possible, watch the 2-hour and 37-minute director's cut instead). Cameron fashioned Aliens into a grand arc where Ripley's actions at the end of the film have much more meaning as she's not only fighting monsters, but also fighting to retain a semblance of something she lost due to her 57-year hyper sleep. As in the first film, she is still the most intelligent, courageous and resourceful member of the crew, but she has much more colorful company.

The marines accompanying Ripley back to LV-426 may be too cartoonish for some tastes (as for viewers of that opinion, most of the action and the film overall is likely to be too cartoonish), but for anyone more agreeable to that kind of caricatured exaggeration, it's a joy to watch. I'm a big fan of both Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen, and both turn in wonderfully over-the-top performances, at their diametrically opposed ends of the emotional spectrum--Paxton as the spastic surfer/redneck and Henriksen as the intense, moody sage, with a surprising reality and an even more surprising conscience to go along with it. We also get a cigar-chomping Sergeant, a crazy, butch Private, and a complex, pensive Corporal as main characters, and a mysterious, bright young girl (played in a terrific performance by Carrie Henn). Much of the center section of the film hinges on the interrelationships of these characters, despite the action trappings going on around them.

Cameron carries over the crypt/labyrinth motif of the first film, and adds a metaphorical descent into the bowels of hell in the climax. The action throughout is suspenseful. Aliens contains one of my favorite "cat fights" in any film. It's also worth noting the influence this film may have had on Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (1997)--although admittedly, we could say that Cameron was influenced a bit by the Robert A. Heinlein book, as well. Throughout all of the varied action sequences, as well as the important early scenes of colonists on LV-426, Cameron is able to clearly convey the logistics of very complex sets, so that viewers remain on the edges of their seats.

Part of what makes the monsters so effective is that we're not told too much about them. We only get glimpses into their physiology's, their behavioral patterns and their intelligence. Cameron gives us just enough to become wrapped up in the film, but not so much that we become overly familiar with the aliens, or start to question the logic behind the film. He also smartly carries over some devices from the first film that were abandoned to an extent, such as the acidic blood of the aliens, and he supplies answers to the few questions that the first film raised, such as why the blood doesn't corrode instruments and objects when a dead alien is examined.

Aliens is yet another example of a sequel that is just as good as an original film in a series. Just make sure you watch both in order, and try to watch the director's cuts.