Another Bughunt

James Cameron's Aliens, the 1986 sequel to Ridley Scott's classic Alien, is very special to me as it was my first 18 certificate film I saw in a movie theatre. I was only 15 year old at the time an terrified I'd get caught by the box office clerk or one of the eagle eyed usher, but I was desperate to see it. I'd seen the original on VHS which I'd taped from late night network television and being a hardcore science fiction fan and lover of all things outer space, I'd lapped up every minute. Then when I'd heard of a sequel, which just also happened to have dozens of the unstoppable xenomorphs and a bunch of military dudes with guns aplenty, I just had to risk sneaking in to see it. Sitting three rows from the front so the landmark experience could fill my entire vision, Aliens was the first movie to make me shit my pants in a cinema. Well nearly. When the encased facehugger smashed against the inside of the jar, myself (and my fellow audience members, jumped 10 feet out of our chairs. It was also the first cinema experience where a normally reserved British audience shook off their inhibitions to whoop and cheer as heroine Ripley demanded, "Stay away from her you bitch!" This truly is what cinema was invented for.

After that I got my confidence together and started seeing many more 18 certificate films, encouraging my friends to come along too, which included Cronenbergs The Fly, Lethal Weapon, RoboCop and Predator. While all of these films were classics and amongst the greatest films I'd ever seen, I was always disappointed that few of them gave me the same rush of adrenaline and exhilaration that Aliens gave me (only Die Hard managed that exceptional feat.)

Watching it again, and after several years as well, is like watching it anew and with a fresh perspective. But Aliens still affects me the same way. It's still James Cameron's best film, and that's saying something for a man with two Terminator movies, Titanic, Avatar, True Lies and The Abyss under his belt. All the character's are identifiable and three dimensional with Bill Paxton's Private Hudson being one of the single greatest screen characters ever committed to celluloid, with some of the best dialogue ever too, "Stop your grinning and drop your linen!" The designs and locations are welcome echoes of Scott's classic, but wonderfully re sculpted to adapt to Cameron's distinctive vision. Like the original, the visual universe of Aliens is a balance of the awe inspiring and the gritty and realistic.

Storywise, I used to prefer the original theatrical cut of Aliens, feeling the Hadley's Hope sequences diluted Ripley's story. But I soon realised this is little Newt's story too, and the story of the two women coming together to vanquish their fears and form a new family unit (along with the cool Michael Biehn's Corporal Hicks) was the emotional core of the plot. The longer version reinforces this.
And let's not forget Cameron's handling of action sequences of which I still think this is his strongest work. The initial combat sequence where the troops are ambushed and subsequently rescued by Ripley, is one of the most exciting sequences ever filmed. By itself that would be impressive enough, but the movie is packed with such action, from the facehugger sequence to the massive scale face off as Ripley escapes with Newt from the Queen Alien's lair. By the end you're left breathless and left wanting more...which Cameron duly delivers with the stunning Power Loader vs Queen Alien fight. At this point it's clear that Aliens isn't meant to terrify as Alien did, but to pummel your brain cells in oblivion with turbo charged action and character fireworks. He succeeds.

Still a classic that's just as effective now as it was 25 years ago, Aliens can proudly stay in my top ten films of all time.