I was recently told that I focus too much on my 'experience' in my reviews and not enough on the film. I personally don't agree with this as this is first and foremost a blog, and as such I feel a certain amount of personal experience is necessary. But I always welcome your views on the subject and point out that my comments box is always open.
Having said that, I will now advise the person who felt my ramblings were too much, to look away now, as this one is going to be very personal indeed! I have been very lucky to see Aliens this week, at the same cinema I saw The Terminator at last week, The Duke Of York's Picturehouse in Brighton. Aliens puts my total number of visits to this cinema at four. A paltry amount when you consider what a champion I am of the independent cinema in London, The Prince Charles Cinema. You will probably have noticed that my Terminator review didn't exactly go into detail about the cinema itself, the way I do when I visit The PCC. This is because I don't particularly rate The Duke Of York's. Each time I have been I have had a less than perfect cinematic experience. Rude and unhelpful staff on the first two visits and then a poor quality film and lack of attention to detail for The Terminator. Aliens is the first film I have REALLY enjoyed there. And it may be enough for me to start championing them too.
For those unfamiliar with James Cameron's 1986 follow up to Ridley Scott's Alien, allow me to enlighten you. In Alien, the crew of the mining ship The Nostromo, land on unchartered planet LV-426 after receiving what they presume is an SOS. One crewman is attacked on the planet's surface and brought back aboard with an organism attached to his face. We later learn this was implanting him with an alien life that later bursts out of him, killing him instantly. The alien created soon grows into a creature that wipes out the crew within 24 hours, leaving Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the only survivor. She sets The Nostromo to self destruct and escapes on the ships shuttle. In Aliens, Ripley's shuttle is picked up by a passing salvage team. She wakes from hypersleep to discover she had been floating in space for 57 years. She is brought before the company board who need answers as to what happened to The Nostromo and it's crew. Despite Ripley's detailed reports, they do not believe what happened on LV-426 and inform Ripley that the planet has since been colonised by terraformers. The company soon eats their words however, when they lose contact with the colony. Ripley is asked to go back to LV-426 to aid an investigation into what happened to the colonists. At first reluctant to go, Ripley's frequent nightmares about the alien encourage her to face her demons. She agrees to accompany the group of marines sent down to the planet to find the colonists. There they discover an army of aliens that have been bred using more than 100 colonists as human hosts. And one little girl who has managed to survive to tell the tale.
The showing of Aliens was sold out and the atmosphere was electric. Fans cheered at the start of the grainy original reel of the film. Favourite lines (mostly by Hudson "No way man!") were met with an auditorium of laughter and those less familiar with the film jumped at all the scary moments. I could not have asked for a better way to experience one of my all time favourite horrors.
The film shown was the theatrical cut, and although the reel was not in perfect condition (understandably, due to age), the grainy picture quality and intermittent sound just added to the tension already imbued in the film. Cameron's Aliens is a very different beast to the first Alien film, with hundreds more alien creatures and a higher human body count than before. But it also has more heart. The relationship between Newt and Ripley adding another dimension to the out and out horror of the first film. It's also a lot faster paced and funnier.
I recently watched the first Alien at home and was again forced to admit that although it has it's merits, I just don't love it. But while watching Aliens all I could think was that there is literally nothing I would change about it. This leaves me with the conclusion that Aliens has to receive my third perfect 10 of the year. 10 out of 10.
Interesting fact: Each marine's first name is the same as the actor who played them. The only exception is Cpl. Dwayne Hicks. We see "Frost R." who was played by Ricco Ross, so the character's full name is Pvt. Ricco Frost. The other characters are: Pvt. William Hudson, Pvt. Jenette Vasquez, Lt. William Gorman, Sgt. Al Apone, Pvt. Mark Drake, Cpl. Collette Ferro, Pvt. Daniel Spunkmeyer, Cpl. Cynthia Dietrich, Pvt. Tip/Tim Crowe, and Pvt. Trevor Wierzbowski.
Viewing Date - 29th September 2011
Original UK Release Date - 29th August 1986
Cast Overview:
Sigourney Weaver ~ Ellen Ripley
Michael Biehn ~ Cpl Dwayne Hicks
Carrie Henn ~ Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden
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
Director ~ James Cameron
Writer(s) ~ James Cameron (Screenplay and Story), David Giler (Story), Walter Hill (Story), Dan O'Bannon (Characters) and Ronald Shusett (Characters).
Coo-wol
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