Aliens [RSC Film Club 03]

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

The director's cut is about 2 and a half hours long @djw180

Couldn't actually find it on Amazon, all the links just went to the one you found.

[djw180 6,980]

53 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

The director's cut is about 2 and a half hours long @djw180

Couldn't actually find it on Amazon, all the links just went to the one you found.

I can't seem to find anything that definitely indicates it is the correct version. Same for any other download / DVD site I can find. I think originally what we're calling the Directors Cut was called the Special Edition, so that Amazon link ought to be the correct version, except the run time indicates it isn't. 

I'll go into HMV later in the week. At least if they don't have it the staff in there are the sort of people who ought to know exactly which version is which and where, if anywhere, you can get it from.

Edited April 8, 2019 by djw180

[The_Lady_A 1,280]

@djw180 I have this and it has both versions for Alien, Aliens, and Alien3. Director's Cut for Alien3 actually manages to turn it into an average movie, instead of a bad one!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alien-Quadrilogy-DVD-Sigourney-Weaver/dp/B00433SNF4/ref=pd_aw_sbs_0_1/259-6174448-9393241?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00433SNF4&pd_rd_r=c2a35fbe-59ff-11e9-a017-1da6d0b4a53d&pd_rd_w=3lv6d&pd_rd_wg=OEpc8&pf_rd_p=d9539b3c-75e6-4bff-a48d-94806c2c2f83&pf_rd_r=V70HTQB6EJEYFP4BW22Y&psc=1&refRID=V70HTQB6EJEYFP4BW22Y

[Guest]

Just finished watching the movie, Alien, last night. As I mentioned in the chat box - a few seconds on the intro in the movie reminded me of the first few minutes of the beginning of the game of Alien Isolation. It seemed a bit eerie and mysterious which was a great way to start the movie. I JUMPED A FEW TIMES while watching the movie -- stupid jump scare scenes (thank you crew for suggestin' I not watch the trailer, lol). I disliked a majority of the crew members, haha, I have to say I liked Ripley the most and I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT SCIENCE GUY WAS A ROBOT! He was a dick though, so I'm happy he ended up the way he did. When I saw that ship they were walking towards after they landed; I immediately thought of Prometheus and I was like, hmm, do all these movies correlate in some way?!! I will say the face huggers are creepy as hell.. the way it was wrapped around dude's face, deep throating human hosts; impregnating them... fun stuff. And oh my god.. that food scene where that baby alien bursts through his chest.. shit. I'm super impressed on the creativity of their design of the alien, the alien ship, and the fossilized alien they found.. and then the nest.. oh my god, shit ran chills when I saw that and the idiot went down and decided to get nosy! I completely lost it when they were using the tracking device and also when the alien was in the vents.. traumatizing flashbacks to Alien Isolation! *sighs* Sometimes the moments of complete silence in the movie gave me a bit of anxiety, but overall it was a good movie! I'd probably have to get my blankie next time if I decide to watch it again, lol.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

@punkbish85 great thoughts about Alien, which is one of my favourite movies of all time, but this month we were doing Aliens, the sequel  

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

@punkbish85 great thoughts about Alien, which is one of my favourite movies of all time, but this month we were doing Aliens, the sequel  

Whhhaaaa... I thought, what, ugh.. ?

[djw180 6,980]

4 hours ago, punkbish85 said:

Whhhaaaa... I thought, what, ugh.. ?

It's good to watch the first film before the sequel though!

I just bought the quadrilogy so I am thinking of watching Alien again before Aliens.

Also by watching both you can see which camp you fit into. People who really like series tend to either think the first or second is clearly the best. For me it's the first but I have only seen Aliens once, about 30 years ago.

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

4 hours ago, punkbish85 said:

Whhhaaaa... I thought, what, ugh.. ?

Still an awesome movie. Definitely not wasted time. 

[The_Lady_A 1,280]

3 hours ago, djw180 said:

It's good to watch the first film before the sequel though!

I just bought the quadrilogy so I am thinking of watching Alien again before Aliens.

Also by watching both you can see which camp you fit into. People who really like series tend to either think the first or second is clearly the best. For me it's the first but I have only seen Aliens once, about 30 years ago.

The most recent time I watched them it was back to back. I think they compliment each other really well, as broadly speaking Alien builds the tension and then Aliens turns it into momentum. 

It really highlighted the differences that's for certain. But because the time-skip between the two films is justified by Ripley being in cryosleep, I find those differences add to her story arc and character development. From her point of view she has literally woken up in the far future. Seeing the consequences of surviving a horror story is every bit as interesting for me.

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

Just watched it  

I had seen it before but it was many years ago so I didn't remember it well. But while watching it, I knew what was gonna happen. 

It's a great movie. Not a big fan of horror as it feels like it's always the same chain of events in these movies, just the bad guy/monster that changes (I know you probably disagrees @Con  ). 

Anyway, loved the space scenes at the beginning, beautiful imagery with Ripley's spaceship slowly coming into view and getting picked up by a salvage vessel. We learn that she's been in a cryosleep for the past 57 years after escaping LV-426 and the Nostromo. That means that her daughter, who was 11 at the time has now passed away 2 years prior. That was a very sad moment and Weaver's acting is wonderful here. (Side note, I'm much more sensible now that I'm a parent myself...) That tragic event resonates with Ripley when she finds Newt, the little survivor girl on the decimated colony back on LV-426 and she immediately treats her like her own daughter, trying to make up for all the time she didn't had with her real daughter. Again, I found that to be very sad. 

Ripley is debriefed by the guys at Weyland Corp aka "The Evil Company" and they're not happy with her blowing up a multimillion spaceship in Alien 1  So they want her to go back, supposedly to finish off the alien but anyone who watches this movie know they want to put their hands on a specimen for their evil purposes (weaponry, war stuff and money as always). Of course she refuses but since she has nightmares all the time she finally accepts. I found this to be very expected and this is why I find that most horror movies are alike. We've seen this dozens of times in many movies, with different levels of execution. I know it's not a problem specific to horror movies, we find this in action movies, comedy, superhero flicks... But, I find it particularly obvious in horror movies. 

Then, we meet our merry band of space marines who are also very stereotypical. You got the black sergeant who shouts at everyone all the time (Apone), the inexperienced leader (Gorman), the stupid/crazy gun totting douchebag who talks shit every second (Hudson), the good-looking corporal (Hicks), the badass woman with her giant guns (Vasquez) and of course, the android (Bishop). OK, I admit, Vasquez was pretty badass. But then you have Ripley at the end, when she's looking for the little girl and that's another level of badassery. Have you seen the look on her face when she enters that station to find the girl ? Bad-ass ! They're accompanied by Burke, the Company Man. 

You know that Burke, who seems nice at first is gonna screw up Ripley. "No, no, of course we're not gonna bring back a creature, we're gonna kill them all". That's complete bullshit, everyone knows it except Ripley. Too bad for her but we get a great movie out of it so Yay! That Burke guy doesn't hesitate to try to kill Ripley and a child by facehugger. That's really mean. If he could bring back an alien host, that would certainly accelerate his carreer but he's not that lucky and as it's often the case in horror movies, he dies. That made me think of Jurassic Park, when that fat guy Nedry, who tries to escape with samples gets killed by that Dilophosaurus. 

Also, when Gorman gets back in the ship in the middle of the movie and he sees weird slimey stuff, he keeps going like it's nothing, despite everyone knowing there are killer aliens around. And surprise, there is an alien in the ship who kills the pilot, causing the ship to crash and Gorman dies. I hate when people in movies make bad decisions like this. And it happens all the time. Why are they so stupid ? I would have run like hell if I were in his shoes or at least call for backup. 

So, by now you must think that I hated that film but not at all! I love the Alien universe, saw all four movies and Prometheus, haven't seen Covenant yet. I like the mythos, the crashed ship in Alien 1 and in this sequel is so cool and scary. And it gets more interesting after each movie, that's something I like when we expand on the mythology and discover more mysteries. 

On the technical side, I loved that camera angle when Bishop is in the conduit. We only see his face, that makes it very claustrophobic. Well done James. All the lighting in the movie is perfect. And the sets are wonderful. Loved the derelict station at the beginning, with the walls covered in alien-liked structures and textures, who are in fact aliens blending in to kill all the human ! So scary and cool ! 

Speaking of aliens, that Alien Queen is magnificent ! Except when she runs, she's ridiculous lol. She's so pissed at Ridley when she starts burning all her eggs ! She wants to kill her so bad but this is badass Ripley we're talking about so not happening. That airlock scene at the end was a bit over the top with Ripley managing to hold on despite the vaccum of space sucking everything, but I'll give it a pass. 

Don't know what else to add, it's starting to get a bit long. I really liked the movie, despite its flaws which are inherent to the genre IMO. It's a great follow up to the first Alien. Cameron basically went bigger on every aspect from the first film but it works and it's a thrill to watch Ripley battle aliens with her machine guns and badassery ! 

8/10

Edited April 18, 2019 by Fido_le_muet

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

Nice write up @Fido_le_muet, I basically agree with everything you said.

I’ll be watching this, and maybe Gravity, tomorrow.  Don’t worry about writing too much as I’m sure I’ll write waaaaay to much, as usual  

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

Don't know when I'll watch Gravity as I want to be alone to watch it in the dark with max sound. And I wanna watch Infinity War again wednesday afternoon before seeing Endgame that same evening ! 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

@Fido_le_muetI’ve been working through all the Marvel films at work leading up to endgame.  Black Panther tonight  

[djw180 6,980]

I watched Aliens yesterday (having watched Alien the day before). As I said earlier I have always preferred Alien but I only saw Aliens once before, the original version about 30 years ago. As a sequel to film I really like it's hard not to just make direct comparisons with the original (I think I'll make another thread to breifly do that). But I will try to judge it on it's own merits.

The version I watched this time was the director's cut which is definitely better but still there's something about parts of the film that just do not get me that excited. Not a bad film in any way, just at times I could take it or leave it. I think it's the marines that don't appeal to me. I'm just kind of waiting (& wanting) for them to get killed so Ripley can get on with actually doing what needs to be done. I'm not a big fan of children in films, although Newt is not the usual horribly "cute", annoying kid you often get, and with the extra bit at the beginning of the film revealing Ripley had a daughter who has died during Ripley's 57 years in stasis (or whatsoever term they use) it does make her later interactions with Newt meaningful. There's something about the music as well that I can't quite figure out. I think maybe the music is too predictable at times, it's sort of like someone is trying to be John Williams and failing?

The ending though saves it for me. From where Ripley goes back to get Newt and fights the Alien queen it is excellent and again the added scenes at the beginning make Ripley's killing all the Alien's "children" more meaningful. I also quite like that you never know exactly who is going to survive. It would have been easy to just have Ripley and Newt survive but adding a couple more who come close to being killed means you don't quite know who is going to make it and who isn't

So overall I'll give it 4/5.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

One week left for this months films, this and Gravity.  I'm watching Aliens now (perfect film for the early morning) and hope to watch Gravity in a couple of days.

In the meantime, you can now start to vote for next months genre over in the main film club thread.  @Con will draw the winning genre at the end of the month.

[Con 5,719]

Aliens (1986)

Even after watching this a few times in the past, the opening still grabs my attention from the moment we see the slow-fade of the face and Earth, from that moment on I just hope for a great ride and time and time again, this film delivers. I thought perhaps this time I would be distracted by mistakes or cheesy looking 80's props but I was too busy digesting the dialogue and storyline to even care about logic I would normally be questioning. While I love Alien a bit more, there is no denying that I get more unnerved when the horror is set in bright wide open areas, places that usually feel safe in contrast to a dark alley which never feels safe.

Aliens is a super-superb sequel that expands on everything awesome in the first one. The production design was just tremendous and the performances convincing, even if Pvt. Hudson (Bill Paxton) went a little over the top a few times. While the original was more claustrophobic, this one opens up the world but never loses its suspense even if we know what the monster looks like already. The visual effects were another very high point as the combination of early-CGI, motion capture, and miniatures were all used masterfully and they all blend in masterfully to give us an amazing experience and its hard to believe they were working with a low budget. The script was so enjoyable with so many memorable quotes and while I look for that in dialogue, what I listen for is dialogue that gives us great exposition but also moves the film forward and makes you anticipate the next scene or situation. I wish I could be original and say my fave line in the film is a lesser known one but no line gave me more adrenaline than when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) tells the Queen to get away from Newt (Carrie Hern) and the way she pronunciates the word "Bitch"...I dont think I had ever heard that word said with so much conviction and venom in a film and am not sure I ever will. I enjoyed how all the characters had their own quirks and each brought their own specialty to the mission and deal with the danger differently. It's just too bad that Sgt. Apone (Al Matthews) doesn't make it after the first attack as he was such a fantastic personality. One of the better surprises for me was the Bishop (Lance Henriksen) synthetic character, everytime he is on screen I just kept my eye on him like he was going to steal something. Lance Henriksen is a revelation in that role because he truly made me uneasy and honestly, I didn't trust him even when he arrives at the terminal and even less when he starts fixing it. I was sure he was going to pull an "Ash" from the first film. 

My favorite moment of the film and again I wish I could be more original but the Alien Queen reveal and encounter was just mind blowingly good. They show us the huge maggot-like ovipositor (egg sac) as it deposits the eggs in all its audible splendor, making me feel both disgusted and amazed. Then you get the stand-off between Ripley and the Queen and the tension at that point could have been cut with a machete in my bedroom. I know I'm emphasizing the effects in the scene but what makes it amazing is the way it is shot and if you watch the Making Of documentary, you would know that puppeteers had to be clear of the shots and its amazing how James Cameron pulled it off. But the most adrenaline pumping scene had to be when the team is attacked for the first time and Ripley is watching the monitors with Lt. Gorman (William Hope) and there is so much visceral information coming at you, from the amazing smart guns shooting to the aliens coming off the walls, people dying, the tremendous music score by Mr. My Heart Will Go On, James Horner himself, fire everywhere, POV shots, full screen monitor shots, and then Ripley has to drive the APC because Lt. Gorman turns into a soft serve cone and she has to go try and rescue HIS men!! We even get her running over one of the aliens!!! Come on...if you weren't on board from that moment, just hand in your popcorn and walk away. The entire film is just a visual treat. Some people dislike the sentry gun moments because we mainly see the bullet counter displays but I enjoyed how those shots broke up the scenes and added a sense of how many aliens were coming for them and for me it just added even more dread to the situation. 

Now while I appreciated the extra exposition of Ripley missing out on the entire life of her daughter in the version I watched (I had not watched this scene before so I do have to say it was very powerful and deeply sad)  I still found it hard to accept that Ripley would have agreed to go back and help the Marines defeat creatures that were pretty invincible...and if you wound them, their acid blood can kill you. Now I get that being reinstated as a pilot and the payday for her compliance could have been an offer she couldn't refuse, I feel that her not asking for at least some armor in case something went wrong kind of was a weak point for me because we know she was suffering from PTSD evident by her nightmares and you would think she would have demanded more protective clothing. Just something that always bothered me because Ripley knew how deadly the aliens could be and she seems fine just wearing a jacket. At least offer her some armor and have her throw it down as if she knows this was a one-way ticket. I'm sure there's other flaws I could dig for but in that is the key, when you have to dig for mistakes or look for things that make zero logic, you know you are watching something you shouldn't take for granted because it was handled with care. That being said, I look forward to reading everyone’s opinion that watched the film this month and see if someone found a flaw that didn't stand out to me.

The combination of great character performances, amazing set pieces, great digital and practical effects, quality suspenseful moments, exciting editing, and cracking script all hypnotized me again and reminded me why I rate this like the first film a full 5/5. I can watch this again tomorrow and look very forward to it. I appreciate all the hard work put into the making of this film and there were plenty of arguments and firings during production thanks to a super demanding director, but I don't think any of them regret being part of this cool and thrilling film.

And remember........."It doesn't matter when it's Arcturian, baby!!"

Edited May 1, 2019 by Con

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

My local cinema is showing Aliens next Thursday I may go see it on the big screen for the full experience since I was negative-one when it was released.

Got a lot of notes for this, so strap yourself in.

Right from the title we get some yonic imagery, with the I in ALIENS opening like a vagina, very H.R. Giger, whose design work for Alien is full of phallic, yonic, and birth symbolism.  The film then opens proper in a similar way to the original, slow quiet shots tracking through a dark and quiet ship.  The rescue ship that comes for Ripley casts a huge shadow that engulfs the ship Ripley is on, nice and ominous.

The fade transition from her sleeping face to the peaceful Earth was very like 2001.  Meeting Burke, he tells Ripley "I'm a company man, but I'm okay" so we know to instantly distrust this guy.  Ripley then learns that she has been in cryo for 57 years.  The sound then fades out, she doesn't care to listen to Burke anymore, that's not important, her heartbeat then starts pounding louder and louder, Jones starts hissing at her.  You think she's going to have a heart attack or something, but then her chest starts pounding like something is trying to get out.  She then wakes up from a nightmare.  I think this scene is really well done, usually you can see the whole "it's just a nightmare" thing coming a mile off, but this is played like she is just starting to stress from learning how long she's been asleep.  Add that on to what she went through in the first film and it's no wonder she's having nightmares.  Telling Jones the cat "it's over" is a nice ironic touch at the end.

We then find Ripley in what I call the shit holodeck, one wall projection and a few plants.  Pretty shabby.  She then learns about her daughter, who died an old lady while Ripley was asleep.  She tries to ask Burke for more information about her, but he's only worrying about the upcoming inquest, so more reasons not to like this guy.  The inquest goes as well as you think, with no one believing her story about the alien.  She asks "did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?" one of about a hundred great lines in this script.  The result of the inquest is Ripley losing her licence, so she basically has nothing left in this world to care for.  That doesn't last long though, because she then learns that there is a colony on LV-426, a colony with families living on it.  She repeats the word "families..." softly, and you can almost see a hint of determination on her face, she's going to save those people, and prove all of these assholes wrong.

We're now in the sane hostile, alien landscape from the first film, but now with a new colony, the ironically named Hadleys Hope.  Inside the colony is the captain of the Red Dwarf!  That has nothing to do with this film, I just really like Red Dwarf, and forgot that Captain Hollister was in this.  He passes on the information to someone else that the company wants them to go and check a specific map reference.  There's also a little boy on a tricycle, which just makes me instantly think of The Shining and The Omen.  Both are bad signs for the people of Hadleys Hope.

The guy talking to Captain Hollister from the last scene is now travelling to that reference with his family.  The start of this scene is like any other family road trip, making it much more relatable to the audience.  I love that when we first see the crashed ship from the first film, the music from the first film plays.  Newt then watches her parents go into the ship, engulfed in darkness.  When the parents return there is a facehugger on her dad.  The slow zoom on to the facehugger gives us time to realise what is going to happen, because we, as the audience, have prior knowledge from the first film that these characters don't have, which makes things more tense as we're now just waiting for it to happen.  I like how the scene ends with Newt's scream mixing with the howl of the wind.

Back on Earth, Burke has turned up to Ripley's apartment, but she doesn't want to talk to him, until she hears that something has happened to the colony.  She tells Burke that she's been working in the cargo docks, since she lost her licence, "running loaders", a nice bit of foreshadowing for later in the film.  Later on, she wakes, drenched in sweat, from another nightmare.  She can't run from them.  She calls up Burke and tells him that she'll go back to LV-426, but only to destroy the creatures.  Burke says yes.  Still think we shouldn't trust this guy.  

We now cut to the Marine ship approaching the planet.  The ship looks like a giant pulse rifle!  Like the start of the film we get more slow tracking shots through a quiet ship.  This time they reveal racks on racks of guns and rockets.  These people are here for business.  I love how when Apone wakes up from cryosleep he puts his cigar straight in his mouth.  We also meet Vasquez for the first time, and I have to mention a thing here that just makes me go "that's a bit weird" and takes me out of the film a bit.  Vasquez is Mexican-American, but the actor who played her is, well, not.  She wore contact lenses and dyed her hair and had full body make-up to make her look like she was a different ethnicity.  Now, this isn't something that offends me, nor do I think it is offensive, and the actor did a brilliant job, and Vasquez is undoubtedly an awesome badass of a space Marine, it just makes me go "huh...that is weird", and is something that we certainly wouldn't see nowadays.  We also meet Bishop, who I think is one of the most interesting characters in this film, mainly for this scene.

When we first see Bishop he performs the knife trick, holding his hand over Hudson's and playing five-finger-fillet at incredible speed.  Someone tells Hudson "don't worry, he never misses".  It all goes well, everyone cheers and laughs at Hudson, then Bishop goes to sit with Ripley.  Here she learns that he is an android, and instantly she doesn't trust him, neither should we, because of what Ash did in Alien.  He tells Ripley not to worry, that he is a more advanced model, and that it is "impossible for me to harm anyone by my actions".  However, we see that he cut himself while playing the knife game, thus he put Hudson in harms way.  Is he lying?  Is his programming broken?  Ripley sees his cut and says to him "I thought you never missed".  I love this scene.  

Next up we get a briefing scene, with Apone being awesome, as always, and all the Marines joking about a "bug hunt", frustrating Ripley, because she knows what kind of shit-storm they're about to walk into.  We also see Ripley make herself useful by using a cargo loader, more foreshadowing the scene at the end of the film.  Getting prepped for battle now we get scenes of Vasquez doing some dance thing with her gun, people loading their rifles, all set to military style drums.  They all get set up with a body camera, which allows us a nice, horror movie style, POV of all the action later.  Next, I have written in my notes "Hudson goes gun crazy".  I can't really remember what that pertains to, but I'm sure at some point in this scene, Hudson goes gun crazy.  A little shout out to the model work on this film now, which is mostly incredible, the Marine rifle ship and their landing ship they use in this scene both look great.  However, the green screening of that ship over the clouds looks pretty bad now.  They do make up for that by again playing the music from Alien when they see the colony for the first time.  That music was first used in this film when Newt's parents went into the crashed alien ship, only to fall victim to the facehuggers.  That music is now being associated with the colony, which means there can only be bad things in there, like there were only bad things in the crashed ship.  

Inside the colony it is deathly quiet, in stark contrast to the howling winds outside.  We see the motion tracker for the first time, which is one of the best bits of sci-fi technology in film.  The sound design of it is perfect, and the way that it lets you see that something you can't see is coming closer to you ramps the tension right up.  Ripley is watching the Marines through their body-cams and it's like she's watching a found-footage horror film.  I agree with her at the end of the scene, the Marines give the all clear, but it only seems like they did one sweep.  How about you guys do a second sweep, then a third, then stay the night and call me in the morning, let me know if it's still clear.  

Once she's inside the colony Ripley is very nervous and jumpy, getting startled by every little noise, she clearly doesn't want to be there, but her desire to destroy these creatures and save anybody is too strong.  Soon, they discover Newt, alone in the colony, and Ripley instantly becomes calm, taking control of the Marines when Newt runs away.  She's found her purpose, and it's the daughter she lost.  They soon find Newt, and her and Ripley bond, both finding it comforting as they have both lost their families.  Newt doesn't think they have any hope though, saying about the Marines and all their guns "it won't make any difference".

We then see Bishop dissecting a facehugger, with sinister music in the background.  He says of the facehugger "it's magnificent".  Who do we trust less, him or Burke?

The gang are now all packed in to their armoured truck to go to a different part of the colony, where all of the life signs are coming from.  In the truck Newt is calming her doll down in the same manner that Ripley calmed her down earlier.  At the new building, the Marines enter a hallway with strange, alien growths covering the walls, like they're walking from the known into the unknown.  They find a room full of empty egg sacs, and again, our prior knowledge of what these things are makes the scene more tense.  Then all hell breaks loose.  An alien bursts out of the chest of one of the colonists, and then we see the adult alien, hidden in the walls, slowly unfurling itself, ready to attack.  

Watching on the monitors from the truck all Ripley can see is static and flashes, incomprehensible noise over the mic.  The other Marine in the truck has no idea what's going on, so Ripley takes control, smashing the truck through walls and over aliens to get the survivors out.  I love at the end of the intense escape in the truck, explosions going off all around, Ripley turns to Newt, asks if she's ok, and Newt just gives a thumbs up.  Kid is cool.  Since Apone is now dead Hicks takes command, and we see his character start to change  At the start of the film he and Hudson are pretty much interchangeable, someone confuses the two at the start of the film and Hudson has to say "he's Hicks, I'm Hudson", but now, after recent events, and now having to take control in the aftermath of that, we see him become more serious, whereas Hudson just starts to really go off the rails.

Their ride out of there crashes due to alien interference, and they decide to bunker up inside quickly because "they mostly come at night, mostly".  We see huge steel shutters going up to really show us that this is going to be a siege situation.  They they run down how little ammo they have left to reinforce how against the wall they are.  They seal up the tunnels around the room they're in, making the space even more claustrophobic.

Ripley then learns that Burke is there for samples of the aliens, which he won't destroy, because he's a company man.  The sentry turrets they set up start going off as the aliens start to attack the room they're in.  I love how in this scene we don't see the aliens, just the muzzle flash of the guns and the ammo counters quickly ticking down to zero.  They just about survive, but they aliens will be back.  They come up with a plan to remote control another transport ship down, but they need to realign a dish.  Bishop volunteers to go off and do this alone.  We know for sure now not to trust Burke, but Bishop?  Are he and Burke working together?  

There are some shots inside the tunnels here that are just like the ones from Alien.  Everyone is still just watching the turrets, there's nothing else they can do.  At this point, Ripley and Hicks make a suicide pact, neither of them want to become a host.  You'd think that they have no hope left if they're talking like this, but right after he shows her how to use a pulse rifle, so they still have fight left.  

A shot now of Bishop out in the storm at some futuristic junction box thing doing some rewiring.  I love the bright blue cables matching the lightning, also Bishop looking shifty, still don't know whether to trust him.  

Ripley is now with Newt, getting some rest, but she notices that one of the sample tubes has been knocked over and the facehugger is missing.  Someone has also locked them in.  She tries to get someones attention through the cctv, but only Burke notices and he turns it off, so he is full asshole we hope dies soon now.  The sound design for the facehugger in this scene is brilliant, so squelchy and sucky and moist.  Sends shivers up my spine.  Ripley and Newt manage to escape by setting off the fire alarms, getting the attention of everyone else.  Everyone is shouting at Burke now and deciding whether to kill him or not when the aliens decide to attack again, and this time they're more successful.

The lights at this point are all red, alarms going off, we really know some shit is about to go down.  Hudson is pulled down into what looks like hell through the grates in the floor.  Vasquez looked like she was doing a Tony Montana impression when she was firing off the grenade launcher, "say hello to my little friend".  Burke, at this point, has run off on his own to let the big boys take care of things because he's a weasely little prick.  Gladly, and satisfyingly, he runs in to an alien and dies alone.  

Ripley, Newt and Hicks manage to get into some tunnels to try to escape after Vasquez gives her life to help them get away, but Newt falls through into a sewer, or something, and there is a great shot of her, alone, when slowly behind her an alien rises up to tower over her.  She screams, and the next shot of the sewer we just see her doll's head floating there, very creepy.  Fighting off another alien, Hick's arm get splattered with some acid, so Ripley is left on her own to go and rescue Newt.

Ripley tools up now, taping guns to other guns, getting pocketfuls of grenades, ammo strapped over her shoulder, she really ain't messing about now, and is a totally different person to the scared and jumpy woman who entered this colony.  She has a nice moment with Hicks before she goes off where they tell each other their names, "It's Dwayne". "Ellen".  Simple but effective.  

She then descends in the elevator to where Newt has been taken.  There is a shot of the level indicator that cuts away after hitting the number 13.  Bad omen?  At the bottom of the elevator, Ripley exits the lift shrouded in smoke, bathed in red light, and tooled up to the teeth.  Proper bad ass.  There's no music as she creeps towards the signal, just the motion sensor beeps and her heartbeat.  There's then a great reveal shot of the egg room.  We see an egg being laid, and follow that gross tube ( @Con knew the scientific name ) up to finally see the Alien Queen, huge, amour plated, incredible design.  

The Queen's guards start to approach Ripley, but then we get the most badass moment of the film.  Ripley points her flamethrower at the eggs and looks at the Queen and threatens her.  And she wins!  The Queen tells her boys to back off and succumbs to the awesome will of Ellen Ripley.  Ripley is pissed though, full of rage.  She came here to destroy these creatures so she does just that, she blasts that room with the flames and those eggs start popping.  Ripley and Newt make it back to where Bishop was supposed to pick them up, but he isn't there.  Never trust an android.  They see the elevator start to come up, Ripley holding Newt close, telling her to close her eyes as the doors open and we see the Queen, who wants some revenge of her own.  But just in time Bishop arrives in the ship to rescue them, and they all make it back to the main ship.  

We think this is the end of the film now, getting a nice moment with Newt saying to Ripley "I knew you'd come" with the music swelling in the background, and Ripley thanking Bishop for rescuing them.  Redemption for Ash's actions in the first.  But as soon as we know that Bishop is good and we can like him now he is literally ripped in half by the stowaway Queen.  Really shocking and gory death for Bishop just to make you feel bad for not trusting him the whole movie.  

The Queen and Ripley then have a stand off, Ripley trying to keep her attention away from Newt.  Ripley is eventually knocked off into a side room, and the Queen starts stalking after Newt.  We then get the second most badass moment in this film, where the doors open, and Ripley steps through the smoke in a power loader, ready to fight.  She delivers the immortal line "get away from her you bitch" and man, the way she delivers the word bitch, so much passion and rage.  

They have a tussle, it's pretty awesome, but eventually the Queen ends up getting blown out of the god damned airlock, just like the end of Alien.  Ripley then managed to climb up a ladder against the immense power of the vacuum of space, I guess because she's that badass and is reunited with Newt.  Newt calls Ripley "mommy" and Ripley can have some closure in her life.  She has lost a daughter and suffered extreme trauma, but now she has defeated her monsters, quite literally, and now has a new family, as she goes into cryosleep with Hicks and Newt, heading back to Earth to live a happy life until the end of their days, as opposed to the end of Alien where Ripley is left drifting all alone.

Man, I used the word badass a lot in this, but I think that's the best word I would use to describe this film.  Sure it has it's deep moments and it's emotional moments, but clearly all the care and attention has been put on making this film awesome, awesome sets, awesome guns, awesome action.  I'm still a sucker for the first film, but this really is one of the best sequels ever made, and set the standard for films about badass Marines and shit like that.

8/10

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by LimeGreenLegend

[Con 5,719]

On 4/18/2019 at 1:30 PM, Fido_le_muet said:

It's a great movie. Not a big fan of horror as it feels like it's always the same chain of events in these movies, just the bad guy/monster that changes (I know you probably disagrees @Con  ). 

No I don't disagree at all. I enjoy horror because I like to scare myself since I have very little phobias in real life, so horror gives me that thrill. And usually in horror I can just unplug my brain and watch people get hunted and killed. There are no horror films in my Top 5 Fave Films List...but they do make up most of my Top 20. lol. But my fave film of all time is not a horror film.

2 hours ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

( @Con knew the scientific name ) 

Cause I like and respect insects.  

[Fido_le_muet 5,198]

@Con @LimeGreenLegend

Didn't mention it in my review but indeed, the line 'get away from her you bitch' is fantastic and Weaver really sell it perfectly. She's so pissed ! No-one's gonna take her daughter away from her again. NO-ONE ! 

I did mention the word badass a few times as well though ^^ 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

@Fido_le_muet it's a badass film!