#13 ALIENS

It all starts with the Aliens. I'm not going to describe them too much here because i'll be doing that in depth for my "Alien" essay but suffice it to say these are arguably the greatest monsters of film and you can take the original terrifying monster of monsters and multiply it times a shitload for this movie.

If "Alien" was an atmospheric sci-fi horror movie, "Aliens" is more a sci-fi action movie, but with Sergeant Kick-Ass leading the troops. James Cameron is as good as it gets when referring to the quintessential hard core sci-fi action movie. The man has directed "Terminator", "T2", and most recently "Avatar." These are all great, iconic, memorable films. Cameron is responsible for the two most successful films of all time and to show that he has some depth and that he's not a one trick pony "Titanic" and "Avatar" are vastly different movies. The one commonality is the feeling of awe, that you are experiencing something spectacular. The man's greatest gift is just rocking people's worlds with the ultra-coolness of his films. So it's no wonder that he took the greatest movie monster and surrounded it with nothing less than bad-assery.

The movie starts fairly slowly providing a nice transition from the first movie. We learn that Ripley, played again by Sigourney Weaver in an unheard of oscar nominated role for a sci-fi action heroine, has been in hyper sleep for
fifty-seven years after her ship drifted through all the core systems. Her daughter, just a child when she left for space, has passed on, and she's lost her license because the company believes that she acted irresponsibly in destroying her main ship to destroy the Alien, which they don't believe exists. When she tells them to go to the planet and see for themselves they tell her they already have. There's a colony living there and this is where the meat of the movie begins. They've lost contact with the colony and they want her to accompany a military rescue mission in exchange for all charges dropped and her license back. After firmly saying no she finally decides to go, not for any monetary reasons but because she realizes she needs to face her demons or they will always haunt her.

Once we get to the space marines this movie ceases to be an extension of "Alien" and it is truly James Cameron's "Aliens." As will also be seen later in "Avatar", Cameron is master of the hard core space marine. There is so much testosterone that you want to punch a T-Rex in the face and high five King Kong. The dialogue is cliche but genuine kick-assery. The sarge wakes up from hypersleep and automatically puts a cigar in his mouth. "Assholes and elbows." "Alright people." "Another day in the core." Vazquez, a she-man is doing pull-ups, and Hutson, my favorite marine, played by Bill Paxton, is making wise every chance he gets.

Things really rev up when they get ready to make their drop into hell. There's a metallic drumbeat as Vazquez and her buddy are holding their guns and looking badass, a futuristic tank is circling the perimeter of the ship's armory, and the marines are readying themselves with weapons and armor for the mission. Sarge takes control. "On the ready line. On the ready line." "Are you marines? Are you marines?" "What are you? On the ready line. Get on the ready line." "Move it out god damn it."
"Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." "Move it out. Move it out. Move it out." Fucking Righteous!!
This is truly the point where this movie has absolutely ceased to be "Alien" and is all James Cameron's "Aliens." From this point on this movie just continues to go to the next level exponentially so take your heart medicine. From a brilliant exercise in suspense, to an adrenaline overload, to the final right of passage of a Warrior Queen. Let's Roll!!!

The dropship scene continues to be incredibly cool. They load the tank, and everyone gets on and takes their positions. Hutson is the best thing about this scene. He just thinks he is the ultimate angel of death descending into a quick and easy mission. He's funny as hell. "We're on an express elevator to hell going down." "Alright. Check it out. I am the ultimate badass. State of the badass art. You do not want to fuck with me." "Hey Ripley. Don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you." It's amusing because everyone is so confident, and the thing is in most circumstances they should be. They are a well oiled state of the art squad of badass space marines but they have no idea what's waiting for them down below. Ripley is the only humility on board and she in the end will be one of the only survivors.

Once they reach the planet after a perfect landing and a flawlessly executed beginning to their mission, the movie gradually builds the suspense. The greatest device for this is a motion tracker used by the squad. As far as tools of suspense it is right up there for me with the ripple in the water preceding an oncoming T-Rex attack in "Jurassic Park", the music in "Jaws" that precedes the shark, the tracking locater in "No Country For Old Men", and there are many more examples but the point is it is brilliant. One sound can strike fear. When I think of this movie one of the first things that comes to mind is the sound of that sonic beeping signaling movement, and the constant buildup of tension as the beeping gets closer and closer. There are multiple uses of this. Early on it is a device of trickery. The first two times it goes off they encounter a group of hamsters in a cage, and a little girl running. A little bit later, once they discover where all of the colonists are, and discover their disturbing cocooned bodies, you see a shot of the Aliens perfectly camouflaged in their environment and uncoiling in readiness for carnage. The sonic beeping goes off again and its getting closer and closer, but because of their stealthiness they are pretty much on top of them and they still can't see them. They are in a dark corridor, knowingly surrounded by vicious monsters, and they can't see them. They can only hear the beeping and see that they are right there. They are freaking the fuck out and it is powerhouse adrenaline fueled tension as the shit begins to hit the fan and all hell breaks loose as the Aliens begin to tear them apart.

Before I get to my most memorable scene involving the motion tracker there is another way in which this movie really ramps up the suspense. So the marines are seriously in the shit and their leader is completely frozen in terror and can't make a decision. Ripley takes control of the tank from him and busts it right through a fucking wall to save the marines. About half of them survive and Ripley is beginning to truly show her metal. They get safely away but as the dropship comes to pick them up and get them off this godforsaken planet, an Alien that has snuck on board devours the pilot and the ship crashes and explodes. It turns out that it'll take seventeen days for a rescue and they're low on ammo and weapons. This is when Bill Paxton as Hutson shines. He is totally flipping out and this heightens the atmosphere of terror and desperation and I have to add it's really hilarious because he's over the top. "Well that's great. That's just fucking great man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? That's it man. Game over man. Game over." Picture all of this being incredibly loud, whiny, and obnoxious. This is kind of his role for the remainder of his part in this movie, and it's not long because he's going to die pretty soon. So at this point it's about how the fuck are we going to survive for seventeen days in the midst of an Alien horde?. A little bit later this shifts as they find out that the crashed ship caused enough damage to one of the facilities that the result was going to be a thermo-nuclear explosion that was going to obliterate the planet in four hours. The good news. No more Aliens. The bad news. No more space marines. So now it's not about a seventeen day standoff. Now it's how the hell do we get out of here in less than four hours? They're able to, with a severe challenge, set up a remote hookup to call down a dropship. Begin Countdown.

Back to the most memorable motion tracker scene. The scene that I visualize more than almost any other in this movie takes place at the beginning of the amped up third act. Ripley and Newt have already had a scare as they barely escape two face-huggers in the med-lab sabotaged by Burke. Everyone is waiting in the operations room and the sonic beeping starts again. Once again it's getting closer and closer. They seal off the main hatch to the room and continue to wait in anticipation. The tracker is showing them right on top of them. They're readying their guns and just about shitting their pants. The tracker is then showing the Aliens in the room with them. This is impossible. They realize all of a sudden that they might be coming from up above the ceiling above the grating. Hicks climbs up and opens one of the grates and shines a flashlight in the dark. In front of him is a fantastically horrifying image of multiple numbers of Aliens clutching the piping above the grated ceiling and scurrying backwards towards them. Seconds later monster mayhem.

The emotional core of this movie is the relationship between Ripley and Newt, a little girl and only surviving member of the colony. Newt represents the daughter that Ripley lost while in hypersleep. She feels like she abandoned her own daughter and will do anything to keep this one safe. The finale of the movie is the proof of this resolve. As Ripley, Hicks, and Newt, the only survivors of this recent battle, try to escape, Newt accidentally falls down a chute into a pool of water. Ripley and Hicks race after her and we have another beeping device- a tracking bracelet that Newt is wearing. They find her but have to cut through metal grating to get to her. They're almost there and once again muchos activity on the motion tracker. They're coming. There is an extreme closeup of Newt which reminds me of the closeup of the night swimmer in the opening scene of Jaws right before she gets ripped apart, and then a longer shot of Newt. From behind out of the water comes an Alien in all it's vicious glory. Before they are able to reach her the Alien grabs her. Looks like the end of Newt. Ripley won't give up on Newt and refuses to believe that she's dead. She gets a wounded Hicks back to the ship, finds out how much time they've got until the planet blows, and makes her way back to her.

We are about to witness the full transformation of Ripley from a leader to a Mothafucking Warrior Queen. As she goes down in an elevator to do whatever she has to to save this girl, the further down she goes the more she readies herself for battle. You get the impression that even if the girl is dead she will continue down in this elevator through the circles of hell and fight bloody battle after bloody battle and suffer the fury of demons until she can ascend with her again. She takes her jacket off- readies her weapons- puts on an ammo jacket, harnesses her gun over her shoulder- wakes up the flamethrower, and her expression becomes more serious with each level, embodying more of the warrior with each successive level conquered. When the elevator door opens the greatest female action hero of all time is fully born and mad as hell.

Through Newt's scream she finds her and untangles her from her cocoon. Mother and daughter make their way back to safety but not before encountering the other Warrior Queen and badass Mother. Two females ready to do anything to protect their young. What a scene. If you haven't already had enough in this movie Cameron saves the best for last. This Queen of all Aliens is ridiculous. I mean that in a good way. She must weigh the equivalent of about a half dozen of her fully grown children. Her razor sharp teeth are magnificent and mighty and her jaw brings forth images of the megalodon. From her head rises backwards a natural headdress that looks like an impenetrable shield of shiny black armor, and she lets forth a repetitive squealing hiss. She is truly the shit.

Ripley finds herself and Newt in an endless nest of eggs. She slowly looks behind her and sees the Queen laying her eggs. She looks to the left and right and there is an Alien on either side guarding the Queen. Ripley lets loose the flame-thrower above the eggs as a warning and it's so fucking cool as the Queen tilts her head to the right and motions the Alien guard to back off and again to the Alien guard on the left. These fuckers are smart and powerful. Now for the iconic moment of Ripley, the all powerful mother and warrior queen. She gives a slight tilt of her head and you can see her eyes are deadly serious and fearless and takes out fifty-seven years worth of anger on this Queen's children. She fires off the flamethrower and begins to destroy the eggs. The Queen is squealing and convulsing in madness. Ripley then fires off the grenade launcher and gradually destroys the attached tubing that's laying the eggs. She blows the Aliens to bits and gets them the fuck out of there. Fuck you mama.
They barely get to an elevator ahead of the Queen and ascend out of the depths of Alien hell. They get to the top and it's truly an amazing image as Ripley is holding Newt and the whole Planet is slowly burning around her. As this is happening another elevator comes up. Holy shit here comes mama. If you can come down I can come up bitch. It's such a cool moment as she crouches down to get out of the elevator. She is truly massive and angry. The dropship comes just in the nick of time and they board just beyond the clutches of the Queen. All is well as they fly beyond the exploding planet.

Just when you think it's safe comes the finale twist. They're back on the main ship and all is well until Bishop, the ship's android, gets impaled and ripped in two. Looks like mama hitched a ride. The final big scene is the two warriors truly going at it one on one. To even the playing field Ripley is able to get into an automotronic loader. Ripley's able to show her warrior instincts and intellect in an epic final showdown repeatedly whacking the queen with her automotronic arms and throwing her to the floor. The Queen keeps whipping Ripley with her massive tail. Back and forth. Finally Ripley has a firm grasp on the Queen and eventually flushes her into space, barely eluding the same fate. Time for a breather.