When Aliens Attacked

The first time I saw it Aliens had a profound effect on me. For about 6 months after watching it I found it was necessary to look in the toilet bowl before using it, just to check there was nothing lurking there. I was 11 at the time so slightly outside the films target audience. Aliens was the first horror oriented film I’d encountered and only then cause it was called Aliens!

As sequels go I’d put Aliens up there as possibly my favourite. T2 is usually bandied around as the uber-sequel but Linda Hamilton’s performance ruins it for me. Aliens expanded the concept of the original film, locating the action on the surface of the planet LV-426 and multiplying the number of Aliens. However, it retains the essential claustrophobic quality of the first film using cramped corridors and rooms for the action sequences. Aliens also retained a minimal cast, which shrinks rapidly as the action hots up making it easy for the audience to concentrate on the principals, i.e. those characters who survive the first 45 mins. And there’s action in buckets here. Cameron’s direction embraces visceral cinema, more so than the first film, but he does draw out some suspenseful moments which are as effective as anything in Alien (Paxton as Hudson freaking out as the Aliens get closer and the scene in the Med Lab spring to mind).

For Ripley the film is a real roller coaster of emotions; desolation, anger, remorse, mistrust, fear, terror, some happiness swiftly followed by more terror with a healthy dollop of fear and finally vengeance. Weaver is again excellent in the role and the Oscar nomination is deserved. Able support is provided by Paxton, Henriksen and Biehn and not forgetting Carrie Henn as Newt, everyone’s favourite little orphan girl and a handy surrogate daughter for Ripley.

The Special Edition release replaces 17 minutes of footage into the film. There is some exposition and a nice introduction to the colony including Newt’s families day-trip to the Alien ship but the sentry guns prove to be the most memorable feature of this extended edition, upping the action level another notch.

Aliens was a runaway success and a sequel was only to be expected. Unfortunately the 3rd film ran into a few problems.

The troubled production of Alien 3 is well documented but it still pays to consider the highlights when casting a critical eye over the film. The multiple scripts (Aliens on Earth, Aliens on a wooden monastery planet, Ripley in a coma with Aliens apparently everywhere), multiple directors (Renny Harlin left to direct Die Hard 2, Vincent Ward left cause they made him, Producer Walter Hill considered it cause they couldn’t get anyone else). Fincher, fresh from music videos and TV commercials, was left directing a script written by producers Walter Hill & David Giler which made arguing about the content about as advisable as juggling chainsaws. Even as principal photography forged ahead multiple rewrites were undertaken and Fincher eventually left the picture before editing began. When you consider some films can turn out very bad given even the best of circumstances during production you might find yourself giving Alien 3 a little leeway when tempted to slate it remorselessly. But only a little.

The Sulaco runs into trouble on it’s return journey to earth and the stasis pods are ejected in an escape vehicle. Only Ripley survives the crash landing and is no doubt cheered to find herself not only stranded on a prison planet surrounded by bald religious convicts but also being stalked (again) by an alien. And then it gets worse.

Though were essentially back to the first films concept of one alien versus people in an enclosed space there are simply too many characters who are totally anonymous to make this work. The script is pretty poor providing no real hook to hang the scares on and the film simply plods along to it’s bizarre conclusion. Ripley;s sacrifice has been touted as a triumph by some film theorists but this doesn’t really console you much when you’ve just watched 114 mins worth of crippling blows being dealt to one of you favourite film franchises.

There’s nothing here for Weaver to play up to and I imagine she was probably as confused as everyone else about the direction the film was going. And it’s dark. Some of the shots in the tunnels with the torches are great but the majority of the film is so dark it’s drab. Fincher has since gone on to make darkness his friend and ally in film but here it’s just muddy. As I like to share out the blame equally I’d have to say that the producers were mad to replace Cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth (who was cinematographer on Blade Runner) cause he was to slow. At least with him the film might have looked nice even if the script still stank!

But hey, why let one clunker get in the way of the quest for big box office and the lesser quest for cinematic integrity. Lets just move swiftly on to number 4, Alien: Resurrection. Oh, but we’ve killed Ripley. Damn.

An early draft of the script for the fourth film didn’t have Ripley in it at all and another had Ripley wake up on the Sulaco and find that the events of the third film had been a hibernation dream. Sadly this was not the case and the idea was dropped along with the idea of setting the action on Earth (again!). Joss Whedon’s final script found Ripley being resurrected some 200 years after her death thanks to the miracle of cloning. United Systems Military aren’t bringing her back for her winning smile and sunny disposition though, they hope to harvest the alien queen growing inside her and so breed an army of aliens.

It is, of course, inevitable that the whole project goes horribly pear shaped and the aliens are soon on the loose in the space station. Ripley finds herself in an odd position as the cloning process has managed to mix in some alien DNA with hers leaving her with an odd affinity for the xenomorphs and excellent basketball skills.

Resurrection plays best as a straight action film. It’s best not to think of it in the context of what has come before because here the last vestiges of the moody sci-fi horror we hoped might be resurrected (inadvertent pun, honest!) are blown away by slick action filmmaking. What’s really disappointing though is that as an action film this could have been better. Whedon had already considered locating the film on earth and, in my view, it would have been the right choice. You only have to watch City of Lost Children to see what Jeunet might have done outside the constraints of the space station. The casting too is stock. Not to say that they’re not all very good actors but they are playing the staples of action cinema, Perlman the muscle, Dourdan the pretty one, Wincott the brains, Pinon the light relief and Ryder for sex appeal. And they all play there parts to a tee, dying heroically when called upon.

Constraints of budget and production will obviously dictate the direction a film will take but when the talent is all lined up and waiting to do something special, it’s criminal not to use them to their full potential.

Dare I say there may be hope for the future though? August 6 2004 has been slated as the release date for Alien Vs Predator. Paul WS Anderson has given up directing the Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil sequels to finally brings aliens to earth (he will co-write the film with Shane Salerno who worked on Armageddon). If you’ve seen Event Horizon you’ll know that Anderson has already handled a ‘haunted house in space’ film, and he didn’t do too bad with it either.

The bulk of the action is due to be set in the Antarctic where a group of scientists are sent to investigate a pyramid which has been discovered there. On arrival they find themselves caught in a pitched battle between the too alien races. The back story relates how, in the past, rights of passage ceremonies were staged where young Predators would face Aliens to prove their worth. Temples and pyramids were built by ancient man to worship the Predators and stage these ceremonies. Of course Predators who failed the task would self-destruct, effectively wiping out the civilisation.

So far Lance Henriksen has been cast to play Charles Weyland so already we can see some link to the Weyland-Yutani Corp. of the previous films.

I don’t think we should expect anything other than full bore action from this film and I for one and looking forward to it. I have a vision of a herd (gaggle? flock? pack?) of aliens running (galloping?) across the ice sheet with Danny Glover in pursuit grumbling that he’s too old for this. Now that would be a priceless moment.

There is no doubt that these films are important to science fiction cinema and indeed cinema as a whole. Not only have they provided us with what is probably the ultimate movie monster but also a raft of iconic images which will ensure that the films remain in our minds for a long to come.

cormac donnelly