I first laid eyes on “Aliens” way back when in the summer of 1994. During a summer ruined by the MLB Strike, renting videos from Reel Deel became something of an addiction to the eight-year-old version of myself. I’m not going to rant like a lunatic again about Reel Deel Video as I have numerous times before but, man, love that wicker! The best Mom and Pop establishment around. Through the years I rented countless VHS tapes from there. But none more important than “Aliens.” Truth be told, I’m not sure how I even got this hard-R sequel past my parents in the first place. Actually, I do. See Reel Deel actually had real deals you could not beat. You simply could not. Five tapes for five dollars for five days. That was a hell of a deal. I snuck “Aliens” in with the likes of “Three Ninjas” and “The Super Mario Bros.” movie (Bob Hoskins style) and got it home and into my VCR.
A Huge Fan of an Amazing Cast
My head exploded watching it for the first time. See to that point, I knew of it because of the Kenner toy line that was made for an eventually non-produced cartoon based on the film series. And those toys were and still are awesome. I had them all: Ripley, Bishop, Hicks, Apone, the power loader, a battle vehicle and a couple aliens to top it off. I spent a lot of time playing with those. Hell, even last week I was reminiscing with them as I set up some Halloween time stuff around the house.
But the toys could not prepare me for what I was about to witness. The action, the horror, hell the insanely amazing vulgar language. I was hooked. The insanity of the mission to LV-426 just mystified my young eyes. My face remained glued to the warming glow of the television with the ferocity of a facehugger. I simply could not look away. To that point, I’d been agnostic towards action movies; “Aliens” infused me with a thirst for the genre that remains today. But what “Aliens” really did for me, it made me a huge fan of the amazing cast. Bill Paxton forever remains in my heart as one of the all-time greats. From this to “Weird Science,” “Frailty,” and the glorious “Twister,” a legend gone too soon. Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, and Carrie Henn are just a few of the other standouts—along with a truly fantastic performance from that annoying comedian from “Mad About You.” And that’s without even getting to the real star of the show.
You Should Always Choose to be a Ripley
Sigourney Weaver is among my all-time onscreen favorites. To some she will always be Dana Barrett from “Ghostbusters;” but to me, she will always be Ellen Ripley. And what a kickass hero she is. She established this level of bad-assery in “Alien” and here, only continues the domination. Ripley is one part audience surrogate and one part the only truly sensible character in a world where stakes are downplayed and consequences unconsidered.
The film’s brilliant final act is exactly what action and horror movies should be. In a word: brilliant. Play Ripley in the Payloader is as iconic an image of ’80s cinema as Doc Brown and the Delorean or Indiana Jones running from the giant boulder. During my most recent rewatch last week, I still got chills when we first see Ripley in the payloader. And let’s be honest. There is no shortage of fantastic quotes throughout the history of cinema, but something about, “Get Away from her, you bitch!” just warms my goddamn heart. I mean, not since Han Solo responded to “I Love You” with “I know” had a line absolutely slayed like this. In a world of lame ass heroes, you should always choose to be a Ripley.
You can’t talk about “Aliens” without talking James Cameron. Now, I know nowadays he’s more thought of for that sinking boat movie and the franchise about the Blue Man Group, but with “Aliens” he did two things better than anyone had to that point—and probably hasn’t since. The first, he changed what was possible with sequels. This isn’t “The Godfather” in the way of a saga told over multiple films. This is a legit sequel that takes an established world and successfully branches off in a way that allows the film to work as its own thing, call back to its predecessor and create a rich, lived in world of which future possibilities are endless.
Watch ‘Aliens’ and Remember Your Childhood
The second thing, and this is really what fascinates me the most, he changed the genre of the film. “Alien” is a no doubt sci/fi horror film. “Aliens,” while it no doubt has its fair share of scares, it’s definitely an action movie. The Colonial Marines at first seem more out of “Full Metal Jacket” than “The Exorcist,” but somehow, Cameron found a way to drive up the action while keeping that base level of horror. Their initial descent to LV-426 and the brilliant use of their body cams to show the action and horror is probably one of my favorite director choices ever. Plus the cocoons. Plus of course, the aliens. Brilliant.
This is a franchise that’s been around forever, had some ups, some downs, and some odd ass choices. But even still, whenever I want to remember what it was like to live in the glory days of childhood, I’ll throw in “Aliens” and be transported to back to that time of life. It’s amazing how movies time stamp parts of our life, isn’t it? I’d love to go back and revisit this time and the experience of seeing this for the first time; but such is life. I’ll settle for another rewatch surrounded by my “Aliens” toys and be thankful this film exists at all.
