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The only survivor
of the Nostromo, Ripley is discovered in deep sleep half a
century later by a salvage ship. When she is taken back to
Earth, she learns that a human colony was founded on the same
planet where the aliens were first found. After contact with
the colony is lost, she finds herself sent back to the planet
(along with a team of soldiers) bent on destroying the alien
menace forever, and saving any survivors - if any remain.
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Aliens 1986
Seven years after barely surviving events on board the
Nostromo in Ridley Scott's classic sci-fi horror ALIEN,
Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Warrant Officer Ripley
for one of the most compelling and critically-acclaimed
sequels of all time. Canadian director James Cameron had
already struck gold with the Arnold Schwarzenegger starring
vehicle THE TERMINATOR (1984), after his somewhat inauspicious
feature film directorial debut with the long-forgotten,
Dutch-backed PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING 3 years earlier. ALIENS
would further cement Cameron's growing reputation as a
first-rate director of high-tech, fast-paced,
adrenaline-pumping action thrillers, from which there would
normally be no let-up once they got going.
\When Ripley is rescued from drifting aimlessly through
deep space, she is horrified to learn that not only has she
been asleep for 57 years, but the planet on which she had
encountered the original alien all that time ago has since
been colonized. At first no-one will heed her warnings or
completely believe the story she gives at an official enquiry
as to what happened to her and her fellow Nostromo crew
members. But then contact is lost with LV-426, and despite
initially throwing Ripley "to the wolves" (as she
herself puts in), The Company, through representative Carter
J. Burke (Paul Reiser), suddenly finds itself in a position of
having to ask Ripley for help, finally persuading her to
return to the planet that still consumes her every nightmare,
as an advisor to a motley group of very tough colonial marines
expecting this to be just another run-of-the-mill
"bug-hunt". But how wrong that assumption turns out
to be!
I would argue that ALIENS far surpasses its celebrated
predecessor in almost every aspect. Obviously the sheer
spectacle of what is basically a Vietnam war movie in space is
particularly awe-inspiring. But the
human drama element of this sequel is also greatly heightened,
primarily by the introduction of "Newt" (wonderful
little Carrie Henn, in her only film role), who turns out to
be the sole survivor of recent events on LV-426, becoming a
kind-of surrogate daughter to Ripley, which leads to several
touching moments and gives the story a surprisingly effective
emotional core in the midst of all the otherwise pre-eminent
carnage.
Amongst the talented supporting players are Cameron
regulars Michael Biehn (THE TERMINATOR, THE ABYSS) and Bill
Paxton (bit part in THE TERMINATOR, TRUE LIES, TITANIC), and
Cameron's punchy dialogue includes such suitably macho
wisecracks as - Hudson (Paxton): "Hey Vasquez, have you
ever been mistaken for a man?" Vasquez (a pumped-up
Jenette Goldstein): "No, have you?" Nominated for 7
Oscars, including Weaver as Best Actress (again this confirms
the general class on display, as it is fairly rare for the
Academy to recognize the acting qualities inherent in this
type of predominantly action-driven movie), the film went on
to win for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects Editing.
Further, almost inevitable sequels followed in 1992 and 1997,
but I prefer to think of the terrifying perils of Ellen Ripley
as ending on this high note.
Review by Paul Kydd, Edinburgh Scotland, 17 February
2001
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Release Date:
1986
Taglines
This time it's war!
Plot Outline
The only survivor of the Nostromo,
Ripley is discovered in deep sleep half a century later by a
salvage ship. When she is taken back to Earth, she learns that
a human colony was founded on the same planet where the aliens
were first found. After contact with the colony is lost, she
finds herself sent back to the planet (along with a team of
soldiers) bent on destroying the alien menace forever, and
saving any survivors - if any remain.
Runtime
Australia: 137
USA: 137 (154 director's cut)
Color
Color (Eastmancolor)
Sound Mix
70 mm 6-Track / Dolby
Certification
Australia: M, UK: 18, USA: R
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Credits
Cast (in
credits order)
Sigourney Weaver
Carrie Henn
Michael Biehn
Lance Henriksen
Paul Reiser
Bill Paxton
William Hope
Jenette Goldstein
Al Matthews
Mark Rolston
Ricco Ross
Colette Hiller
Daniel Kash
Cynthia Dale Scott
Tip Tipping |
Ellen Ripley
Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden
Cpl. Dwayne Hicks
Bishop
Carter Burke
Private Hudson
Lt. Gorman
Pvt. Vasquez
Sgt. Apone
Pvt. Drake
Pvt. Frost
Cpl. Ferro
Pvt. Spunkmeyer
Cpl. Dietrich
Pvt. Crowe |
Directed by: James Cameron
Writing credits: James Cameron,
David Giler, Walter Hill (story)
Original music by: James Horner
Non-original music by: Jerry
Goldsmith (from "Alien (1979)") (uncredited), Aram
Khachaturyan (from "Ballet Suite Gayaneh") (uncredited)
Click here to
go to the Alien Soundtrack section
Production Companies: 20th Century
Fox [us], Brandywine Productions Ltd
Special Effects: Peerless Camera Co.
Ltd., Stan Winston Studio [us], The L.A. Effects Group
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Alternate Movie Versions
- SPECIAL EDITION release on video and laserdisc restores
17 minutes of footage cut from theatrical version. The new
scenes:
- Ripley is sitting on a park bench waiting for Burke
(before the inquisition), immediately following her stay
in Gateway Station' hospital. She presses a button, and
the entire park behind her disappears, reveiling a grey
screen. Burke enters and tells her how to act at the
hearing. Ripley asks about her daughter. Burke keeps
talking about the hearing. She insists to hear about her
daughter. Burke hands her a computer printout (colour)
that shows her a nice old lady. Burke tells her her
daughter died at the age of 67. That was two years ago.
Ripley whispers that she promised her daughter she'd be
back before her 11th birthday before going off on the
Nostromo.
- After Ripley's outburst during in the inquest
("Because if one of those creatures gets down here,
you can kiss all of this goodbye"), dialogue has been
restored in which Van Leuwen voices the council's final
decision. (her flight status is revoked because she is
deemed unfit to serve as a flight officer, she has to have
monthly psych evaluations, and no criminal charges being
filed against her)
- A scene where the colonists receive orders from Burke
telling them to explore the derelict space craft. Newt's
family drives to the site, during the trip Newt and her
brother Timothy are arguing about a game of hide and seek
that they play in the colony's airduct system. Timothy
complains that Newt has the unfair advantage of being able
to hide in the small places that the rest of the players
can't get to. Following this, they arrive at the derelict
ship and the mother and father go in; later the mother
returns dragging the father who now has a face hugger
clamped on his face.
- There's a scene of the colony, before contact with the
aliens, in this scene we see a sign outside the colony
reading: "Hadleys Hope - pop. 158"
- During the sequence in Ripley's apartment (where they
try to convince her to go investigate the lack of contact
with the Colony), Burke's dialogue regarding "The
Company's" interest in the colony has been restored.
- Immediately following the establishing shot of the
Sulaco is a restored introdution to the interior of the
ship, eventually leading to the frost-covered hypersleep
chamber (and then they wake-up. this is similar to the
start of Alien).
- During the drop from the Sulaco to LV-426, is a restored
scene of Hudson playfully boasting about the Marines and
their weaponry. He tells Ripley he'll protect her. He also
tells her the Sulaco carries every weapon from knives to
'nukes'.
- During the Marines' initial search through the colony, a
sequence has been inserted in which Hudson investigate
some motion they have deteced ahead of them. It were some
mice walking around in their cage.
- The scene in which Ripley, Burke, Gorman, and Bishop
enter the colony has been restored. (you see lotsa
hesitation on Ripley's face before entering the complex).
Hicks leaves behind, asks her if she's ok. She says yes
and enters the complex.
- During Hick's discussion of the equipment salvaged from
the APC wreckage, additional dialogue has been added in
which he discribes the four remote sentry guns and how
they can be used.
- When Ripley and the Marines examine the colony's
blueprints, discussing how they will barricade themselves
inside the complex, there is some additional dialogue
referring to the strategic placement of the sentry guns.
- The sequence of Hicks arming the sentry, and Hudson and
Vasquez testing one of the sentry guns has been restored.
- Before the scene where Ripley carries Newt into the
infirmary, a single show of the sentry guns has been
inserted.
- During the scene where Ripley puts Newt to bed in the
medical center, the dialogue about Ripley's daughter and
the origin of babies as been restored. Newt asks Ripley if
human babies are born the same way the aliens are. (Newt
asks if Ripley ever had a daughter and she finds out
Ripley's daughter's dead).
- In the scene where Ripley, Bishop, Hudson, and Vasquez
discuss the aliens' life cycle, there is some additional
dialogue in which Hudson, Vasquez and Bishop offer their
speculations. (beehive/anthill sort of society)
- After Ripley's confrontation with Burke, the sequence
involving the aliens attempting to make their way past the
sentry guns in the service tunnel has been restored.
- Something probably only showed at the opening day of
Aliens was a scene in which Ripley puts on her Reebok
sneakers after she just found out that the facehuggers
broke free, when she rested with Newt in the MedLab.
- After Vasquez and Ripley seal Bishop in the pipe, the
aliens confront the other two sentry guns that have been
set up in the colony corridors. At the end of the
sequence, when Hicks dispatches Hudson and Vasquez (to
walk perimeter), some of the shots have been rearranged
from the theatrical edition and Hicks' dialogue slightly
altered.
- Before Ripley leaves the drop-ship to rescue Newt, there
is some additional dialogue in thich she turns to Hicks to
say goodbye, and they exchange their first names (Ellen
Ripley and Dwayne Hicks).
- An additional scene shows Ripley searching for Newt and
finding Burke who has been cocooned and impregnated. Burke
begs Ripley to shoot him, instead she hands him a grenade.
This scene does not appear in any released version but was
filmed (some magazines printed a few shots taken from it).
- The laserdisc edition also includes the sound of a
face-hugger scurrying from left to right as the final
credits fade.
- On FX the theatrical version is uncut for violence but
cuts the graphic profanity. It has a rating of TVPGLV (!).
The profanity is removed with sound-alikes for the actors.
Some establishing shots are cut. 4 minutes are cut. Runs 3
hours with commercials. The special edition version shown
on FX cuts out the profanity by simply muting it. No
violence cut. Rated TVPGLV and runs 3 hours 30 minutes
with commericals and cuts about 3 minutes of shots.
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