The Alien Queen!

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2009)

Q: "What's laying these eggs?"
A: "Something we haven't seen yet..."
This is a question we did not have any time to ask during the first film, we were too busy having our brains eaten, having molecular acid pumped at us, being raped by an Aliens Tail, and having Geiger's Alien salivating all over our spaceship.
In the theatrical version of Aliens, we are not even shown the Alien Ship - As we are in the extended cut. If we get to see the extended cut, we can see that the ship has further deteriorated at least on the outside, one of the huge U structures seems to have fallen down.
And so this is the film which gave James Cameron his "acid" test - And he had to re-visualise the universe that Ridley Scott created.
But he did not totally revamp that future imperfect... He added to it. He shows us the "Company" - The Weyland/Yutani company which went unnamed in the first film. He gives us a look into the Corporate which drives this future and their motivations.
And according to Cameron, that future is just as bleak as our present, including corporate criminals as portrayed by Paul Reiser and Military Meatheads portrayed by William Hope, Bill Paxton, Jeanette Goldstein and Cameron's own imported Michael Biehn. Cameron gives us a look at various personality types and how they would act in the future... Which is to say that there is not that much difference.
After viewing some of the Bonus features, and a very long documentary which was made alongside the original filming of this epic, it is amazing, how Cameron could do so much, and build a universe so big in the limited space he had to work with. Amazingly, the budget for this hyper epic was a mere 25 Million, which would barely pay for Pre-vis in any modern epic.
The first time I saw the Theatrical "Aliens" I was impressed by the hugeness of the production, the sets seemed titanic. This was just Cameron, who was very clever with the way he filmed scenes on the alien planet LV426. It is difficult to determine what set pieces are actually miniatures, and which are full sized. The Troop Transport was a beautiful redressing of an airplane tug.
Regardless of style difference between Ridley Scott and Cameron, this film is a seamless continuation of the story of "Leftenant Ripley". Cameron uses all the resources at his command to tell this story, and his library of "tricks" which he learned by working for veteran filmmaker Roger Corman: The amount of visual trickery done by Cameron which fakes us into believing that LV426 is a real planet is astounding.
The Aliens which are shown in this film, are a slightly different colour that the Scott's Geiger-made Alien.. And they do not have the shiny domed heads, which gave the Alien it's frightening, metallic aspect. Instead, they had Bone ridges which were probably cheaper to make. The fact that there are only maybe 5 or 6 actual alien suits is clouded under the impression that there are hundreds of these beasts.
There is nothing that needs to be added, or subtracted from this story, and the extended cut of the film is most satisfactory, bringing elements back in which ought not to have been cut, but probably were for time considerations: The initial scene where Newt's parents visit the Alien Shipwreck and get "facehugged" - Which includes a short look at the life in the colony, the children, and even the Weyland-Yutani logo... Which gives us the name of the company for the first time, except that this was not shown until the early 90s when the laserdisk of the extended cut was released. This scene was a critical piece of exposition, however, even when cut, the story survives brilliantly.
But in order to put this film on an equal bearing with the original Alien, Cameron showed us that which was laying the eggs: The Alien QUEEN. When I first saw it, I just assumed it was Geiger's work... But to my amazement, this creature was wholly designed by James Cameron- And he mimics Geiger's work so well, you just cannot tell.
The idea of the Queen gives us the shock value which the original film had: And when we first see this thing, we are agape. When I view the DVD, I must and do, rewind the scene and watch it again and again- Because that first impression is fantastic.
This film is one of the jewels of the 20th century, and when you consider that the Universe that was shown to us was wholly created by using practical effects, we wonder why this kind of film-making cannot be done anymore. We assume that this kind of practical film-making cannot be done due to cost, but that is not the case: This kind of film-making cannot be accomplished in these days because we lack one important thing: A Filmmaker of James Cameron's Caliber and ingenuity.