From #71 to #54 in Four Years

Rating: 10/10 (11 August 2010)

I thought it would be appropriate if my 100th review was of my favorite movie ever. Since I actually wrote a 20th Anniversary review that was published elsewhere in 2006, I decided to polish that one a little. Also, I noticed something that tells *a lot* about the timelessness of this classic. In 2006, I noted down that ALIENS was at #71 in the IMDb Top 250. What a delight it is to see it (almost) four years later at #54. Now how many movies do go up in the Top 250? Not many. Curiously, it just happens that of those that do, many are also some of my personal favorites: for example, in *just* the last 15 months, Terminator 2 has risen from #61 to #42. And in the last three years, Terminator has managed an astonishing rise from #201 to #158. That's *43* notches! Both are James Cameron movies. Does Avatar have something to do with this? Probably, but I just suspect it made a new generation discover these timeless classics. These movies just don't age.
But I digress. Not only is ALIENS a universally recognized classic and arguably the best sequel of all time (with the possible exceptions of The Godfather: Part II, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes back and The Dark Knight), its influence has been more widely spread than most may realize. Yes, this is probably mentioned in every other review, but it is such an important entry in the annals of Hollywood that *not* mentioning it would risk spreading ignorance. And ignorance of the chain of events in cinema history leads to the youth holding such drivel as The Twilight "Saga" (more like a toxic stream) above gems such as ALIENS.
In Alien, Ripley became the sole survivor, but it was not until ALIENS that she'd become *a warrior*. The commercial success of ALIENS meant not only countless copy-cat movies, but also that the decision-makers realized that females could be heroes as well. This paved way to Xena (1995), Buffy (1997), Alias (2001) and many others.
It is also notable how well ALIENS has aged: it is still as effective as when it premiered, mostly thanks to James Camerons perfectionism and innovativeness: if the technology for something he wanted did not exist, he'd invent it. Avatar proved he's also still *the best* director of heart-pounding action in the world: the way Aliens nails you to your seat when it gets going is matched only by Cameron's work in the Terminator movies. EMPIRE (UK) called ALIENS "the most exciting movie ever" and I dare you to counter that. They also managed to condense the essence of ALIENS in one hair-raising expression: "Oxygen-stifling". That's what I tried 20 years to come up with. That expression just nails it. There's an agonizingly tense build-up and when the s#it hits the fan you are almost unable to breath.
And if you want subtext, ALIENS has it (and you've probably read these also countless times, but I want to be thorough here): besides feminist views, the movie is also a clever allegory of the Vietnam war: the military might of America is overcome by the "inferior" enemy. "They're (only) animals!" screams a distressed Hudson (Bill Paxton in his best role ever). It also paints a never more relevant, highly alarming picture of the way huge multi-national corporations put profit above all else. And then there are the things that you probably don't notice, the subtle tricks like the scene where the Space Marines wake up from their cryogenic sleep and gather for a meal. In a *very* short span of time we get what is known as a textbook example of *brilliant* script-writing (ask any award-winning scriptwriter and he concurs): with minimalist strokes, characters are painted into fully realized personas - you *feel* that these characters are flesh and bone (exept for Bishop), not flat card-board cut-outs.
Of course I am biased, but try as a might, I cannot fault ALIENS. There's practically *everything* you could hope for: great characters, THE Most Scary Monster Ever (The Alien Queen), immortal dialog, action, suspense, plot twists, romance, bravura editing, a damn fine score (James Horner's music from ALIENS has been re-used in countless movie trailers) and even a cute kid that's *not* annoying! The Director's Cut even takes care of the (few) plot holes in the theatrical release. Final judgment: absolutely essential viewing for *everyone*. Best. Movie. Ever.