Some of you following may know that I recently started a new contract job as a travel nurse at a hospital in Athens, Georgia. What you probably don’t know is that nurses, like doctors, never really stop learning once they graduate. Every time I start a new assignment (this is my second), I have to take courses, to prove I know what the hell I’m doing. In the past year, I’ve probably taken over a hundred tests. Most of them the same. While I’m not complaining about it, the whole process is incredibly boring. Especially when you have an instructor covering the material, and they treat you like a nursing student.
How does all this pertain to James Cameron’s Aliens? This is how…
While sitting in class two weeks ago, on my last day, an instructor was insistent that it was more beneficial to pore over every detail in the lesson at her own pace. I wanted to beat my head against the wall ’till I drew blood. I was absolutely bored to tears, and thought, ‘Kill me.’
Upon having that thought, I immediately laughed. One of the other nurses next to me cast a sidelong glance, wondering what provided such mirth to her neighbor in a time of duress. It was Aliens. I immediately thought about the poor colonist cocooned on the wall, begging for her rescuers who had come too late to end her life.
Aliens is a fantastic movie through and through. And the Alien trilogy is one of the finest pieces of science fiction I’ve ever seen. The fourth film didn’t happen. It’s not cannon in my mind (neither is Gearbox’s Colonial Marines).
Each film has its strong suits, but Aliens is certainly the star in my mind. And that’s for so many reasons!
I only need to know one thing – where they are…
I can’t think of many films or shows that have life-like, genuinely strong female protagonists. Ellen Ripley is the embodiment of that. Hell, Private Jenette Vasquez is also amazing. Even though she’s a hard-as-nails chick, and has often been emulated or even copied in many games and movies since, there is a very human side to her. When the shit goes down, she loses her man, Private Mark Drake, and is willing to plunge head first into certain death in a desperate attempt to see if he’s alive. Vasquez is a woman who embodies the idea of what a marine should be – strong, cool under pressure, and absolutely loyal to her comrades. When the Colonial Marines get decimated after their first encounter with xenomorphs, she’s the only person willing to immediately go back into the hive and try to save her friends who were inadvertently left behind.
I love that throughout the film, we’re shown a handful of characters, and how they try to cope with this terrifying alien presence. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, the survivors have to try to figure out how they can hold out until help arrives. And throughout the film, things go from bad to worse, as the humans overestimate their opponents. This is apparent as we see the marines go from being cocky to downright terrified. Private William Hudson is a living example of this.
Hudson goes ape-shit.
Initially, we see him as arrogant and self-sure. Like the other marines, he believes the aliens to be nothing more than boogeymen. But as their existence and the threat they pose is confirmed, we see him struggle with that base instinct of fight or flight. Often providing comedic relief, his reactions are very real. In the end, Hudson makes a stand. It’s simultaneously hilarious, epic, and tragic, as it was revealed he had a mere four weeks until he was discharged. But such is life.
I could write a series of essays talking about how amazing this movie is. Maybe I will!
It’s so unlike anything out there. I’ve never seen such a realized universe, coupled with fascinating characters and an interesting story that blends elements of horror and action so seamlessly. At the heart of the tale is Ellen Ripley. As an audience, we had gone through the terror of Alien alongside her. The monsters she faces are smarter than average animals. That’s proven when they cut the power of the compound where the survivors are holed up. I think this film strips away all nuances of human nature and looks at our primal instincts. Ripley survived her past encounter due to luck and the ability to keep it together. We see that again in Aliens as she not only pulls it together to lead the motley crew of surviving marines, but to confront her fear. I can’t think of a more stirring scene as we see Ripley plunge head-first into the alien hive to find her adopted daughter, Newt. And in the film’s climax, we’re brought back to the little breadcrumb of knowledge subtly introduced at the start of the film – Ripley is a Power-loader operator. With her back against the wall, and her “child” threatened, Ripley relies on her wits and creativity to not only triumph, but give us one of the most memorable fights in cinema ever.
A few months back, Bailey (my step-son) tried to convince me that After Earth was good sci-fi. I laughed at the comment and told him, “When you’re a little bit older son, I’ll show you what good sci-fi is.”
I can’t think of a better example than this.
Signing off, thanks for the read! A moment of levity.
Until next time, dear reader!
-ty
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