May 28, 2017
Say what you will about James Cameron, but he's got a pretty great track record as it relates to successful movies. Realistically speaking, I think he may be the most financially successful filmmaker of all time. His films, on a worldwide basis, have grossed $6 billion. Actually, now that I check my information, Spielberg is the most financially successful filmmaker of all time, as his movies have made a combined $9 billion. Cameron's is more impressive when you take into consideration the fact that he has made just SEVEN movies in his career. That's almost a billion per movie. Granted, those numbers are misleading considering that Titanic made $2.19 billion and Avatar made $2.78 billion. So more than half of those $6 billion is from just two movies, which is an insane statistic. Cameron has his faults as a filmmaker, but there's no denying he's always been at the forefront for innovation in special effects and new film techniques. But I digress, that's neither here nor there, I just felt like starting out with that. Having said all of that, on to this film. And I'm gonna start off with something that might be controversial to some, but Alien and Aliens is the greatest one-two punch in horror film franchise history. It might be controversial to some, but there's really no debate to me in any way, shape or form. And, yes, I am, in fact, including Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 in that discussion. I really liked Evil Dead, but I didn't think ever reached the great category. I felt that it fell just a little bit short of that. Evil Dead 2 is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, so there you have it. Having watched Alien a week and a half ago, I was aware that its sequel, this film, was a more action heavy affair when compared to the atmospheric and tense-filled original. I don't know why that, in my head, already created a scenario where this movie just wouldn't be as good as Alien. Just because a horror sequel (or any sequel for that matter) relies more on action than its first installment does not instantly make it a worse film. I think this is an assumption that most of us would, wrongly, make. It's not necessarily the most fair way to head into a movie. It really isn't. But, and I don't wanna say I was surprised, this film is pretty fucking great. While both films take place in the same universe, with the same lead character and the same villains, the similarities end there. The original was a more claustrophobic and contained experience. It built up dread through the usage of its atmosphere and the element of surprise, you never knew where the xenomorph would appear in. He could be in the next room, or in the air duct, or right above you. That made the xenomorph in the original seem more terrifying. This movie opens things up, taking place on terraformed colony where the alien eggs and facehugger were discovered in the first film. The film focuses on Ripley, duh, a group of colonial marines sent to investigate this colony (that has 60-70 families living in it) as no transmission has been received from them for a long time. I will say that the first half or so of the movie, maybe slightly less than half, is a slow-burn. Building up to the first appearance of the xenomorph. It's not a dread-filled as the original, but they do a good job regardless. I love that when the xenomorphs do appear, and the shit hits the fan for the marines, you're not exactly what happened, how it happened and who actually died. It's very disorienting. And I can imagine that, if I was in a wartime situation and the enemy took us by surprising, it'd feel similar to this. You really don't know what happened during and it's only after the fact, when you've had time to regroup and catch your breath, where you try to figure out what happened and how. And when the movie does get going, it really doesn't stop with its intensity and visceral attack on your sense. That's one of the many different things when compared to the original, the film is much more conventionally intense. The use of the word 'conventionally' might seem like a negative to some, but what I mean is the fact that they throw so much more at you than the original movie and it's pretty fucking great. The xenomorphs are still terrifyingly designed. But this is where I have some problems with the film. The xenomorphs are greatly designed and everything, but they're dispatched of so easily by the marines and Ripley that it takes some of their original effectiveness away from them. They still do some really cool stuff with them, like running through the air ducts, but some of the scare factor is taken away from them. Of course, the xenomorphs are really just the set-up for the queen, the one who's laying the eggs, and her eventual showdown with Ripley. And, really, the film is about one simple theme and that is motherhood. Ripley takes care of a little girl who survived the attack on her colony. She grows attached to her and, naturally, wants to protect her from these evil motherfuckers. The queen, on the other hand, is trying to protect her own children. Yes, these children are using the colonists as hosts to create more of these xenomorphs, but they're still her children. The climactic battle between the queen and Ripley boils down to that. The queen just wants revenge for Ripley's destruction of her eggs via flamethrower. She's not doing it just because, she's a pissed-off mother, just like Ripley is a pissed-off mother protecting Newt. The metaphor isn't subtle, but it is very well done. And Sigourney Weaver is tremendous here, she really fucking is. She was so great that she got an Academy Award nomination for her performance. Yes, Weaver got nominated for a HORROR movie. Well, a horror/action/war film, but still. This might be her best performance ever, though Weaver has always had a very strong track record. You know, I've always complained about the Resident Evil movies being more action than horror. What I mean by that is that they sacrifice the horror elements, there's nothing even close to remotely scary about those movies, in order to make a, more marketable, violent action flick. But this film proves that you can make a movie that's equal parts horror and action. Again, the xenomorphs are still greatly designed, which means that they would scare people and there's plenty of shooting and explosions in the film to satisfy action fans. THIS is how you combine these two genres and I'm surprised that the Resident Evil film franchise has learned absolutely nothing from this flick. Don't know what else to say about this movie. The cast is full of memorable characters, great action and great in-your-face horror. The debate will always be whether Alien or this movie is better. And, to me, there's no real debate to be had. I think both movies are equally as great for completely different reasons. But I can sort of see how some people who loved the original flick might hate this. Same thing with people who liked this but hated the original. Though I don't know how you can like this movie without liking the original, it pretty much set the ground for the franchise. It's just a shame that it was downhill for the franchise from this point on. At least until Prometheus, which people loved and hated, but at least it took risks. I've got the other two films with Ripley on my DVR. I'll watch them eventually, but I certainly don't expect them to compare with the first two films. With that said, I pretty much loved this fucking movie from beginning to end. This, along with The Thing and Evil Dead 2, are some of my favorite horror films from this decade. I would highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. Make sure you watch the original first, though. You don't really NEED to watch it, but it'd be a great idea watching them both back-to-back. Fucking great movie right here.
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