5 Reasons That Make ALIENS (Alien 2) the Best Sci-Fi Movie of All Time
The fifth is the most important one!
I will keep this short and sweet, so let’s get right into it.
1. Monster design
The aliens in this movie franchise are the best alien monsters ever created. No, this is not up for debate. Most aliens are either mildly transformed humanoids or arachnids. These are neither. They are something completely new.
These aliens, called Xenomorphs, have everything a scary alien needs.
Stealth, strength, teeth, sharp tail, another set of hidden jaws (essential, really), and they spit freaking acid. I mean, come on! Perfection.
There’s also an alien queen that commands them and lays eggs. Those eggs then produce another species of alien that “impregnates” their victims, making them hosts for baby aliens. Again, there is no bettering this recipe. Give up. You can’t.
H.R. Giger’s work that inspired the design is something special. Dark, slimy, and a blend of hi-tech and biology simultaneously. Again, a hit with no misses.
Aliens are scary. They lurk in the dark, hunt in packs, and are fast as hell. Check, check, check, and check. Oh, and they’re also intelligent and cunning. So there’s that. The odds of survival for anyone encountering them are slim to none, and the viewer knows this from the first minute it sees or senses their evil presence. There are a million ways to die at their hands, and as the original trailer for the first film said:
“In space, no one can hear you scream!”
2. Sounds and atmosphere
I have watched all the movies (understatement) and played almost all the games from the Aliens (and Aliens vs. Predator) franchise. In every one of them, the sounds were the same. They took me right back into that world.
They are as much a part of the Alien appeal as the designs themselves.
The cult-like sound of beeping on the motion detector used to haunt me in my dreams. The tiny footsteps of the suckers running around in the vents. The hissing or the hungry alien about to pounce on an unsuspecting victim.
And then there is the sweet sound of death emanating from those machine guns. They sound like nothing else! High-pitched, echoing sounds that, upon just hearing them, take you straight into the heart of battle. Even the way the doors open is so perfectly created it has become the default sound for anything that came after.
Aliens is set on a deserted base terraforming a desolate planet. Of course, everything happens at night, with indispensable rain and lightning ripping through the air. The sense of helplessness and a hostile environment full of deadly creatures is done to perfection.
"They mostly come at night... mostly." - Newt, Aliens
Yes, the CGI is shit by today’s standards, but forty years ago, it was out of this world! Creature effects, though, are still perfect and leave nothing to be desired. CGI will never beat good old costumes and physical models for those.
PS: Please stop with the CGI monsters! They suck! No exceptions.
3. Ripley is the ultimate female badass with mommy power
Sigourney Weaver was the queen alien slayer when it wasn’t popular to be a female badass. Nowadays, all skinny models with high hills are disposing of men thrice their size with effortless demeanor, but Ripley (Sigourney’s character) was a real woman.
She didn’t have superpowers. Just a big heart, perky nipples, and figurative balls the size of a planet. Oh, and a flamethrower! Talk about hot!
She starts as an ordinary girl, smart and kind of sexy, but not obviously so. Then, as the story progresses, she becomes more powerful through films. Yes, it was a bit too much in the later movies, but hell, the character progression demanded it or something.
Anyway, she is somewhat believable in that role.
You worry for her (in Alien and Aliens), emphasize and root for her survival and the rescue of that little girl Newt, who we all knew would give birth to an alien sooner or later (movie three). She was even likable. Imagine that. I’m looking at all the badass lead females of late.
"Get away from her, you bitch!" - Ripley, Aliens
Her strength came from her love. She was a motherly figure fighting to save a youngling against another maternal figure, only that of a whole murdering alien race. She prevails against impossible odds and with very little help, apart from the android named Bishop. She does it in a believable manner (for a movie about aliens), using a loader to stuff the mama alien down an airlock. Even the alien queen was a badass, and one could feel almost sorry for her. Almost. They used to make such good movies. Ah.
4. The world building
One of the things I appreciate about the Alien franchise is that it could be plausible in some distant future. Humanity ventures out into the galaxy, exploiting other planets, and encounters a hostile species. The aliens look suitably alien to us, like nothing that could or would even evolve on Earth. They look adapted to harsh conditions and are almost indestructible.
The structures and spaceships are properly alien in design and technology.
We later find the original engineers were a lot more human than these little pets of theirs, but the designs of the ships are pure visual perfection. Human and alien alike. I mean, who didn’t love that tank thingy from Aliens? Name one person. You can’t! It was epic (forty years ago).
The biological and technological design mix is done to perfection and is always shown in the dark. You see just enough to be scared and mesmerized simultaneously but not enough to go “meh.” James Cameron was a master of his craft, even back then.
"They're coming out of the goddamn walls!" - Hudson
The story of the Aliens is small and tight, just as a good horror film should be, but it lives in a vast universe full of endless possibilities. Everything we discover in Aliens merely hints at what is going on. Just enough to explain certain things and keep you interested but not enough to ruin the mystique.
Aliens (Alien 2) stands out from the rest of the movies in the franchise, as head and shoulders above in atmosphere and excitement. It was ahead of its time, while the newer entries were just in line with what we expected.
5. I was a kid when I saw it for the first dozen times
You might be wondering why I would include this point on the list. Well, because it makes all the difference! As kids, we experience everything for the first time and much more vividly. We get more frightened and excited when we listen to or watch new things.
A few decades later, we’ve seen it all and became a bit cynical. When I watch a great movie today (I can’t remember the last time), I am like: “Hm, that was nice. I had fun.” When my girlfriend asks me about it, I reply, “It was okay. Maybe even better than okay.”
How did you react when you first saw one of your favorite movies as a kid?
“Wow! That was insane! Best movie ever! Piev, piev. Let’s pretend to be this or that. I wanna see it again right now! Woohoo! I’m still shaking,” and you would talk to your friends about it for days, completely enamored by the experience. You would see them dozens of times, some even hundreds. Don’t lie! I know you did.
We all think the music we grew up with was the best, and that goes for all cultural things. So yes, the 90s were the best time to be young and alive, and it’s not even close! Which is only logical since I was a kid in the 90s.
I saw Aliens (the second movie) before Alien (the first). This simple fact could be what has elevated Aliens above all else for me. We, humans, are weird that way. I also saw Terminator 2 before the original and prefer it by far. I have just rewatched Predator 2, which I also saw before the original. Hm, I’m sensing a theme here.
"You can't see the eyes of the demon until him come callin'." - King Willie, Predator 2
With this embarrassing conclusion, I’m interested to find out what is your favourite sci-fi horror movie of all time?
Feel free to tell me in the comments. You won’t be changing my mind, but you might give me some ideas for a movie night, which would be more than welcome amid this modern dribble they dare to call movies but are CGI vomit.
IMDB link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/
Trailer:
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I don’t think anything can beat Aliens. It’s been a favorite of mine since forever. It’s a rare sequel that outshines the original, as well as others in the genre. Though I love the first movie too.