The story was what felt like a second option, which still
regards the main plot as intense for the most part. I’ll explain what I mean by second option a
bit further down. I have seen this movie
enough times to know what I’m watching.
It’s an excuse to blow up aliens any way possible. I probably come off as harsh to the average
reader but you must hear me out for this one.
The movie is an action science fiction flick which will degrade nearly
any story when the word “action” pops up.
In my opinion I prefer the strength of story compared to some extra “boom
booms” as I like to call them. Precisely
placed action sequences can do amazing things for a movie but be weary of
getting hooked. I’d like to explain what
I thought would be a different approach to the story.
The
colony traces the exact time frame as the plot in the film dictates already but
the story would pick up with the colonists and how they live on LV-426 (nice
planet name, nerd alert). The setup
wouldn’t need to be too long to explain how the corporation is profiting off of
the colonists using their products to live on the barren planet (anyone’s dream
right?). Enter Carter Burke (Paul Reiser,
seriously how much do you hate his character in the movie?) to discover the
alien spacecraft and revisit it more thoroughly. A group of colonists, perhaps even led by
Burke, explore the unknown spacecraft to unlock the secrets that so baffle me
to this day. They find out what they
were, where they came from or how long the spacecraft has been on this
planet. Indeed, fascinating areas to which
you can draw such interesting story from.
Let’s unlock some origins of the aliens and discover their past. They eventually find the “face huggers” and
make contact while some deaths in the group occur, such as, someone trying to
rip a “face hugger” off a friend only to kill them. It’s similar to the first one but eventually
the group mostly gets “face hugged” while perhaps a few escape back to the
colony, with Burke. Burke flees the
planet as a coward while the aliens begin to grow in number off the
colonists. Enter Ellen Ripley (Sigourney
Weaver); she has been drifting for the said 57 years in space, when the
colonists find her beacon in space go to retrieve her back to the colony before
the danger gets out of hand. A portion
of the story has heart and attachments to characters, colonists, you like until
they get used as hosts for the aliens. A
distress call goes out from Ripley and the marines come to save the
colonists. They come to find almost all
missing except Ripley and perhaps a few others.
Burke comes back to take an alien to earth as originally intended. A similar story near the original script can
conclude the end, it’s the beginning that really needs fixing. How does that sound? The ladder half of the film can have some of
the action scenes whereas the former can build a suspense and history of these
aliens. I can clearly understand why
many people would deem my ideas for not as they most likely are entrenched in
what the movie is. A serious fan of
science fiction has to be willing to dig deeper for information of such an
unknown entity like an alien. I rest my
case on my own vanity for now. The second
option for the story is actually what they made. I feel they bypassed over a better option.
I will
move on now and choose the ending to start with since that’s the best part
anyway. As Ripley, Cpl. Dwayne Hicks
(Michael Biehn) and Bishop (Lance Henriksen) are trying to leave the complex its
good writing to see some feeling and emotion from Ripley. She had a little girl of her own, which fails
to be mentioned sadly, that drives her to try to rescue Newt. After being in hypersleep for so long she did
find out her daughter had died already.
It explains much to the attachment she has with Newt, not simply just
because there both females. The double
gun she created was classic, machine rifle with a flame thrower, how does that
not rule? You get to finally see the
“Queen Alien” which proves to be a truly classic moment for the film and
franchise. The scene in which Ripley
threatens the queen with the flamethrower to the eggs is diabolically evil. She commands the moment with that strong
role. It’s one of Sigourney Weaver’s
best performances. I like how she backs
off and torches the area anyway! The
mech-suit battle is short and sweet which is done well. The queen dies in a fashion to tribute to the
first film. I’ll say the final scenes
are engaging and of thrilling fashion. It
gives respect to the alien species that the only way to drop them is to blow
them into space, that’s power there.
The
beginning part of the movie builds slowly and with a raunchy group of grunt
soldiers. Why send mostly pea-brained
soldiers to investigate a potentially historic discovery of an alien
species? Where are the brains? The story centers on grunts that have lacking
vocabulary, including untimely and bothersome swearing. It moves along with too much bravado, you
actually can’t wait for the aliens to kill those guys. Generally you want to grow attached to the
hero element of a story but in this case it fails mostly. I did like how Ripley was distrusting of
Bishop for so much of the film; it creates tension from her previous experience
with androids. The acid blood seemed to
pick and choose when it would inflict fatal wounds. The acid sprays quite a few times and its
potency varies to a confusing point. Is
the acid actually that much of a variable in itself? Or is it used as a means to write off a
character from time to time? I just
answered my own question.
I
really have a true passion to know the history of the aliens and a sequel
should answer something, but it doesn’t.
The spacecraft which first stored them is also still a complete enigma
that begs to be explored in a way of storylines. The visuals and creature effects were fine
and nothing to complain about. Sigourney
Weaver does lead the cast well enough, especially at the end. I did hope for some more intriguing history
of the aliens in any way possible but get left with more action and explosion
scenes instead. This is one of the more
difficult films I’ve had to come up with a rating for. I know I sound like I’m ripping it terribly
but I still enjoyed it.
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