The actress who plays Vasquez, Jenette Elise Goldstein, is also the Irish mother in Titanic and John Connor's foster mother in Terminator 2. Damn, she had great range! A true chameleon. It blew my mind when I found out it was her in all three roles. It's a pity she has left acting behind.
One day she's all "Let's rock!" with a massive gun, the next she's sobbing about icebergs, and then she's making pancakes for the future savior of humanity.
Sigourney Weaver was nominated for a best actress Oscar for this in 1987. A couple of years ago, a high school in New Jersey decided to put on the first movie as their senior play. Weaver went to one of the performances and met with the students backstage afterwards.
He was also supposed to play the part of the Terminator. To make it up to him, Cameron made him an android in Aliens. He was also illiterate. He always had a friend help him remember everyone's lines in every script. He was quite remarkable.
What I like about Burke as a villain, is that he's not some calculating evil genius. He is, to quote Futurama, "A Monkey of medium intelligence, who wears a suit." He didn't intend to get the colony wiped out, he figured they'd find him an alien ship then he'd swoop in with his lawyers and claim everything for profit. Then he organises the mission to try and salvage the situation as a desperate hail Mary. Then he sicks the Facehuggers on Ripley and Newt, in another Hail Mary and then he runs away and locks the door on them when the Aliens attack. He's basically just smart enough to be a schemer, but really not smart enough to be any good at it.
@@weldonwin That actually embodies most "evil" in the world. Just smart enough to cause big shit but not smart enough to solve it... and greed as the driving force.
In a deleted scene in Aliens, that is in the extended cut, it is revealed that Ripley had a daughter about Newt’s age when she left on her mission in Alien. The daughter died during Ridley’s 57 years of hyper sleep. It really should have been left in the theatrical cut because it helps explain the instant motherly instincts Ripley has.
The theatrical release is actually better, because it doesn't have all the spoiling filler of newt & the colonists. Xytra scenes with remote guns are ok but unnecessary. and the "rRpley is a mother" is absolutely unneeded, and it's insulting that any civilian (or any human) would have to have a dead child to feel compassion for little girl. That's just bad writing.
You are full of crap. Motherly instinct is one thing. Promising to not leave her behind being so strong is another. There are a few reasons why knowing her daughter story is important. Definitely not bad writing.
Paul Reiser's performance as Burke doesn't get enough praise. In every previous role he had played a likeable everyman. In this film he perfectly encasulates a slimy, sleazy corporate yes-man and creates one of the most hated characters in cinematic history. Bravo!
The best part is that he starts off seemingly on Ripley's side. So he starts off likable, then reveals his true nature when the threat of the destruction of the colony came up.
Hicks was only able to break through the medical lab's window because Hudson, under an order from Hicks, had shattered/crazed/weakened it first with shots from his pulse rifle. Had Hudson not done this, Hicks would have comically--and very painfully--bounced off of the window.
@@Lorena75257 Granted, you are correct, but as I recall, Ames was mystified by how Hicks busted through that window, and I was reacting to her reaction. Another thing some reactors miss is Ripley's pulse rifle having been taken outside of the medical lab, out of her reach. I remember one (not Ames) yelling "Use your gun!" and another wondering where the gun was. Ripley knew where it was because she saw it, after having reached for it where *she* had left it in vain. Sometimes one misses even obvious things when one is talking (or closing one's eyes in some cases), as you know. Again, you are correct, normally this is all obvious (i.e. with one's mouth closed, eyes open, and watching intently instead of shooting a video to entertain others). I'm not trying to score points by stating the obvious, just letting the reactor know. Maybe I'm being overly defensive here. 😄
@@rbrtck ok, no personal at all. Other reactor are worst, they just talking a lot without pay atencion. Ames is cool. Regards, and sorry for my poor English. Cant not express myself correctly as I wish. Bye.
Al Matthews who plays Sgt Apone was a legit Nam era staff sergeant and drill instructor with a bunch of combat decorations - 13 in total including two purple hearts. He was the first black Marine in the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam to be meritoriously promoted to the rank of sergeant. His spiel when he is psyching up the marines, and a lot of his other dialogue, is basically straight ad-libbed, and it feels totally authentic because the man did it for a living. He passed away in 2018. Rest in power, sarge.
There were 158 colonists, one of whom survived, and some of whom whose chests haven't been burst yet, so there were up to 157 Xenomorphs by the end of the movie, and probably more than 100 any given point, plus the Queen. This is just to give us a rough idea.
The Alien Queen, a masterpiece of cinematic engineering, 3 man operate it and it is real, on screen effect, so it will never age !! That whole sequence vs the loader is just iconic !
It was for a long time the largest puppet ever to be used in cinema. Also, the full size power loader had a weightlifter inside it assisting in the movement of it. The aerials on the top of it were there to disguise the cables that supported it.
@@davidanderson1639 I've heard stories that the studio got calls from shipping firms after the release of the film, wanting to know if the exo-suits were real and where they could get them. A much-smaller version was displayed in functional prototype in Japan about a decade ago, with the aim of making it easier for caregivers, who were often older women, to more-easily move patients (Japan's willingness to pioneer a whole new field rather than let foreigners with medical training immigrate is a whole other discussion).
@@michaelccozens I think you only need to look at the work Boston Dynamics has been doing with its ‘Atlas’ range of robots to see where the inspiration came from. I love that as far back as 1986, people were looking to invest in technology; albiet tech that was fictional at the time, as a means to aid carers. I think when people think of mech suits etc, they immediately think Terminator. But the application of such technology is far beyond that of weapons.
The last 40 minutes of this film are the most heart-pounding experience I've ever had in a film. Saw it when it came out, and I was literally on the edge of my seat the last 40 minutes. Brilliant film.
The movie was hugely popular in Europe as well. I was stationed in England in the 90s and was exploring London, when I stumbled onto something amazing. In a lower level of a giant, underground shopping mall called the Trocadero, there was was a subway station that was disused. It had been bought by an entertainment group and they set it up as an “Aliens” themed experience. It started as a walking tour of the secure research facility studying the aliens and had real props from the movies; so cool. Half way through, the lights blew and emergency lights and a siren started, with an automated message to evacuate the facility. Gunfire from down a corridor blasted out to a shadow sequence of a marine being attacked by a xenomorph. Another space marine yelled for us to follow him. We were led into hive hallways, down grid catwalks with mist covered eggs underneath. We were hustled inside an escape shuttle but shadows of more aliens could be seen on the frosted windscreen. We were rushed back out to a freight elevator. The last guy in was snatched back out as the doors closed with alien hands wrapped around his face (actor, but still pretty cool.) When the back door opened, we all went running out screaming and laughing but shut up as we found ourselves back in the mall with stunned-looking shoppers staring at us. AWESOME!
What you're talking about was called _Alien War_ , I wanted so badly to go to it but pricey to travel to UK for it. There's a documentary about it on RUclips. You can see it here: ruclips.net/video/AXfkwyVW1_E/видео.html The Abandoned Alien War : A Total Reality Experience - London, UK | Expedition Extinct - Expedition Theme Park
Ellen Ripley is the perfect strong female lead. She isn’t perfect, she doesn’t have superpowers, she doesn’t know everything and she doesn’t win every battle but she doesn’t give up. She is a well written character that Hollywood needs to remember how to write
I am a ghostwriter for screenplays and whenever I write strong females I often think of Ripley and Sarah Conner's development from T1 through the end of T2.
I never get sick of this movie... it's far ahead of its time. The world building on this movie is off the charts... The movies these days, bad script, bad writing, bad characters, etc. I hardly watch any new movies these days...
I was 15 when this movie came out and it is one of my absolute favorites. I never get tired of watching it. I love the relationship Ripley has with both Newt and Corporal Hicks. Bill Paxton as Hudson really does have some great lines. The game over, man line is my favorite. I still miss him. Rest In Awesome, Bill.
@@DanJackson1977 Apparently there was concern that the original skull design wouldn't withstand the shoot, so they gave alien design a minor re-work to make it more durable whilst filming. Honestly, I kind of prefer the Aliens version with it's increased ridging. Gives it more of that industrial-organic vibe.
@Lue-Serenity 🤣. I always imagine Bill Paxton saying “game over, man!” in Titanic when he’s talking about what would happen if a window on the submersible broke, or when Lisa turns him into a turd in Weird Science!
Newt's brother, Timmy, was played by Carrie Henn's real-life brother. He was cut entirely from the theatrical version but he's in the extended cut. I do wonder if that ever came up when they were having a brother/sister spat. "At least *I* was in the movie people actually *saw*."
Yeah, I remember this scene. The weird thing is that Timmy calls his sister "Newt". "When Newt talks to Ripley later she says that the only person who addressed her as "Rebecca" (her real name) was her brother.
@@lionlyons yeah but it one of those things people do to piss you off like when parents call there kids "JOHNATHON" when telling them off but "Johnny" the rest of the time
Great reaction to a tremendous film. I'm glad you watched the theatrical release. The extended version is fine but to really feel the impact you need the pacing of the theatrical release.
The set dec really is amazing. Like when Ripley goes down to rescue Newt notice how all the pipes along the corridors are glowing orange-red hot because the reactor is overheated and on the verge of failure. Such a great little touch that takes people who really care about the details.
7:32, this movie has been beloved by sci-fi fans for decades. During a climatic battle in Season 6 of the space opera series The Expanse, a missions board was shown on the screen briefly. When you pause the video, the names Ripley and all of the Suloco crew were in the team roster. Expanse fans geeked out and were like "How can we lose with this crew?"
Thus is my all time favorite movie, I particularly love the scene where Hudson dies because despite him appearing to be a coward the whole time, when the chips were down he was a Marine and wasn't going down without a fight and was fairly effective, sorta let's you know why his fellow Marines put up with him wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
Also Lt Goreman's redemption arc. He failed as a leader, realized this, and followed Ripley and Hicks. When the situation got worse he wasn't going to leave his Marines behind.
Oh here we go. This is up there for me with The Godfather 2 in sequel status. That rare case where the sequel can hang with the original. And in this case, completely change genres. This ranks up there with Commando for one liners and catch phrases. Bill Paxton steals the show,
James Cameron got his start doing art, and, set direction for the notorious schlockmeister, Roger Corman, so, he knew exactly how to get the absolute most out his FX budget.
I saw this as a kid in ‘86 or ‘87. Soon became my favorite movie. Also, one of the few sequels I’ve seen without watching the first movie . . . well, first, lol!
James Cameron was a trucker and a set decorator before moving up to writer and director. He's often fascinated by the innerworkings of things. It's important to him that anything he draws can reasonably be constructed to work in the real world. This is also why he holds patents on the cameras built to allow for real-time visualization in Avatar, as well as the cameras that were able to go deep enough to get real footage of the Titanic.
Hell yeah, he's an engineer in a talented film directors' body. To what the other reply says, have you seen his documentary on going to the ocean floor ? They strapped a Rolex to the outside of his sub.
For Carrie Henn, who played Newt, this was her first and last acting role. She decided she wanted to become a teacher and that’s just what she did. She’s now an elementary teacher in California.
Some of the lore I've heard notes that, while Hudson and other Colonial Marines were contract (as Hudson notes), Vasquez and Drake (the other smart-gunner) were orphans/street kids sentenced to life in the Marines as an alternative to prison, like a kind of Foreign Legion. Helps explain the deeper bond they share and their generally-higher level of composure in the face of combat, and also why Vasquez isn't as worried about "buying it on [that] rock"; it's gonna happen on one rock or another anyway.
This is my favourite movie of all time - so quotable and reachable, scary and tense, tightly plotted, great characters, superb practical effects - you should try the Alien Isolation video game if you haven’t already :)
James Cameron got his start as a special effects guy in Roger Corman horror/slasher movies, and you can see the influence: his first few movies, The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, are basically well-written monster movies.
In a deleted scene Ripley encounters Burke again when she goes searching for Newt, he has been cocooned and tells Ripley it's inside him, she hands him a grenade and leaves him there
The late James Horner looked like he was going to cry when the producers yelled "icy cold insults" at him. His nail-biting music cues were used in countless movie trailers. His music score for The Amazing Spider-Man(2012) was very underrated.
A few points. 1) When the platoon is entering the hive, Cpl Hicks is not played by Michael Biehn. The role went to James Rehmar, from The Warriors. This was one of the first scenes shot, and James got busted on a drug charge very shortly after, so Michael was brought in hastily to finish the part. 2) Carrie Hehn had so much fun sliding down the chute when Weaver lost her grasp that they had to reshoot several times to get her to look and sound seriously terrified. 3) Sadly, Carrie Hehn picked up a British accent during filming and was so teased about it by other kids when she returned to the US that she never acted again. 4) Kudos to Lance Henriksen (Bishop). He fell through the cracks of the American educational system, and was illiterate for much of his adult life. IIRC, he learned to read well after he was 40. Pretty successful career for someone who couldn't read a script.
Great Reaction....... The "Batmobile" is based on a vehicle they use in underground commericial Mining...... Paul Reiser took his mom to the Premiere, She Cheered when Burke Died......
@@heffatheanimal2200For YEARS, I wondered what the vehicle was. It drove me crazy. I knew it wasn't custom made, but could never put my finger what Cameron used. When I found out, it was like, "YES! I *knew* it was something I'd seen before!"
11:31 This part I find most impressive. Ripley has spent 57 years in cryo-sleep. That means her skills have not undergone _any_ updates in almost six _decades._ That's like someone trying to hit the job market _today_ with skills and knowledge they obtained in _1967._ Look at all the technological innovations that have come along, since then. Either they would be due for retirement or they would be in desperate need of _retraining._ Now up to this point, I have been under the impression it has to be similar for _Ripley._ But son of a gun. Here we have an industrial piece of equipment (that looks a lot more advanced than anything they had on the _Nostromo)_ that she can still _operate._ Son a gun, her skills are _not_ out of date.
Honestly, there are some skill sets that don't age. Look at operating a lathe or mill. Heck, even welding. While there may be some new techniques, and the controls have gotten fancier, the underlying skills and techniques are still just as valid today as they were 120 years ago at the turn of the 19th century.
What a great ending to a great series. Definitely the best final movie in a franchise. Yep. Definitely no movies after this one. Finished perfectly. Awesome.
Lance Henriksen same as Steve Buscemi aren't beautiful by todays standards, but they are very beautiful in their way. Same with Sigourney. She isn't a model by any standards but she is somehow very beautiful.
Ames! I just wanted to comment on one aspect of your edit. I've watched this movie countless times with reactors, but your sense of humor was really appreciated. The aspect has to do with Bill Paxton (Hudson), who I thought was hilarious. It killed me how so many reactors were incensed by Hudson ... "shut up" ... "I hate him." Really? There are videos online with compilations of all of Hudson's lines (very similar to Jack O'Neill's hilarious lines in "Stargate - SG1). I loved how you left in so many of his lines, which brought humor to a lot of the scenes. You GOT it! :)
Seconded. Thank you for this, I was looking to see if I needed to post something similar. So many people find him frustrating; I find him absolutely hilarious. I was happy to see Ames enjoy him so much as well.
saw aliens 3 times in theaters, summer of 1986.. i was 12 years old, it scared the crap out of me ! and i loved every minute of it, sigourney weaver should've gotten an oscar for her awesome performance ..cameron is a genius and RIP stan winston, and compser james horner
I was always wondering what was Camerons reaction when he realized that was the case, considering his reputation of being rather difficult to work with. I like to imagine that he simply chuckled, muttering under his nose something like 'Damned kids' and than made a deal with Carrie.
@@marine1988marine Actually, that's allegedly pretty much exactly what happened. He probably cursed under his breath, then told Carrie if she was good and made a proper take she would get to play on the slide for the rest of the day. lol ...Or that's the story I've heard anyway. May or may not be accurate - who knows. But it's a good one, so why not believe it? :)
Ohhh my goodness I was so hoping this was the special edition. I wasn’t even aware this old version was still floating around. There is such a massive character beat missing in this one that changes *everything*. If you ever watch again, please check that version out. Studios often forced Cameron to cut his films short back in the 89’s and 90’s, but his movies are far better left their intended length. Love watching movies with you! Also, what a rad movie room! Thanks for sharing your cinematic journey!
Honestly I like the reveal of Newt and her backstory better in the theatrical release. Leaves more to the imagination. And I never bought the Ripley having a daughter thing.
@@c2ashman newt and ripley’s relationship was SO much more important in the full film. This version cheapens and simplifies their characters pretty horribly. As for T2, the extra scenes aren’t part of a director’s cut so much as just alternate takes. The theatrical version is definitely the best version. The Abyss however, was gutted though, the ending was erased completely, along with the only part of the plot that related to the aliens even being there. Baffling.
"Aliens" with more "Aliens" in it isn't exactly a bad thing, but out of all of Cameron's extended movies, this one suffered the least from the cuts I think. We already know Ripley has a very strong moral backbone - she went back for the fricken CAT for chrissakes in the first movie. The chance she'd leave a sweet little girl to get killed by monsters from outer space or nuked into smithereens was always exactly zero, and the theatrical cut works really well from that perspective. Sentry gun sequence is a cool few scenes, but is ultimately redundant because nothing actually changes by the end of those scenes. We also get to hear (from Ripley herself) that it was Burke who was the honch in the cushy office back on Earth that sent that message to go check a grid reference, putting the colonists in harm's way. And it doesn't actually add anything to the story to know that it was Newt's father who was "patient zero", so to speak... It is fun though to hear Hudson rant about all the weapons they're bringing. You can never get enough of Hudson ranting. :)
It's truly a masterpiece and between this Terminator 2 and Predator has wildly influenced pop culture for decades. Also giving us one of the best protagonists in all of cinema.
Aliens was produced by 20th Century Fox. In 2017, 21st Century Fox was bought out by Disney. Therefore, Ellen Ripley is the most badass Disney Princess ever. Ever.
Ripley is an epitome of true strength and it has nothing to do with superpowers, fearlesness or ability to hit harder than men. Despite of overwhelming odds, horrors that await her ahead and her own fear, she still presses on, solely focused on rescuing a helpless little girl. This is both inspiring and heartwarming, and also why her character will remain beloved for many decades to come, while all the slop 'strong whamen leads' that Hollywood has been pushing down our throats in recent years usually are forgotten by the time you return home from the cinema.
as long as you agree that it's ok to show a woman defeating a man, because for example there is a video here on youtube of a male marine losing to a female in grappling. Don't know if you're maga/incel but that group is the one that has a problem with women not being portrayed as weak. The main problem they had with Captain Marvel though was not "mary sue", but rather, because she said "we don't need old white men telling us what movies to watch" that's why they had a problem with her.
Ames has turned one of the most ennoying traits (talking during movies) into one of the coolest youtube channel concept, i really love her reactions, commentaries and smart anticipations! I just love her!
One time we saw this at a opera theatre with a live orchestra doing the score - and at the end James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver came out to take a bow 🤩
Good on you for remembering the Queen's acid-blood. Many if not most people totally forget and want Ripley to crush the Queen's head in the powerloader's grip, but that would not have ended well for Ripley.
40:12, Gorman was inexperienced and panicky. Which is why Burke and the company probably selected him for this mission. But he was always a Marine so I'm not surprised he went back for Vasquez. He couldn't save her but at least he died trying.
Your den with the posters, CDs and decorations says a lot about your devotion to these genres; and your intelligent, quick-on-the-uptake commentary along with your priceless body language shows how wrapped up in the movie you become, all of which is fun and often funny. You're very watchable. I laughed a lot.
RIP Bill Paxton... the only person to be killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator... legend.. 🤘 also.. Paul Reiser's (Burke) mom was so mad at his character that she was mad at him for playing the role 😅
Missed seeing this the theater back in 6th Grade and didn’t get to see it on tape until moving to the states and getting Blockbuster Video Membership. Then when they started renting DVDs I rented it again and made a DVD-R copy for myself. BTW until last week I was taking care of my very own Jonesy orange tabby cat. I rescued him last year in bad shape and I was still nursing him to health. I slipped-up monitoring his health because my mom got diagnosed with cancer and so our family life has been turned upside-down. I failed to notice a severe flea infestation on the cat. He died of respiratory arrest due to severe anemia at the vet clinic’s ICU less than a day after he was admitted. Now I can’t watch this movie without remembering ol’ “Healthcliff.”
Not her but brie Larson sure did after she got to be captain marvel. Ripley, Sara conner, Mila Jovovich, I could keep going all these actresses did it and they did it amazing. I don't really remember newer movies anymore, but I can still say lines from a ton of older movies.
@@jamesward3859 Lawrence on the significance of her role playing protagonist Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games": "I remember when I was doing 'Hunger Games,' nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work - because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."
Ripley destroys the argument that men don't like female leads in action movies. She has been a fan favorite and celebrated for 40 years. She wasn't magically stronger than all the men, wasn't exponentially smarter than them, and didn't walk through things without breaking a sweat. She was terrified, yet did what was necessary in the moment. She was human. She has been and always will be the gold standard for ass kicking in space.
Men who feel threatened by female leading characters in movies are really just misogynist jerks, they're not actually men at all. Real men don't hate and fear capable women, or even women in general for that matter. Hicks: real man. Raging dudebro: not a man.
11:00 - I remember watching/reading an interview with an actual engineer shortly after this movie came out. They were talking about how close we were to being able to make various things in the movie. He said the one thing separating many technologies we see in sci-fi and reality was battery technology. Then he said a fully functional loader, as shown in this movie, could be built using modern technology (and this was in the late 80's), but it would have to have a power cable attached to the wall.
11:29 Besides the "Get away from her" line, this is my favorite thing in the entire Alien movie storyline. The laughter afterward from Apone and Hudson: deeeeep respect for Ripley.
1. Michael Biehn/Hicks played Reese in Terminator as did Bishop/Lance Henriksen as the assistant police chief, and Bill Paxton played the blue hair punk. 2. Am I the only one thinking that maybe they're so cheap that they sent her back out hoping she isn't going to collect her back pay. 57 years is a shitload of Benjamins. They totally screwed her. 3. Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen are the only two actors to have their characters killed in the "Alien", "Terminator" and "Predator" series. . 4. Possibly the best dialogue in the movie: Hudson, "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?" Vasquez, : "No have you?"🤣 5. Much of Bill Paxton's dialogue was ad-lib. RIP Bill😇 He was Chet in "Weird Science" 6. IRL Paul Riser's mom during a preview viewing actually stood up and cheered when his character Burke got his. 7. Carrie Henn/Newt after this movie her nickname became SCREAM. 8. Mom VS Mom. Don't piss off momma🤬🤬 For a "Billy-Bad-Ass" woman, if you haven't already, check out "Terminator II, Judgment Day"'. Sarah Connor.
They were all contracted personnel, likely the contract would run just for one shipment - that's what it sounds like from listening to their dialogue in the first movie. So when the ship reached destination port, the contract would have run its course - and since it never did that, there's likely a contract that dissolves the contract should the ship be lost for some reason as well. Weyland-Yutani doesn't sound like a very nice employer...
This movie and Terminator 2 are awesome examples of how to make movies about a “strong female character”. Modern movie makers don’t seem to understand what makes Ripley and Sarah Connor great heroes.
You first saw it as a little kid? Yikes! I first saw Alien when it came out, with my older brother, in the theater. I was 14, I think. I was transported by that film...full immersion, as you can imagine! How "little", you poor thing? Aimes, you are sweetest and the best, so seeing Aliens way back then obviously didn't adversely effect you.
I'm sure the powerloader is heavily weighted with lead ballast in its "feet" (if it were real), much like how even small forklifts have literally tons of ballast to help keep them from falling over. So the powerloader is even heavier than it looks, and the Queen was pinned.
Aliens is a good candidate for the best James Cameron movie. In terms of everything, design, character, storytelling, sound design, soundtrack and special effect, it's mostly perfect. It's what people wished Avatar 1 and 2 was but really are not. It's also a good candidate for top 5 or 10 best sequel in all of cinema cause it doesn't take anything from the first movie who is a masterpiece in his own right, but add and explore the universe...The best sequels do that ! Also i feel it influence a lot the idea of the space marine outside of the style of Warhammer 40K. It gives another idea of it.
James Cameron made two of the best horror sequels of all time. Both this and T2 are spectacular sequels that build perfectly on the original, and successfully pivot into a more action oriented experience, in a really natural feeling way.
Gorman went catatonic way easier than Newt did, and I think this was his comeuppance for having been so callous to her earlier. Who's the one with brain-lock now? It's fitting that he would spend the bulk of the movie unconscious. Not that he was a bad guy at all, but he definitely needed an attitude adjustment.
_"This is clearly an important species we're dealing with and we don't have the right to just arbitrarily exterminate it!"_ - highly educated, compassionate people on the right side of history when watching "Starship Troopers" ;)
Originally, the Xenomorph lifecycle was supposed to have been rather different, but the original movie didn't go very deeply into it, and Cameron thought it made more sense for them to be more like social insects, with a queen who laid all of the eggs. Some fans (only a vocal minority) oppose this and consider his Xenomorphs a different subspecies, but no, they're supposed to be the same ones. Cameron just saw how many eggs there were in the original movie, and tried to make more sense out of everything, which I think he did. And of course it made for the perfect excuse to create literally the mother of all Xenomorphs, the Queen herself!
I love, love, love this film! I saw it at the cinema 6 times when it came out! AND, I saw the original Alien at the Drive-In Movies when I was about 7!! My mother tried to cover my eyes on the "famous" scene, but I could still see through her fingers, so that was all good!! Hahahaha! Happy days. Great reaction, and still I think my go to favourite film..........(at least in my top 5!) xxooxx
Although I think OG 'Alien' is a better movie, 'Aliens' is still my favorite of them. The writing & acting gave us so many memorable characters and quotes. I'd time travel to observe the making of this movie if I could. Looking forward to your watch of it.
wow I didnt know you have not watched this. I've watched it too many times to admit it. The practical effects are just so good, you can rewatch it and it's still holds up.
"...Everything is built and not CGI, so it feels more tactile and more real..." You said it. It's always great to remind ourselves that every movie made before the mid 90s, when CGI really took off, is, in a very real sense, a documentary. You're seeing something that actually occurred in physical space. Even in a movie such as Star Wars, the ships you see flying around are actual physical objects. The shark in Jaws is an actual physical object that the actors are reacting to. We are in awe when we watch Lawrence of Arabia because we know that we're witnessing a recording of an actual, physical event: Those thousand horses and camels racing across the desert were actually there, actually racing across the desert. Now, almost nothing is real. And that's a loss.
Hi Ames, it's awesome you've seen this superb sequel :) I loved your reactions to Alien & Aliens. This movie is amazing and one of the best sequels ever! As is Terminator 2... Please react to that soon.
Great film! It looks like you had the Theatrical Cut. The Extended Cut is a must watch. The extra scenes add more context on Ripley's daughter and Newt's family before the xenomorphs are discovered.
Little bit of production trivia: those two big guns that Vasquez and her buddy WHN wore, were actual StediCam harnesses. They just put big guns on the end of the arm where the movie camera would normally go. They are designed to support the weight of the camera and give the operator total freedom of movement, to be able to isolate the camera from their movement so it doesn't shake while they walk/run/go up or down stairs, etc. Having them in that scene is a fun way to show off how brilliant an invention they are for filmmaking, without us knowing that's what they are.
@@holddowna If you read the novel or listen to the audio drama 'River of Pain' it really puts into perspective Newt's reaction and how Ripley reacts to her.
The actress who plays Vasquez, Jenette Elise Goldstein, is also the Irish mother in Titanic and John Connor's foster mother in Terminator 2.
Damn, she had great range! A true chameleon. It blew my mind when I found out it was her in all three roles. It's a pity she has left acting behind.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
you missed the Lethal weapon films
Near Dark has almost everyone from Aliens in it.
@@shanefrance2158 I popped my black cherry on the Lethal Weapon films.
One day she's all "Let's rock!" with a massive gun, the next she's sobbing about icebergs, and then she's making pancakes for the future savior of humanity.
Sigourney Weaver was nominated for a best actress Oscar for this in 1987. A couple of years ago, a high school in New Jersey decided to put on the first movie as their senior play. Weaver went to one of the performances and met with the students backstage afterwards.
You can watch the whole performance on RUclips!
Queen takes Bishop!
LOL, 37 years of watching this film and that's the first time I've heard that. Brilliant
@@Jeff_Vader I wish i could take the credit for that one, but I saw it on a t shirt online. :)
@@joek468 Bravo🤣👏👍
Good one!
@@joek468Still, first time I ever saw it in reference to this movie.
I can't tell you how many times I've watched this movie but it's at least 100 times, no exaggeration, and it never, ever gets old. Perfect filmmaking.
Lance Henriksen, who played Bishop wrote an autobiography called "Not bad, for a Human".
Are you kidding or did he ? I love him for filming that knife scene half-drunk once.
@@potterj09 He did.
He showed up here in Louisville Kentucky for a premiere of a small indie movie he played in, and fixed the small theater's only toilet! Whatta guy!
Legend working actor!@@AlanCanon2222
He was also supposed to play the part of the Terminator. To make it up to him, Cameron made him an android in Aliens. He was also illiterate. He always had a friend help him remember everyone's lines in every script. He was quite remarkable.
Paul Reiser was so good at playing the villain Burke that when his own mother saw the movie for the first time, she cheered when his character died.
What I like about Burke as a villain, is that he's not some calculating evil genius. He is, to quote Futurama, "A Monkey of medium intelligence, who wears a suit." He didn't intend to get the colony wiped out, he figured they'd find him an alien ship then he'd swoop in with his lawyers and claim everything for profit. Then he organises the mission to try and salvage the situation as a desperate hail Mary. Then he sicks the Facehuggers on Ripley and Newt, in another Hail Mary and then he runs away and locks the door on them when the Aliens attack. He's basically just smart enough to be a schemer, but really not smart enough to be any good at it.
@@weldonwin Nor smart enough to survive.
@@weldonwin That actually embodies most "evil" in the world. Just smart enough to cause big shit but not smart enough to solve it... and greed as the driving force.
Wonder how that felt. She was sitting right next to him, cheering when he "died".
In a deleted scene in Aliens, that is in the extended cut, it is revealed that Ripley had a daughter about Newt’s age when she left on her mission in Alien. The daughter died during Ridley’s 57 years of hyper sleep. It really should have been left in the theatrical cut because it helps explain the instant motherly instincts Ripley has.
The cool thing is that you get to play this daughter (Amanda) in _Alien: Isolation_ .
@@lionlyons That game is still the absolute GOAT of all Aliens franchise games.
The theatrical release is actually better, because it doesn't have all the spoiling filler of newt & the colonists. Xytra scenes with remote guns are ok but unnecessary. and the "rRpley is a mother" is absolutely unneeded, and it's insulting that any civilian (or any human) would have to have a dead child to feel compassion for little girl. That's just bad writing.
You are full of crap. Motherly instinct is one thing. Promising to not leave her behind being so strong is another. There are a few reasons why knowing her daughter story is important. Definitely not bad writing.
@@tooluser@mauro.biglino & the 5Th kind channels before @ Clif high El of a situation & Symptoms videos.
Bill Paxton R.I.P. The only man in cinematic history to be killed by a Terminator, Xenomorph, and a Predator. What a legend
He wasnt killed by the terminator, he ran away, the other guy was killed
LOL loved that guy....
@@DeterminedJellyfish he had is heart ripped out.
I thought he was killed offscreen after his Captain was killed.
…Lance Henricksen, kinda?
Paul Reiser's performance as Burke doesn't get enough praise. In every previous role he had played a likeable everyman. In this film he perfectly encasulates a slimy, sleazy corporate yes-man and creates one of the most hated characters in cinematic history. Bravo!
His own mother that he took to the premiere even wanted Burke to die in the movie.
The best part is that he starts off seemingly on Ripley's side. So he starts off likable, then reveals his true nature when the threat of the destruction of the colony came up.
Hicks was only able to break through the medical lab's window because Hudson, under an order from Hicks, had shattered/crazed/weakened it first with shots from his pulse rifle. Had Hudson not done this, Hicks would have comically--and very painfully--bounced off of the window.
Obviously
@@Lorena75257 Not so much when one is reacting and commenting, and thereby might have missed some of what happened.
@@rbrtck yea, I know. Just so obvious still.
@@Lorena75257 Granted, you are correct, but as I recall, Ames was mystified by how Hicks busted through that window, and I was reacting to her reaction. Another thing some reactors miss is Ripley's pulse rifle having been taken outside of the medical lab, out of her reach. I remember one (not Ames) yelling "Use your gun!" and another wondering where the gun was. Ripley knew where it was because she saw it, after having reached for it where *she* had left it in vain. Sometimes one misses even obvious things when one is talking (or closing one's eyes in some cases), as you know.
Again, you are correct, normally this is all obvious (i.e. with one's mouth closed, eyes open, and watching intently instead of shooting a video to entertain others). I'm not trying to score points by stating the obvious, just letting the reactor know. Maybe I'm being overly defensive here. 😄
@@rbrtck ok, no personal at all. Other reactor are worst, they just talking a lot without pay atencion.
Ames is cool.
Regards, and sorry for my poor English. Cant not express myself correctly as I wish. Bye.
Al Matthews who plays Sgt Apone was a legit Nam era staff sergeant and drill instructor with a bunch of combat decorations - 13 in total including two purple hearts. He was the first black Marine in the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam to be meritoriously promoted to the rank of sergeant. His spiel when he is psyching up the marines, and a lot of his other dialogue, is basically straight ad-libbed, and it feels totally authentic because the man did it for a living. He passed away in 2018. Rest in power, sarge.
There were 158 colonists, one of whom survived, and some of whom whose chests haven't been burst yet, so there were up to 157 Xenomorphs by the end of the movie, and probably more than 100 any given point, plus the Queen. This is just to give us a rough idea.
CRAZY!
The Alien Queen, a masterpiece of cinematic engineering, 3 man operate it and it is real, on screen effect, so it will never age !! That whole sequence vs the loader is just iconic !
It was for a long time the largest puppet ever to be used in cinema. Also, the full size power loader had a weightlifter inside it assisting in the movement of it. The aerials on the top of it were there to disguise the cables that supported it.
The practical effects in this was amazing.
@@davidanderson1639 I've heard stories that the studio got calls from shipping firms after the release of the film, wanting to know if the exo-suits were real and where they could get them. A much-smaller version was displayed in functional prototype in Japan about a decade ago, with the aim of making it easier for caregivers, who were often older women, to more-easily move patients (Japan's willingness to pioneer a whole new field rather than let foreigners with medical training immigrate is a whole other discussion).
@@michaelccozens I think you only need to look at the work Boston Dynamics has been doing with its ‘Atlas’ range of robots to see where the inspiration came from. I love that as far back as 1986, people were looking to invest in technology; albiet tech that was fictional at the time, as a means to aid carers.
I think when people think of mech suits etc, they immediately think Terminator. But the application of such technology is far beyond that of weapons.
The last 40 minutes of this film are the most heart-pounding experience I've ever had in a film. Saw it when it came out, and I was literally on the edge of my seat the last 40 minutes. Brilliant film.
The movie was hugely popular in Europe as well. I was stationed in England in the 90s and was exploring London, when I stumbled onto something amazing.
In a lower level of a giant, underground shopping mall called the Trocadero, there was was a subway station that was disused. It had been bought by an entertainment group and they set it up as an “Aliens” themed experience.
It started as a walking tour of the secure research facility studying the aliens and had real props from the movies; so cool. Half way through, the lights blew and emergency lights and a siren started, with an automated message to evacuate the facility.
Gunfire from down a corridor blasted out to a shadow sequence of a marine being attacked by a xenomorph. Another space marine yelled for us to follow him. We were led into hive hallways, down grid catwalks with mist covered eggs underneath. We were hustled inside an escape shuttle but shadows of more aliens could be seen on the frosted windscreen. We were rushed back out to a freight elevator. The last guy in was snatched back out as the doors closed with alien hands wrapped around his face (actor, but still pretty cool.) When the back door opened, we all went running out screaming and laughing but shut up as we found ourselves back in the mall with stunned-looking shoppers staring at us. AWESOME!
That's amazing, I wish I could experience this!
What you're talking about was called _Alien War_ , I wanted so badly to go to it but pricey to travel to UK for it.
There's a documentary about it on RUclips. You can see it here: ruclips.net/video/AXfkwyVW1_E/видео.html
The Abandoned Alien War : A Total Reality Experience - London, UK | Expedition Extinct - Expedition Theme Park
7:09, Jonesy is like "Do you see me packing any bags. I got 9 lives. But once was enough "
Ellen Ripley is the perfect strong female lead. She isn’t perfect, she doesn’t have superpowers, she doesn’t know everything and she doesn’t win every battle but she doesn’t give up. She is a well written character that Hollywood needs to remember how to write
There's only one female protagonist more badass than Ripley, Charlie from The Long Kiss Goodnight. Sincerely, check it out.
So basically she's not Eleven from Stranger Things? 😂
@@locastmincer[cough] Sarah Connor [cough]
Or maybe she’s just a great character and what’s between her legs is the least important thing about her
I am a ghostwriter for screenplays and whenever I write strong females I often think of Ripley and Sarah Conner's development from T1 through the end of T2.
I never get sick of this movie... it's far ahead of its time. The world building on this movie is off the charts... The movies these days, bad script, bad writing, bad characters, etc. I hardly watch any new movies these days...
I totally agree .. on all those points!
Ellen Ripley IS one of most badass characters in Cinema history!
I was 15 when this movie came out and it is one of my absolute favorites. I never get tired of watching it. I love the relationship Ripley has with both Newt and Corporal Hicks. Bill Paxton as Hudson really does have some great lines. The game over, man line is my favorite. I still miss him. Rest In Awesome, Bill.
Alien design was based on H.R. Giger artwork. He was adamant about not giving the Aliens eyes. "So you can't tell what they are thinking" he said.
Yet the original alien design did have a skull with eye sockets under the "hood"... it's even in the 1979 Alien toy.
@@DanJackson1977yes but the sockets weren’t prominently featured and they also lack eyeballs.
@@DanJackson1977 Yes, also H.R. Giger's drawing "Necronom IV", which the design is based on, had eyes.
They got the basic look from a small sea creature, crustacean type thing. Phronima
@@DanJackson1977 Apparently there was concern that the original skull design wouldn't withstand the shoot, so they gave alien design a minor re-work to make it more durable whilst filming. Honestly, I kind of prefer the Aliens version with it's increased ridging. Gives it more of that industrial-organic vibe.
"Game over, game over man" 😂 LOL
@Lue-Serenity 🤣. I always imagine Bill Paxton saying “game over, man!” in Titanic when he’s talking about what would happen if a window on the submersible broke, or when Lisa turns him into a turd in Weird Science!
Newt's brother, Timmy, was played by Carrie Henn's real-life brother. He was cut entirely from the theatrical version but he's in the extended cut. I do wonder if that ever came up when they were having a brother/sister spat. "At least *I* was in the movie people actually *saw*."
Yeah, I remember this scene. The weird thing is that Timmy calls his sister "Newt". "When Newt talks to Ripley later she says that the only person who addressed her as "Rebecca" (her real name) was her brother.
@@lionlyons yeah but it one of those things people do to piss you off like when parents call there kids "JOHNATHON" when telling them off but "Johnny" the rest of the time
And she's not "English". Just soaked up the accent while filming in England. 😊💜
Great reaction to a tremendous film. I'm glad you watched the theatrical release. The extended version is fine but to really feel the impact you need the pacing of the theatrical release.
The set dec really is amazing. Like when Ripley goes down to rescue Newt notice how all the pipes along the corridors are glowing orange-red hot because the reactor is overheated and on the verge of failure. Such a great little touch that takes people who really care about the details.
7:32, this movie has been beloved by sci-fi fans for decades.
During a climatic battle in Season 6 of the space opera series The Expanse, a missions board was shown on the screen briefly.
When you pause the video, the names Ripley and all of the Suloco crew were in the team roster. Expanse fans geeked out and were like "How can we lose with this crew?"
Well I mean...Ripley, Hicks, and Newt were the only survivors with the rest of the crew being killed, so you absolutely could lose with that crew.
Good one, Ames! I haven't seen this in ages. It was fun rewatching it with you. Newt was so cute! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Thanks for watching TAS!!!! Newt is the cutest!!!!!! Glad to see ya here!
Those Reebok shoes she had on her feet when she was in the loader sold out immediately. I still have my old pair with the box.
Ripley is a believable bad-ass, and that's what makes her such an iconic character.
Thus is my all time favorite movie, I particularly love the scene where Hudson dies because despite him appearing to be a coward the whole time, when the chips were down he was a Marine and wasn't going down without a fight and was fairly effective, sorta let's you know why his fellow Marines put up with him wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
Also Lt Goreman's redemption arc. He failed as a leader, realized this, and followed Ripley and Hicks. When the situation got worse he wasn't going to leave his Marines behind.
Yep mad respect@@gabrielrodriguez821
Oh here we go. This is up there for me with The Godfather 2 in sequel status. That rare case where the sequel can hang with the original. And in this case, completely change genres.
This ranks up there with Commando for one liners and catch phrases. Bill Paxton steals the show,
Game over man!
On your next viewing, watch the extended version! Super worth it. One of my favourite films of all time, thanks for sharing!
James Cameron got his start doing art, and, set direction for the notorious schlockmeister, Roger Corman, so, he knew exactly how to get the absolute most out his FX budget.
Considering the money wasted on today's Flopbusters, let Roger Corman loose on a current movie project!
Roger Corman is 97 as of 2024 and still involved in the industry! If anyone could be described as a "legend" it's him.
..not anymore 😕
I saw this as a kid in ‘86 or ‘87. Soon became my favorite movie. Also, one of the few sequels I’ve seen without watching the first movie . . . well, first, lol!
Weak men will say this is a WOKE movie. Women can't be heros
James Cameron was a trucker and a set decorator before moving up to writer and director. He's often fascinated by the innerworkings of things. It's important to him that anything he draws can reasonably be constructed to work in the real world. This is also why he holds patents on the cameras built to allow for real-time visualization in Avatar, as well as the cameras that were able to go deep enough to get real footage of the Titanic.
He's also an oceanographer as well.
Hell yeah, he's an engineer in a talented film directors' body. To what the other reply says, have you seen his documentary on going to the ocean floor ? They strapped a Rolex to the outside of his sub.
@@potterj09 Aliens of The Abyss. Haven't seen it but I've heard it's amazing.
For Carrie Henn, who played Newt, this was her first and last acting role. She decided she wanted to become a teacher and that’s just what she did. She’s now an elementary teacher in California.
Still Friends with Sig...long life ive heard.
Pvt. Vásquez is an awesome character
Jenette Goldstein was in Terminator 2 and Titanic with James Cameron.
Also became a TV trope. "Vasquez always dies", because of propensity for hard-fighting latina chicks in action movies to get killed.
She now owns a bra-fitting company! " *Jenette Bras - The Alphabet Starts at 'D'* " -- Vásquez really lookin out for the homies 🥲
Some of the lore I've heard notes that, while Hudson and other Colonial Marines were contract (as Hudson notes), Vasquez and Drake (the other smart-gunner) were orphans/street kids sentenced to life in the Marines as an alternative to prison, like a kind of Foreign Legion. Helps explain the deeper bond they share and their generally-higher level of composure in the face of combat, and also why Vasquez isn't as worried about "buying it on [that] rock"; it's gonna happen on one rock or another anyway.
She was also in Near Dark with Bill Paxton
This is my favourite movie of all time - so quotable and reachable, scary and tense, tightly plotted, great characters, superb practical effects - you should try the Alien Isolation video game if you haven’t already :)
James Cameron got his start as a special effects guy in Roger Corman horror/slasher movies, and you can see the influence: his first few movies, The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, are basically well-written monster movies.
Ripley wasn't just facing her fear, she wanted to annihilate those Xenomorphs, as they came to be known.
That is also true!
In a deleted scene Ripley encounters Burke again when she goes searching for Newt, he has been cocooned and tells Ripley it's inside him, she hands him a grenade and leaves him there
The late James Horner looked like he was going to cry when the producers yelled "icy cold insults" at him. His nail-biting music cues were used in countless movie trailers. His music score for The Amazing Spider-Man(2012) was very underrated.
A few points.
1) When the platoon is entering the hive, Cpl Hicks is not played by Michael Biehn. The role went to James Rehmar, from The Warriors. This was one of the first scenes shot, and James got busted on a drug charge very shortly after, so Michael was brought in hastily to finish the part.
2) Carrie Hehn had so much fun sliding down the chute when Weaver lost her grasp that they had to reshoot several times to get her to look and sound seriously terrified.
3) Sadly, Carrie Hehn picked up a British accent during filming and was so teased about it by other kids when she returned to the US that she never acted again.
4) Kudos to Lance Henriksen (Bishop). He fell through the cracks of the American educational system, and was illiterate for much of his adult life. IIRC, he learned to read well after he was 40. Pretty successful career for someone who couldn't read a script.
Great Reaction.......
The "Batmobile" is based on a vehicle they use in underground commericial Mining......
Paul Reiser took his mom to the Premiere, She Cheered when Burke Died......
Close. it was built on a Hunslet ATT77 Air Towing Tractor
Nope. It's built from a Hunslet ATT77 heavy aircraft tug. All the "internal" scenes were shot in a studio set.
@@heffatheanimal2200For YEARS, I wondered what the vehicle was. It drove me crazy. I knew it wasn't custom made, but could never put my finger what Cameron used.
When I found out, it was like, "YES! I *knew* it was something I'd seen before!"
11:31 This part I find most impressive. Ripley has spent 57 years in cryo-sleep. That means her skills have not undergone _any_ updates in almost six _decades._ That's like someone trying to hit the job market _today_ with skills and knowledge they obtained in _1967._
Look at all the technological innovations that have come along, since then. Either they would be due for retirement or they would be in desperate need of _retraining._
Now up to this point, I have been under the impression it has to be similar for _Ripley._ But son of a gun. Here we have an industrial piece of equipment (that looks a lot more advanced than anything they had on the _Nostromo)_ that she can still _operate._ Son a gun, her skills are _not_ out of date.
She says she's been working at the loading dock because her license got pulled, so presumably she's had recent training.
Honestly, there are some skill sets that don't age. Look at operating a lathe or mill. Heck, even welding. While there may be some new techniques, and the controls have gotten fancier, the underlying skills and techniques are still just as valid today as they were 120 years ago at the turn of the 19th century.
Thank God Jennifer Lawrence paved the way for strong female leads.
The sarcasm is strong with this one.
What a great ending to a great series. Definitely the best final movie in a franchise. Yep. Definitely no movies after this one. Finished perfectly. Awesome.
Ames: ew gross his ugly robot makeup!
Lance Henriksen: 😢
Oh no, Lance!
Lance Henriksen same as Steve Buscemi aren't beautiful by todays standards, but they are very beautiful in their way. Same with Sigourney. She isn't a model by any standards but she is somehow very beautiful.
Nooo his robot makeup isn't gross, it's awesome! It's also very low budget and easy to apply.
Ames! I just wanted to comment on one aspect of your edit. I've watched this movie countless times with reactors, but your sense of humor was really appreciated. The aspect has to do with Bill Paxton (Hudson), who I thought was hilarious. It killed me how so many reactors were incensed by Hudson ... "shut up" ... "I hate him." Really? There are videos online with compilations of all of Hudson's lines (very similar to Jack O'Neill's hilarious lines in "Stargate - SG1). I loved how you left in so many of his lines, which brought humor to a lot of the scenes. You GOT it! :)
Seconded. Thank you for this, I was looking to see if I needed to post something similar. So many people find him frustrating; I find him absolutely hilarious. I was happy to see Ames enjoy him so much as well.
saw aliens 3 times in theaters, summer of 1986.. i was 12 years old, it scared the crap out of me ! and i loved every minute of it, sigourney weaver should've gotten an oscar for her awesome performance ..cameron is a genius and RIP stan winston, and compser james horner
Obligatory: Newt's actress kept flubbing the scene where she slides down the chute on purpose because "weeee!"
I was always wondering what was Camerons reaction when he realized that was the case, considering his reputation of being rather difficult to work with. I like to imagine that he simply chuckled, muttering under his nose something like 'Damned kids' and than made a deal with Carrie.
@@marine1988marine Actually, that's allegedly pretty much exactly what happened. He probably cursed under his breath, then told Carrie if she was good and made a proper take she would get to play on the slide for the rest of the day. lol
...Or that's the story I've heard anyway. May or may not be accurate - who knows. But it's a good one, so why not believe it? :)
Ohhh my goodness I was so hoping this was the special edition. I wasn’t even aware this old version was still floating around. There is such a massive character beat missing in this one that changes *everything*. If you ever watch again, please check that version out. Studios often forced Cameron to cut his films short back in the 89’s and 90’s, but his movies are far better left their intended length.
Love watching movies with you! Also, what a rad movie room! Thanks for sharing your cinematic journey!
Honestly I like the reveal of Newt and her backstory better in the theatrical release. Leaves more to the imagination. And I never bought the Ripley having a daughter thing.
I think the theatrical cut is better. Same with with T2 for me. Just my 2 cents.
@@c2ashman newt and ripley’s relationship was SO much more important in the full film. This version cheapens and simplifies their characters pretty horribly. As for T2, the extra scenes aren’t part of a director’s cut so much as just alternate takes. The theatrical version is definitely the best version.
The Abyss however, was gutted though, the ending was erased completely, along with the only part of the plot that related to the aliens even being there. Baffling.
@@mookie7688 Well, I buy it and it makes her connection to Newt so much more powerful.
"Aliens" with more "Aliens" in it isn't exactly a bad thing, but out of all of Cameron's extended movies, this one suffered the least from the cuts I think. We already know Ripley has a very strong moral backbone - she went back for the fricken CAT for chrissakes in the first movie. The chance she'd leave a sweet little girl to get killed by monsters from outer space or nuked into smithereens was always exactly zero, and the theatrical cut works really well from that perspective.
Sentry gun sequence is a cool few scenes, but is ultimately redundant because nothing actually changes by the end of those scenes.
We also get to hear (from Ripley herself) that it was Burke who was the honch in the cushy office back on Earth that sent that message to go check a grid reference, putting the colonists in harm's way. And it doesn't actually add anything to the story to know that it was Newt's father who was "patient zero", so to speak...
It is fun though to hear Hudson rant about all the weapons they're bringing. You can never get enough of Hudson ranting. :)
It's truly a masterpiece and between this Terminator 2 and Predator has wildly influenced pop culture for decades. Also giving us one of the best protagonists in all of cinema.
They also share like 50% of the cast haha
Aliens was produced by 20th Century Fox.
In 2017, 21st Century Fox was bought out by Disney.
Therefore, Ellen Ripley is the most badass Disney Princess ever.
Ever.
Ripley is an epitome of true strength and it has nothing to do with superpowers, fearlesness or ability to hit harder than men. Despite of overwhelming odds, horrors that await her ahead and her own fear, she still presses on, solely focused on rescuing a helpless little girl. This is both inspiring and heartwarming, and also why her character will remain beloved for many decades to come, while all the slop 'strong whamen leads' that Hollywood has been pushing down our throats in recent years usually are forgotten by the time you return home from the cinema.
as long as you agree that it's ok to show a woman defeating a man, because for example there is a video here on youtube of a male marine losing to a female in grappling. Don't know if you're maga/incel but that group is the one that has a problem with women not being portrayed as weak.
The main problem they had with Captain Marvel though was not "mary sue", but rather, because she said "we don't need old white men telling us what movies to watch" that's why they had a problem with her.
Ames has turned one of the most ennoying traits (talking during movies) into one of the coolest youtube channel concept, i really love her reactions, commentaries and smart anticipations!
I just love her!
One time we saw this at a opera theatre with a live orchestra doing the score - and at the end James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver came out to take a bow 🤩
Good on you for remembering the Queen's acid-blood. Many if not most people totally forget and want Ripley to crush the Queen's head in the powerloader's grip, but that would not have ended well for Ripley.
40:12, Gorman was inexperienced and panicky. Which is why Burke and the company probably selected him for this mission.
But he was always a Marine so I'm not surprised he went back for Vasquez. He couldn't save her but at least he died trying.
Awesome point, I never considered that.
Gorman is awesome. He starts out green and goes out like a boss.
Your den with the posters, CDs and decorations says a lot about your devotion to these genres; and your intelligent, quick-on-the-uptake commentary along with your priceless body language shows how wrapped up in the movie you become, all of which is fun and often funny. You're very watchable. I laughed a lot.
You should have watched the Director's Cut. It has some really nice additional scenes.
I will !
The crazy other thing that happened was Alien 3 and then Alien Resurrection. I'd just watch the Special Edition of this one, but you do you girl.
RIP Bill Paxton... the only person to be killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator... legend.. 🤘
also.. Paul Reiser's (Burke) mom was so mad at his character that she was mad at him for playing the role 😅
Depending on how you view Bishop - Lance Henrikson can make an argument.
Your joy at watching good movies is pure and infectious. Thank you!
Missed seeing this the theater back in 6th Grade and didn’t get to see it on tape until moving to the states and getting Blockbuster Video Membership.
Then when they started renting DVDs I rented it again and made a DVD-R copy for myself.
BTW until last week I was taking care of my very own Jonesy orange tabby cat. I rescued him last year in bad shape and I was still nursing him to health. I slipped-up monitoring his health because my mom got diagnosed with cancer and so our family life has been turned upside-down.
I failed to notice a severe flea infestation on the cat. He died of respiratory arrest due to severe anemia at the vet clinic’s ICU less than a day after he was admitted. Now I can’t watch this movie without remembering ol’ “Healthcliff.”
Shit man, sorry, I hate when several clusters of misery drop all at once like that.
Best wishes to your Mom!
Terminator 2, Aliens and Godfather 2 are some of very few movies where many people argue that the sequel is better than the original.
The top three most perfect sequels ever made
Don't forget, Jennifer Lawrence proclaimed she was the first woman to ever be the lead in an action movie. Lol 😅 😅
That was after Alien(1979)
@@budwilliams6590and she is kinda a victim in the first one
No she didn’t, that quote was taken out of context
Not her but brie Larson sure did after she got to be captain marvel. Ripley, Sara conner, Mila Jovovich, I could keep going all these actresses did it and they did it amazing. I don't really remember newer movies anymore, but I can still say lines from a ton of older movies.
@@jamesward3859
Lawrence on the significance of her role playing protagonist Katniss Everdeen in
"The Hunger Games": "I remember when I was doing 'Hunger Games,' nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work - because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."
One of my top 5 favorite SciFi movies.
The practical effects were amazing.
The story, acting, everything amazing.
Ripley destroys the argument that men don't like female leads in action movies. She has been a fan favorite and celebrated for 40 years. She wasn't magically stronger than all the men, wasn't exponentially smarter than them, and didn't walk through things without breaking a sweat. She was terrified, yet did what was necessary in the moment. She was human. She has been and always will be the gold standard for ass kicking in space.
Men who feel threatened by female leading characters in movies are really just misogynist jerks, they're not actually men at all. Real men don't hate and fear capable women, or even women in general for that matter.
Hicks: real man.
Raging dudebro: not a man.
11:00 - I remember watching/reading an interview with an actual engineer shortly after this movie came out. They were talking about how close we were to being able to make various things in the movie. He said the one thing separating many technologies we see in sci-fi and reality was battery technology. Then he said a fully functional loader, as shown in this movie, could be built using modern technology (and this was in the late 80's), but it would have to have a power cable attached to the wall.
11:29 Besides the "Get away from her" line, this is my favorite thing in the entire Alien movie storyline.
The laughter afterward from Apone and Hudson: deeeeep respect for Ripley.
1. Michael Biehn/Hicks played Reese in Terminator as did Bishop/Lance Henriksen as the assistant police chief, and Bill Paxton played the blue hair punk.
2. Am I the only one thinking that maybe they're so cheap that they sent her back out hoping she isn't going to collect her back pay. 57 years is a shitload of Benjamins. They totally screwed her.
3. Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen are the only two actors to have their characters killed in the "Alien", "Terminator" and "Predator" series. .
4. Possibly the best dialogue in the movie: Hudson, "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Vasquez, : "No have you?"🤣
5. Much of Bill Paxton's dialogue was ad-lib. RIP Bill😇 He was Chet in "Weird Science"
6. IRL Paul Riser's mom during a preview viewing actually stood up and cheered when his character Burke got his.
7. Carrie Henn/Newt after this movie her nickname became SCREAM.
8. Mom VS Mom. Don't piss off momma🤬🤬
For a "Billy-Bad-Ass" woman, if you haven't already, check out "Terminator II, Judgment Day"'. Sarah Connor.
They were all contracted personnel, likely the contract would run just for one shipment - that's what it sounds like from listening to their dialogue in the first movie. So when the ship reached destination port, the contract would have run its course - and since it never did that, there's likely a contract that dissolves the contract should the ship be lost for some reason as well. Weyland-Yutani doesn't sound like a very nice employer...
This movie and Terminator 2 are awesome examples of how to make movies about a “strong female character”. Modern movie makers don’t seem to understand what makes Ripley and Sarah Connor great heroes.
You first saw it as a little kid? Yikes! I first saw Alien when it came out, with my older brother, in the theater. I was 14, I think. I was transported by that film...full immersion, as you can imagine! How "little", you poor thing? Aimes, you are sweetest and the best, so seeing Aliens way back then obviously didn't adversely effect you.
The sarcastic and comedic banter between all of the characters in this is fantastic. Aliens is definitely the best one out of all of the other ones.
We used to play that knife game in the school cafeteria... only whacked myself once. 😆
Great job, as usual!
I'm sure the powerloader is heavily weighted with lead ballast in its "feet" (if it were real), much like how even small forklifts have literally tons of ballast to help keep them from falling over. So the powerloader is even heavier than it looks, and the Queen was pinned.
Aliens is a good candidate for the best James Cameron movie. In terms of everything, design, character, storytelling, sound design, soundtrack and special effect, it's mostly perfect. It's what people wished Avatar 1 and 2 was but really are not. It's also a good candidate for top 5 or 10 best sequel in all of cinema cause it doesn't take anything from the first movie who is a masterpiece in his own right, but add and explore the universe...The best sequels do that ! Also i feel it influence a lot the idea of the space marine outside of the style of Warhammer 40K. It gives another idea of it.
James Cameron made two of the best horror sequels of all time. Both this and T2 are spectacular sequels that build perfectly on the original, and successfully pivot into a more action oriented experience, in a really natural feeling way.
Gorman went catatonic way easier than Newt did, and I think this was his comeuppance for having been so callous to her earlier. Who's the one with brain-lock now? It's fitting that he would spend the bulk of the movie unconscious. Not that he was a bad guy at all, but he definitely needed an attitude adjustment.
_"This is clearly an important species we're dealing with and we don't have the right to just arbitrarily exterminate it!"_ - highly educated, compassionate people on the right side of history when watching "Starship Troopers" ;)
Yeah, except he was gaslighting. he didn’t care about the species except as a product.
Originally, the Xenomorph lifecycle was supposed to have been rather different, but the original movie didn't go very deeply into it, and Cameron thought it made more sense for them to be more like social insects, with a queen who laid all of the eggs. Some fans (only a vocal minority) oppose this and consider his Xenomorphs a different subspecies, but no, they're supposed to be the same ones. Cameron just saw how many eggs there were in the original movie, and tried to make more sense out of everything, which I think he did. And of course it made for the perfect excuse to create literally the mother of all Xenomorphs, the Queen herself!
Ames!! Aliens!! What a perfect match. I gotta watch this. See you at the end.
I love, love, love this film! I saw it at the cinema 6 times when it came out! AND, I saw the original Alien at the Drive-In Movies when I was about 7!! My mother tried to cover my eyes on the "famous" scene, but I could still see through her fingers, so that was all good!! Hahahaha! Happy days. Great reaction, and still I think my go to favourite film..........(at least in my top 5!) xxooxx
One of the best Sci-fi Action Movies Ever Made!
So many one liners throughout!
"Game Over, Man! Game Over!"
So glad you watched the theatrical cut!
thank you for not watching the "extended version" of James Cameron movies. The theatrical edits are so superior.
Shame on Drake for panicking and opening fire on an unidentified target! He would have killed Newt if Hicks hadn't redirected his fire.
Although I think OG 'Alien' is a better movie, 'Aliens' is still my favorite of them. The writing & acting gave us so many memorable characters and quotes. I'd time travel to observe the making of this movie if I could. Looking forward to your watch of it.
I've watched dozens of these reactions and yours was the best! Very entertaining! Usually, having seen the movie is a deal breaker. Great video!
wow I didnt know you have not watched this. I've watched it too many times to admit it. The practical effects are just so good, you can rewatch it and it's still holds up.
She said she did watch it when she was younger
Sarah Connor and Ripley, best badest asses in film history. Two iconic franchises and today, we can barely get a female lead until Naru in Prey.
❤️❤️❤️
The god damn acid!
"...Everything is built and not CGI, so it feels more tactile and more real..." You said it. It's always great to remind ourselves that every movie made before the mid 90s, when CGI really took off, is, in a very real sense, a documentary. You're seeing something that actually occurred in physical space. Even in a movie such as Star Wars, the ships you see flying around are actual physical objects. The shark in Jaws is an actual physical object that the actors are reacting to. We are in awe when we watch Lawrence of Arabia because we know that we're witnessing a recording of an actual, physical event: Those thousand horses and camels racing across the desert were actually there, actually racing across the desert. Now, almost nothing is real. And that's a loss.
I spent 11 years of my life traveling the world because of this movie and Bill Paxton. Semper Fi.
First love your "T"shirt, two of the best sifi movies made, number three is O.K. love your awesome reaction.
Shout out to Aliens fans, which marine/marines did you truly wish to live by the end. Mine's Hudson for sure.
All of them fought hard and bravely once they realized it wasn't just a snipe hunt.
Hi Ames, it's awesome you've seen this superb sequel :) I loved your reactions to Alien & Aliens. This movie is amazing and one of the best sequels ever! As is Terminator 2... Please react to that soon.
Great film! It looks like you had the Theatrical Cut. The Extended Cut is a must watch. The extra scenes add more context on Ripley's daughter and Newt's family before the xenomorphs are discovered.
Little bit of production trivia: those two big guns that Vasquez and her buddy WHN wore, were actual StediCam harnesses. They just put big guns on the end of the arm where the movie camera would normally go. They are designed to support the weight of the camera and give the operator total freedom of movement, to be able to isolate the camera from their movement so it doesn't shake while they walk/run/go up or down stairs, etc. Having them in that scene is a fun way to show off how brilliant an invention they are for filmmaking, without us knowing that's what they are.
Newt!
NEWTTTTTT!!!
@@holddowna If you read the novel or listen to the audio drama 'River of Pain' it really puts into perspective Newt's reaction and how Ripley reacts to her.