Aliens
“The movie is an outstanding sequel, which is such a rare thing. In part I think a contributing factor was the time period in which it was made — firstly, not after so long a break from the first that the connection or energy surrounding the original had faded overly much, and secondly, there are so many other reasons a sequel produced in the 1980s probably had a far better chance of being an equal to the original, or even surpassing it in certain respects. Additionally, the movie’s tagline says it all: “This time it’s war.” Aliens is *not* a rehash of Ridley Scott’s classic. It truly builds upon it and not by simply adding a bunch of bells and whistles — it expands upon it and follows up a “truckers in space/Texas Chainsaw Massacre in space” concept with a story that integrates the horror aspects of Alien but is essentially a war film. Lastly, the movie is especially intense not strictly because of the suspense, not strictly because of the horror, and not strictly because of the action and production design, but mainly because at its core it pits a nurturing mother against a devouring mother. All the other facets Aliens is known for are only as exceptional as they are because of these underlying themes and what’s at stake emotionally because of them. This is where the discussion of the extended cut comes in. While some of the additional 16 minutes does supply additional background that allegedly contributes to the emotional impact so critical to the movie’s success, Aliens does not actually need that extra information to communicate the very same idea or close enough to it — it comes across plenty in the theatrical release, and I’d argue, even more powerfully, for playing it in a far subtler way that relies on Sigourney Weaver’s incredibly nuanced performance and Cameron’s masterful direction to telegraph unspoken themes. The extra 16 minutes makes for a bloated version of a masterpiece that was airtight as it was when released in 1986. I’ve read that both Cameron and Weaver actually prefer the extended cut, but I’ll die on this hill regardless — to me it seems likely they’re too close to their own work to see how well they did with the less-is-more that the creative process forces upon creators when faced with tough decisions about running time and budgetary restrictions etc.”
