Ask Movie Slate - ALIENS

Commissioned by Iron Clad.

I'm not going to lie, this one was kind of self-indulgent on my part. I can't thank Iron Clad enough for allowing me to work on this piece with his patronage. Working on it meant to spend a lot of time looking at the ingeneering of the Power Loader, and how putting that thing together must have been both a work of art and a monumental pain in the ass.

Of course I can't go any further without thanking for her wonderful rendition of this same scene.

"ALIENS" is my number one favorite movie of all time. I've said this a lot but I've never really explained the reasons why. If I start talking about why I like it I'll probably end up writing a whole Wikipedia article on the subject, so I'll try to keep it simple and to the point. To me "ALIENS" is storytelling 101. It's the perfect sequel. A sequel that builds on what the original had, improves it, expands it, and makes it bigger, better, more buffed, but at the same time knows to keep it simple, straight forward and relateable. It has a very soft yet strong core in the character of Ellen Ripley, but the story gives plenty of space for the other characters to grow and develop too. Even the Aliens get a good amount of development, all the way down to how their biology works.

It's a very visceral movie too, just from the title alone. You hear "Alien", and you get scared. You know this is about an alien killing machine that massacred the crew of a spaceship, so how do you make it better? Just put an S at the end. "ALIENS", and you go "Oh shit! If one alien did all this, what will happen when there are many!?" Just from the title things get scarier and more intense, and that's the best way to put it. The movie is all about contrast. You have the moments of calm where the characters build their relationships and you get to know them, and the moments of high-explosive action where you know someone is going to bite the dust. Everything is set up. This movie is Chekhov's Gun Porn. The Power Loader is set up. Newt being good at crawling on the air ducts is set up. The sentry guns and the grenades. It also plays with Ripley's paranoia about androids, which is also the audience's paranoia since we know they are not trust worthy.

It's quite funny because when it comes to it this is a very human story. It's filled with hope, horror, comedy, tension, love and all the things that make an experience engaging. It's a movie that works flawlessly in every level, both narrative and technical. Like James Cameron stipulates in the audio commentary track "technical wise is crude, but narrative wise this is one of my favorite movies I've ever made because it's all about the people and their relationships".

I hope you guys enjoy the picture!

You can check Movie Slate's post on Tumblr right here.

You can also check the Making of Post right here.

Please, let me know what you think of it in the comments. I appreciate and every single one I receive.

Thank you!

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