My Classic Summer: Alien and Aliens

As a movie lover and film student, I've seen a lot of the greatest movies of all time both of my own accord and in class.  I was fortunate enough to take a class on Stanley Kubrick as a Kubrick virgin in which I got to see almost all of his films for the first time on the big screen, some of the best hours I've ever spent in the "classroom."

However, like any critic, blogger, or general film fan, I have a list of shame: those classics and masterpieces that I've never seen.  As a blogger, I tend to focus on what's currently playing in theaters, making sure I can take part in the conversation and post reviews in a timely fashion.  Many of my free hours are spent at the theater, trying to see everything that looks even a bit interesting.

Every summer, though, I vow to work tirelessly at whittling my list down.  I own many of the titles on DVD or Blu-ray (and now I'm even receiving copies of some of Warner Bros.'s classic titles for free through the Blu-ray Elite program), so it's not a matter of access.  It's more a matter of focusing on watching seasons of TV shows during the summer.  This summer, I've already made it through Downton Abbey Season 2 and Breaking Bad Season 4, and I have more that I play to attend to in the coming months.

But this summer, I'm actually going to start filling some of the gaping holes in my personal film cache.  Some of the titles I plan to watch for the first time include Taxi Driver, Fargo, Blade Runner, Amadeus, The Deer Hunter, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  As I discover these (and other) classics for the first time, I'll post about them here.  Some of them may resemble proper reviews, while others will be briefer musings about the movies.  I'm wielding my list (not) proudly, boldly admitting to the movies I've never seen, and sharing with my readers how great these movies really are (though many of you already know).

First up, in anticipation of finally seeing Prometheus, I checked out the first two installments of the Alien franchise.  Watching them in the same night, almost back-to-back, proved to be a slightly disorienting experience, so different are they.  Separated by seven years and helmed by different directors, Alien and Aliens barely feel like they exist in the same universe, though there are obviously strong ties between them.

Alien thrilled me because it does what so few movies are allowed to do nowadays: it took its time.  Alien is a suspenseful horror flick in the truest sense.  The early shots crawling through an eerily empty spaceship set the stage for the horror that follows, as a mysterious transmission draws the crew of the Nostromo to a dangerous, mist-covered planet.  There's a sense of danger and discovery that is achieved almost exclusively via the very deliberate pacing.  Even when the Xenomorph emerges from Kane's chest, the film takes the horror route, letting the tension build to nearly unbearable levels as the crew gets picked off one after the other.  The film has aged remarkably well, with the performances will ringing true (what a turn by Sigourney Weaver) and despite the quaint art direction, complete with vector displays on the screens and twinkling Christmas lights adorning Mother's room.

If Ridley Scott sought to blend sci-fi and horror into a tense, atmospheric hybrid, James Cameron went for a full-blown sci-fi actioner.  As I said, Aliens almost feels unrelated, so different is its tone and approach to the universe (at least initially).  Cameron's dialogue is full of military cliches, and many of the new characters are flat (Jenette Goldstein fills in for Michelle Rodriguez in the days before Michelle Rodriguez).

The pacing is also much faster, with the plot barreling forward as the Colonial Marines go to investigate a newly-silent settlement on the same planet from the first film.  This time, there's a whole herd of Xenomorphs to deal with, resulting in some large set-piece action scenes and one of the most terrifying images in movie history: a bunch of Xenomorphs crawling inside the ceiling.  They'll haunt my dreams. 

Upping the number of aliens makes them seem less dangerous.  Whereas in Alien, Ripley barely survived against one creature, in Aliens, multiple characters manage to make it despite facing off against dozens of them.  In context, it makes sense: these are well-armed Marines with 50+ years of new technology versus the original's commercial ship crew, but it still sharpens the sense of disconnect between the two.  There are still elements of horror, especially in the scene when Ripley and the cloyingly adorable Newt are trapped in the lab by that asshole Burke, but these moments are fewer and further between.  And the final showdown, while obviously foreshadowed, is still a bit too ridiculous for my tastes.

Of course, most of my complaints about Aliens stem from my admiration for Alien.  As a stand-alone film, Aliens is a great movie, and even when compared to its predecessor, it's difficult to fault it too much.  It's a gorgeous film, with the special effects still impressing, and the sense of urgency is still there, albeit in different form.

Watching Ridley Scott and James Cameron's sci-fi classics has me itching to see Prometheus, and curious to check out the less-respected third and fourth chapters (I do love me some David Fincher).  During a movie season that is often characterized by aliens, gunfights, and special effects, there was no better way to start My Classic Summer than with Alien and Aliens.