Alien vs. Aliens

For a lot people, life is simple really. They prefer Pepsi over Coke, Grey's Anatomy over ER, Lauren over Heidi. But ask someone to choose between two classic films like Alien and Aliens, and I'm sure you'll find a lot more head-scratching.

There's an old adage that sequels suck, and sometimes that's true, but sometimes it's not true. Aliens doesn't suck and no one would claim that it does. Some might still prefer the first Alien movie, but no one would dare dismiss the second, likewise people who enjoy the second movie more.I watched both films back-to-back recently, and could not for the life of me decide which of the two is better.

For those of you not in the know, both movies are set in outer space in the not-so-near future. Sigourney Weaver stars in both films as Lt. Ellen Ripley. Alien is about the crew of the cargo-ship Nostromo and their discovery of a planet with a not-so-nice species that attaches itself to one of the crew members. After being brought on board with one of these creatures attached to his face, the crew finds itself being terrorized by the little guy that pops out of his chest. Several deaths occur, there's lots of gore, and eventually the creature is killed.

Aliens takes place in the even more distant future and finds Ripley going back to the planet that spawned the aliens with colonial marines ready to wipe them out. The mission, of course, doesn't go so well, there are more than several deaths, and with no real chance of survival, the survivors blow up all the aliens to smithereens.

Both flicks made use of the new advances in cinematic technology available to them at the time wonderfully, and while some scenes may feel dated, the action certainly doesn't. The rush you get from watching Bishop rescue Ripley and Newt from the collapsing platform near the end of Aliens remains with me to this day. So does the shock of watching the alien burst out of Kane's chest in Alien. Part of me wishes I could get amnesia so I could watch these movies again fresh.

So do film scholars ever debate these things? Do they ever write lengthy articles or engage in debates about which film is better? Maybe for "The Godfather" movies, but I'll have to keep my eyes open for an Alien vs. Aliens article by Roger Ebert.

Well, I suppose someone will have to get the debate rolling.

For strictly entertainment reasons, I'd have to say Aliens is superior to the original. Cameron is an action-movie master. He's never missed a beat when it comes to delivering heart-pounding action sequences. From the Terminator movies to Titanic, he always delivers the goods. The music in Aliens is also terrific. James Horner's work here is something to marvel at. It's been ripped off in other action flicks, most recently in the dreadful Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. I remember as a kid humming the music being played as Ripley blows the Queen alien into space and it still gives me goose bumps when I hear it. That's a true accomplishment when you think about it.

But putting that aside, Alien takes the award for best film. A shame the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences didn't have the foresight to recognize its importance, which is often the case with that silly crowd. I think the reasons become clearer when you watch the two back-to-back. Alien not only establishes the story, the monster, and heroine that will live throughout the franchise, but most of the major plot points and characters from Aliens were kind of borrowed from the first film too. Ash from the first movie is the cold, conniving science officer (later revealed to be an android) who tries to protect the alien at all costs, even admiring the monster for its "purity." Burke does the same thing in Aliens, only more for financial gain than for any admiration for the creature. The decision to blow up the ship in the first film is repeated in the second, as is Ripley's last ditch effort to blow the thing into space. I'm not saying Cameron was necessarily ripping off Scott, but the ideas for Aliens were deeply-rooted in Alien.

Aliens is not without its own original style of course. Ripley's tender relationship with Newt, the supporting comedic work by Bill Paxton as Pvt. Hudson ("Game over, man! Game over!"). I love how the marines' macho bravado turns into absolute terror when they realize what they're up against. It's one of the few sequels that really stands up on its own.

Both movies were key in developing strong female characters in film. Ripley is the perfect role-model for girls. Smart, nurturing, and tough. And Sigourney Weaver was perfectly cast in that role; no one could have played Ripley other than her.

So, there you have it. Two classic films that will live on and only age gracefully.