Aliens

Yesterday's film. Prepare for a long post:

10/15: For tonight's film I watched James Cameron's sequel to Alien, Aliens. Which, as the title would lead you to believe, includes more aliens. Anyway, this is another one of those "dude, you haven't seen this?" gaps in my horror/sci fi knowledge. The even more egregious crime to you fans out there is that I only saw the first one this past summer. Gaps and shit, man. And I have to say, after watching Aliens, that I am probably in the minority from most people I talk to as I actually liked the first installment more. Allow me to explain why.

James Cameron. 

Is there any more reason I need? Anyone who truly knows me knows I hate this man with the burning passion of a thousand suns-- or, to put it differently, I hate him on a level par with his ego. So, you know, that's saying something. For me, in a far less extreme way, Cameron "Avatared" Ridley Scott's first film. Honestly, the more I think about the first Alien the more I love it. It's a different kind of monster sci-fi/horror in the sense that it's in a very odd way subtle and makes you wait. Cameron, as a child of the modern era of filmmaking, wants to make you wait about as much as he didn't want to collect his check for Avatar. He creates the same cliched characters he makes in Avatar and many of his other films, with the sassy Hispanic kick ass (as one reviewer I read aptly put it, Michelle Rodriguez before there was Michelle Rodriguez), the hot headed asshole, the soldier who is about to piss his pants, the inept commander who screws everything up, and the guy who leaves everyone else out to dry so that he can make a quick buck. If there is one thing James Cameron is not is it is a good screenwriter. See:

  

        Unobtainium. Seen here obtained.       

   

           Strange Days. Seriously, screw everything about that movie)         

  "No, Jack, no! No, wait Jack! No Jack I couldn't possibly Jack!" Gold, right there.

       

What he does with Alien is create a movie that doesn't retain one iota of the nuance that the original had; this one is a balls out, as-many-aliens-die-per-second-as-possible movie.

Which, honestly, as much as my previous acidic language would lead you to believe, is not all a bad thing. If I can ignore what the first alien was and subsequently my fiery hatred for James Cameron, this is a pretty damn good action-y horror/sci fi flick. There's real fear and claustrophobia as you feel the coming onslaught of thousands of unstoppable creatures coming for the lives of this hapless group. I also enjoyed the mother vs mother (props to my girlfriend for pointing this out to me) aspect of Ripley vs. the Alien mother. But probably most of all, the special effects are incredible; I really have to hand it to Cameron. The aliens and their lair look slick, disgusting alien, and most of all, real. Which further supports my theory that Cameron should have taken up a career as a special effects artist and left the writing to, you know, someone who can actually write. The sheer quality of the effects in this too beg the question as well: what happened to Cameron? If he could make a movie like this where the animatronics and creatures look so real because they they are based in something physical what lead to wanting to make blue CGI monkey people that despite the billion dollars you spent on them still don't look real?           

Aliens.                                                                                                                                          Avatar.

I am of the opinion CGI will never reach what physical special effects can do because it's not real. The Thing, Aliens, An American Werewolf in London, etc. are all incredible because their special effects are real and mindblowingly stunning; if you have the capacity to do that then why computer blue people? The mind boggles.

As you can see, all my complaints are mostly pointed towards Cameron and his other films, but I really couldn't help exercising my thoughts on him and this subject in this review. Don't like it... go make your own blog. With all of that other shit out of the way, though, Aliens is a damn good flick.

And James Cameron, I still hate you. When you finally reveal yourself to be the Antichrist I know you are I will be there waiting to slay you, copy of "Screenwriting for Dummies" in hand.  

8/10