Article | While “Aliens the Rescue” became a turning point for the sci-fi genre

When Ridley Scott released the first installment of the “Alien – The 8th Passenger” franchise in 1979, he never imagined the feature film would become one of the most iconic films in movie history and build a legacy. imitated to this day in the sci.-fi genre and the thriller. The story, which takes place in the unknown vastness of space, took us aboard the Nostromo, a gigantic spaceship that becomes the scene of a massacre caused by a deadly alien – the xenomorph. Introducing to audiences one of the most famous and best-built heroines, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), critical and commercial success has yielded no less than three direct sequels and two spin-off films that remain alive in the popular imagination.

But we’re not dealing with the first movie in this article – we’re dealing with the direct sequence. On the occasion of its recent 35th anniversary, it is always good to remember why the work has reached a level similar or even higher than the original; after all, “Aliens, the Rescue” hit theaters in 1986 and left an unspeakable and important legacy that would influence virtually all future productions of the genre. Scott, despite his creative ideas, decided not to take over the presidency, which is why James Cameron was hired to take over. However, there were reasons for the delay in making a sequel, one of them being the discredit Cameron passed on to the executives of the day – even with the success of “The Terminator” two. years earlier. As a relatively new director, people tried to talk him out of taking the job, as all the fruits of the film would go to Scott and any misunderstandings would go to Cameron.

In the plot, Ripley is rescued after the tragic events of Nostromo, 57 years after being provoked dormant in a cryogenic chamber. When he wakes up, he discovers that facing the xenomorph was just the beginning – and that a group of settlers lived in the same place where it all happened. Joining a high-ranking team and battling all trauma, she returns to destroy, once and for all, the horde of dangerous aliens.

As with Terminator, James proved everyone wrong: he was able to have as much of an impact as his predecessor, while also helping to make cinematic sci-fi less stigmatized by pundits. As mentioned above, the plot, which explained the fight between humans and unknown creatures, was imitated to exhaustion over the following decades – even appearing in titles such as “The Predator,” ” Strange Passenger “and” The Cloverfield Paradox “. Atmospheric construction footage also appeared in the first chapter of ‘Resident Evil’; James Horner’s dark and dense soundtrack has been transmuted and reorganized into psychological horror, influencing, for example, the “Summoning of Evil” and “A Silent Place” sagas.

The very concept of the hero, previously expressed in the exaggerated presence of masculinity, opened doors for strong, independent women who would influence other empowered heroines and anti-heroines – as noted by novelist Mary Lee Settle, Ripley. is part of the revolutionary canon of transforming the representation of women into the mainstream storyline, anticipating the warlike realism of many other more current characters. Stepping away from “the fabulist escape,” in Settle’s words, the character played by Weaver turned out to be complex enough not to remain linear – and had more impact than Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in similar roles. . It was from the “extraterrestrials” that hyper-masculinization began to lose its strength, albeit in short stages.

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If science fiction has been seen in stereotypical envelopes shaped by so many previous titles – “Planet of the Apes,” “Superman,” “Star Trek” – Cameron was careful to honor Scott’s growing legacy with “ The 8th Passenger “and shocked the traditionalist-critical mentality, privileging only classic coming-of-age and tour de force dramas, winning no less than seven Oscar nominations. Even snubbed in the Best Picture category, Weaver received a nomination for Best Actress for a mind-blowing, memorable, and very profound performance. By finally winning the awards for best sound editing and best visual effects, we realized, little by little, that the genre in question deserved to be taken as seriously as any other.

“Aliens the Rescue” is not just a scientific attack, but an amalgamation of countless narrative inflections. The presence of the psychological thriller is visible in the first half of the feature film, where each sequence contributes to a growing sense of hopelessness and pessimism: you know what’s going to happen, but you can’t take your eyes off the ground. Adventurous forays go back to the literary space opera, but not with much force; there’s Ripley’s drama of losing his daughter and reuniting with her in the figure of Newt (Carrie Henn), the sole survivor of the recent xenomorph attack; and finally, there’s an epic space warfare that takes on fantastic proportions at the start of the third act.

Functioning as an assembly and scripting lesson, the pieces of the film fit together perfectly. Artistic fusion is just the icing on the cake of a painstaking creative process, the fruits of which are still being reaped today – and whose success has spawned a multimedia franchise that deserves to be rediscovered and enjoyed in all. its details.

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