It took years but on 18 July 1986 Aliens was released throughout the United States.
It is one of the best sequels ever made. I think there is a fundamental reason for this: it isn’t a horror film. Alien is my favorite of the franchise because it is horror. If the producers had simply made another version of it, I doubt it would have worked. Instead, the sequel is an action thriller. And who better to produce it than James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd?
The truth is, 20th Century Fox would never have greenlit the sequel if The Terminator hadn’t been a hit. The studio was very reluctant that a sequel would do well. This was before Hollywood went fully into its current philosophy that “existing IP” is the only thing that matters.
Cameron is good at creating scripts that are expansive but still work. The original film is very small in comparison. But Aliens is running in all kinds of directions. And it features three different third acts. It could easily be 30 minutes shorter. Yet it works really well and is a hell of a lot of fun!
The worst thing about Aliens is Alien 3. That’s not because Alien 3 is bad. I think it’s great! But it rewrites the ending of Aliens. So we went through three different endings of the film only to learn that none of it mattered and they all died! This is a constant problem with franchises. I choose to believe that Aliens and Alien 3 exist in different universes.
Unfortunately, it isn’t trivial to watch Aliens. Obviously, you can buy it on disc. But I’d think a blockbuster on Aliens would be widely available on services like Tubi and Plex. But it isn’t. And illegal Russian sites seem to have all been scrubbed. Currently, it is available on Hulu. In fact, Hulu has all 9 of the films. Not that I recommend watching them all. After Alien Resurrection they fall down in quality. But I haven’t seen the last couple. Prometheus managed to remove every ounce of fun from the franchise and I just can’t face any more.
Aliens (1986) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
