On the Issue of Sequels with Aliens

When taking on the task of creating a sequel to the revered science fiction film Alien (1979), James Cameron ran a risk greater than many directors of sequels as here he was not the director of the first.

In 1979 Ridley Scott created a gritty, unpolished and tense horror. There is little comedy aboard the Nostromo and Scott drew subtle, believable performances from his cast. This is a director’s vision, very much a product of the 1970s mentality. In 1986 Cameron gave us a sequel very much of its time, Aliens, a bigger budget studio picture.

However, by being aware of what made Alien great and by expanding the universe and the characters in a realistic direction, Aliens avoids the same, almost expected fate that we assume most sequels will take. Cameron definitely created a more stereotypical Hollywood action film. The banter between the marines has dated badly and even the performance of Sigourney Weaver is more melodramatic than in Alien.

Aliens is bigger and more expensive with a larger cast, but by taking into account what the audience have learnt from Alien we are never confused, unlike the bigger, more expensive Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), which felt as if it had been created without even the awareness of Transformers (2007). Unlike The Lost World (1997) or Die Hard 2: Die Hard (1990), Cameron consciously steps away from what Alien accomplished and doesn’t retrace familiar steps. It would have been futile to produce another claustrophobic horror along the same lines, especially as Aliens continues – as far as Ripley is concerned – from where Alien left off.

Yet, a sequel doesn’t have to go bigger to be better. The Bourne Supremacy (2004) was a toned down, more talkative and more successful follow up to The Bourne Identity (2002). In the other direction and along the same lines of Aliens, The Dark Knight (2008) expands the world created in Batman Begins (2005) with greater exploration that allows us to remain familiar with the world, but find enough in there that is new to stay interested. What makes Aliens perhaps more impressive than other sequels that are better or as good as their predecessors is that Cameron was not the director of the first.

The issues of sequels will always create debate. The first in a sequence is often viewed favourably and the majority of the time sequels are unable to create or even recreate the formula that worked the first time round. When they do work though, is will be because they have followed the same basic rules that Cameron employed with Aliens.