10. Cargo Loader Exosuit
Even before the big battle at the end I wanted one of these things. A big cool metal suit that you could control to move heavy shit around. Oh, you want me to move the fridgeno problem, just let me get the cargo loader from the garage. Id just take it out to go for a walk to be honest, stomping on tiny humans all the way to the dry cleaners.
9. The Logo & Tag-Line
At the beginning of the film we see Camerons answer to the slow piece by piece construction of the word Alien in Ridley Scotts film and it is amazing. With the Cameron-standard blue sci-fi colour and the glowing letter I in the middle that radiates outward in blinding light, the logo blows you away. Good answer Mr Cameron. The tagline for the film is very descriptive, no-nonsense fare. We get everything we need to know from the title and the tagline; first one had an Alien, this time there are going to be a shitload of the bastards. Perfect from a marketing perspective too and maybe part of the reason that the film grossed $131 million in the cinema in 1986.
8. Everybody's Dead (Dave)
To wake up and be told that everything you know and loved, family included is dead because you overslept must be an awful feeling. Well, for Ripley that happened. This theme was explored more in the special edition when we learn that Ripley had a daughter who died shortly before her mother was found adrift. The character really develops through this, finding out that she has to start all over. The scene that sticks out as portraying her ambivalence to her continued existence starts with a shot of Ripley with a cigarette that has completely burned out unnoticed in her hand. We get to feel and understand more about her in these sequences. Her life has changed completely and all for the worst but still she survives.
7. Shes alive Damnit!
The first line of dialogue in the film is Bio readouts are all in the green, well there goes our salvage guys. A nice cheery opener, which introduces the first money over matter subject of the film. The salvage crew finds a ship, but are taken aback and disheartened by the fact that the passenger isnt dead. I always loved how chirpy this opening sequence is. Human life, how inconvenient.
6. Dreary Realism
The film, much like its predecessor paints a rather dreary picture of how the world will most probably turn out. Corporations, or at least one corporation has the backing of governments to send troops out to protect its interests (a comment on the Vietnam War if Ive ever seen one) and everything is sort of horrible. Ripleys apartment is sparse and small and all of the working areas look like oil rigs or bland offices. This level of detail draws us into the film, where getting it wrong and making everything too clean (Star Trek style) would have made the whole thing feel fake. We are dropped into a world that we can believe in, which is a big achievement for a film about space marines and Aliens.