ALIENS (1986) Breakdown | Easter Eggs, Hidden Details & Things You Missed

Check out our breakdown of Alien 3 here - https://youtu.be/-auejnUVH4A

RIP Bill Paxton. Some of the greatest lines in sci-fi.

i can't hear "why dont ya put her in charge?" without laughing. he really had most of the best lines in that movie

Gorman redeemed himself by going back for Vasquez. He could have easily escaped with Risley and Hicks, but instead ran to her aid knowing it would probably cost him his life. “You always were an asshole, Gorman” was high praise from Vasquez. I love the camaraderie.

Watching this as a 10 year old for the first time in 1989 literally made my jaw drop! As a 43 year old now, I still watch it every now and then and it is probably my favourite film of all time

Aliens isn’t just one of the best sequels of all time, it’s one of the best action movies of all time. I have loved Aliens since the first time I saw it when I was ten. Just a phenomenal movie.

Ripley's little head tilt, and the change of her facial expression from scared to "kill mode" before she opens fire in the egg laying room is so awesome.

I was a paratrooper, stationed at Fort Bragg in 1986. When I saw it the theater was packed with paratroopers, and we were very vocal and rambunctious in our appreciation for this movie!

Several years later I read the novelization of Aliens (by Alan Dean Foster) [based upon the full script aka the "director's cut"]; just after reading the book A Bridge Too Far (by Cornelius Ryan) about Operation Market Garden in 1944, the largest deployment of paratroopers in history.
I noticed that the names of All of the Marines are shared by historical Paratroopers who participated in Operation Market Garden!

Perhaps it is a coincidence, but it is common to use a literature source to come up with names of secondary characters.

Lieutenant Colonel John Frost was in command of the British Paratroopers at Arhem Bridge. Brigadier Hicks was in command of the British Glider Brigade (or one of the Paratrooper Brigades), there was a Hudson in the 82nd Airborne, a Gorman too. Wierzabowski was in the Polish Paratrooper Brigade, etc.

Several of the names are quite prominent, others very obscure.

I think we all need to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for Jennifer Lawrence breaking through the glass ceiling and becoming the very first lead female role in an action movie which paved the way for movies like Aliens...

This and terminator 2, two of the best sequels ever. 80s & 90s was the golden age of sci-fi.

I’m surprised you skipped over the “Get away from her, you BITCH!” line. Listen, I was in a theater on the opening weekend of Aliens. When Sigourney delivered that line, the roof blew off that place. Screaming, yelling, hooting, hollering, whistling, high-fiving… the crowd came unglued. It’s the most memorable moment I’ve ever had at a theater.

Another great thing about this movie is THERE ARE NO WEAK ACTORS - not a single performance was weak - the minimum bar for all the performances was extremely high - Cameron extracted amazing performances from everyone - Bill Paxton deserved an academy award for this film his portrayal of a panicky blustery space marine REALLY MADE the movie and provided all the necessary humor!!

Sigourney Weaver completely leads this film marvelously.. she rightly deserved her Academy Award nomination for, this now, iconic role. Everybody was just so good here, too that's what's crazy about it. The entire cast played their roles beautifully and yet, hers stands out the most..she is Ellen Ripley.

I saw Aliens before I saw Alien. With the descriptive dialogue and references to the previous movie, I was able to mentally visualize what had happened. Several years later I was finally able to see the original, and it was pretty close to what I imagined had happened. Just another example of how much of a good director/story-teller James Cameron is.

Cameron's portrayal of marines as having a wide range of personalities actually humanized them and made them more relatable. Had he portrayed them all as Rambo, this would have been the umpteenth movie doing that exact thing. I also kind of think he didn't really mean it when he said that he would have made them look more heroic had he had another chance; I just think he was trying to avoid being labeled "anti armed forces".

Regarding the suggestion that the marines have come across the Xenomorphs before; I've always understood this to be that they have battled OTHER alien lifeforms before and usually had a pretty easy time of it. "Xenomorph" is just a general term meaning "Foreign Shaped", and not these aliens in particular.

One thing I loved about Aliens the first time I saw it, was the way the marines changed over time. They were introduced as absolute clowns and probable xenomorph fodder, shallow and the type you wouldn't really be upset about if they died. But they very quickly demonstrate that they are real people underneath all the bravado, and that while they may be terrified of the situation they've found themselves in, they're capable of adapting quickly and fighting bravely.

Al Matthews, who plays Apone, was actually a decorated U.S. Marine in Vietnam. He actually helped trained the other actors in their tactical movements to look more realistic to Marines tactics.

This is my all time favourite action sci-fi film ever. Think I've watched it more than any other film since I was 8.

What I always appreciated about the film is that the special effects were done in such a way that they maintain believability even well into the modern day of CGI. With the exception of a limited few scenes, the viewer is left thinking "how did they make it look so real?!" This remains one of my favorite films of all time.