MJB SCRIPT REVIEW | ALIENS

“𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵!”

This is it! The summit! My favourite film of all time (Directors Cut, thankyou very much Jim🙏) and one of the greatest sequels ever made. Science fiction smasher; ALIENS.

Plot in a nutshell: Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent with colonial marines to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony, gone silent somewhere near the alien ship that held its lethal cargo from the first film.

Firstly, it’s a Jim Cameron script. It’s gonna be great. Secondly, it’s a first draft, so this should be both educational and somewhat different to what we’re expecting. Can’t get a better place to start than a first draft. Let’s see what beauties are being kept hidden in the cargo bay…

So, what did I learn from ALIENS?

1. Dialogue - This is possibly the weakest area for me. Yes, it’s a first draft, so there’s some leeway (and some stunning lines that made it to the final draft, so very commendable). But the dialogue, at times here, swings between hit and miss. Some of it sounds awkward coming from the characters. Like they feel weird saying the line. Some comes out perfectly attuned to the situation. Knowledgeable, realistic and believable. The army speak is on the money 90% of the time. The interaction between Ripley and Newt, for the most part, is pretty good (glad they got shot of the whole “Mommy!” thing). But overall, the dialogue feels like it needs a polish. But at this stage, for a first draft, it’s seriously impressive.

2. Action Directions - So, this first draft is James Cameron going it alone. Last experience I had was The Terminator with Cameron’s writing. He co-wrote on that one with Gale Ann Hurd and you could feel the female characters get more depth. What we have here is what Jim does best; technical action directions, but just on the side of understandable. It all sounds very impressive and actually quite accurate for current technical terms for human/alien biology, structures, ships and equipment. What is satisfying here (and with previous science-fiction scripts like The Matrix) is that you don’t feel stupid when you’re reading it. If it’s something you can’t understand, you can at least semi-picture it. The characters are still clearly marked and rounded, but on the veneer side. Just enough to get what that person represents to the story and how they feel.

3. Action Directions 2 - We have the odd action direction popping up telling the actors how to act again. It’s okay if you have a rare comment on reactions. But as I have said before, as soon as it starts tripping into telling the actors how to act, it becomes conducive to slowing an actors natural need to discover. Which can prevent great performances from surfacing most of the time.

4. Action Directions 3 - There is a badassery to the descriptions of the equipment and the vehicles here. If there is only one reason you read this script, it would be to learn something about how to describe said items. Really fantastic use of language and informative style.

5. Action Directions 4 - P.98-100. That’s how you write a fire fight. That.

6. Actors - As I mentioned before, there are some action directions here giving indication as to how your performance should be done. Once again, depends upon your relationship with the director. But all in all, the characters here are recognisable. You can pretty much get their parameters and even go so deep as to find some of their purpose in doing what they do. The vast majority of these characters are toughened, with very little time for nonsense. Which is how a lot of the dialogue here comes across. Combative, competitive and quite often eager to get a point across with anger. High energy stuff.

7. Actors 2 - Further to the female roles, have to put a shout out to Vasquez. She’s fantastic. Street kid from the favellas who now works one of the toughest guns the army has and is first into the fight. Super cool and deeply layered without saying much, Vasquez is a gift. And this is coming from Cameron’s writing. Some characters frankly, regardless of the writers skill, are just boss. That’s Vasquez.

8. Story - That rare air of a sequel worth your time. Cleverly jumps from the previous story into its own incarnation. With the savvy plot twist of being set decades after the original, that also gives the story room to be its own animal. Which it does. We are back in familiar science-fiction territory; a group of hardened types going into a domain they think they understand, to try and find something they know nothing about. It’s been done for decades and is a sure fire way of selling a world you want to create. What works so fantastically here, plain and simple, is James Cameron‘s use of wrenching tension and excitement out of every single page. The threat is ever looming and he doesn’t give a shit about how you feel about it. Just as the alien doesn’t give a shit about how anyone coming into its lair feels. There’s a real synergy there, which is so viscerally exciting. Really where this script should be. And is.

9. Story 2 - this is pure legacy speculation here, but this first draft contains an interesting addition; the aliens can “sting” their prey, paralysing them for carrying to their cocoon. Whilst this never appeared in the films, it’s an intriguing addition to the creature lore. For my part, I would offer that if you’re writing a sequel to a well known property, sticking within the lore can certainly appeal to die hard fans. But there ain’t nothing wrong with adding something new. Like the addition of egg carrying drone aliens, white in appearance and there purely to serve the Queen. Another step that took some getting used to. For the most part, nobody can tell what will work and what won’t. But I’m not sorry they dropped the sting from the final draft. Or the white drones.

10. Finale - One could argue that the whole script is one finale after another (Hell, you could argue the whole film is the finale to its prequel). From the searching of the empty processing plant at the beginning, to Ripley and Newt fighting for their lives in the med bay with the two face huggers, to the aliens storming the compound and working their way through the hastily built defences that the small surviving group have created. Each one has its own feel of start, build and climax. Which is certainly an effective way to charge ahead for an action movie. You never get bored.

11. Finale 2 - it’s hard to know where the real finale starts, so I’m going to go with Ripley’s descent into Dantean hell, armed to the teeth and searching for Newt. Cameron really ups the descriptions here. The action directions are literally dripping with terror and a thesaurus like hunger for new ways to get your head into this space. Brilliantly, in the background, to add a pace and increased tension to this already extreme scenario, is the factories computer constantly announcing the countdown to its own self-destruction of the site. A clever little plot trick, but used masterfully here. Throw in the ever increasing bips of Newt’s locator beacon as Ripley gets closer to her, and it’s a wonder your head doesn’t explode with everything that’s being thrown at it.

12. Finale 3 - yeah, I know! How much more can a writer throw at you in two hours?! How about the double finale, as the Alien queen appears from the drop ship and one of the most iconic sci-fi battles ever ensues! This is action direction overload. There’s a lot to read here and possibly five or six lines of dialogue, so it is definitely heavy. But the exposition here is full pelt riveting, dizzying at times. One hell of a battle sequence and well worth keeping in your records as the perfect way to write a monster versus human scene. The tension ever escalates, the action becomes more intense, the fight choreography (can we call it that?) gets nastier and by the time the vicious beastie has been flushed out of the airlock, you’re as knackered as Ripley is. Fantastic finish to an already exhilarating script.

Wow. I’m f%*ked. That read took it out of me. That has to be one of the most full on scripts I’ve ever read. Relentless is the word. Relentless. But that’s what an incredible action script should be. It should leave you breathless. Spent. But thrilled. That was worth the time.

A James Cameron script. You know it’s going to be good. But when it’s great…Wow!

Link to the script:

https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Aliens.pdf