Space Marines

In some ways I liked the sequel to Alien even better than the original. Sigourney Weaver was back, of course, along with a squad of marines. The marines were a bunch of seriously-armed-to-the-teeth dudes - and one equally armed-to-the-teeth woman. Which leads to the best line of dialogue in either film:

Male marine to female marine: "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?"

Vasquez: "No. Have you?"

The theme of corporate stupidity and greed - hinted at in Alien - plays out here in full as Ripley, the marines, a good android (wonderfully played by Lance Henricksen), and a Company shill (the usually amiable Paul Reiser) return to the planet visited by the Nostromo.

The marines are brave and (mostly) smart, but they are in over their heads: the enemy is something they don't understand, and modern weapons won't save them. Ripley understands, but she is also hampered - at least temporarily - by her own prejudice against androids. The Company shill is just that.

And did I mention there's a little girl ('Newt') to rescue?

In the end, Ripley and the little girl survive, along with (sort of) the android and one of the marines, Hicks. Hicks is the exceedingly cute one, the calm one, a leader - he's our hero to match our heroine. We see them off into hypersleep and go home reasonably happy . . . . .

Except then they die. The third movie in the franchise (Alien3, released in 1992, six years after Aliens) begins with the crash of an escape pod, and the death of Newt and Hicks.

What?

How annoying is that? Apparently James Cameron (the director of Aliens) was annoyed as well. You cannot have your audience emotionally invest in your characters, see them through perilous times, have them barely escape with their lives--

--and then kill them off in the first few minutes of the next movie. That just bites.

I decided not to see the third movie when I found out about this bit of plot. In my mind Ripley, Hicks, Newt and even Bishop the android are happy somewhere, in hypersleep or out, and alive.