A series of fantastic horror stories about the deadly confrontation of Ellen Ripley and an extraterrestrial life form in outer space long before the Gravity by Alfonso Cuarona became a manifesto of the earthly strong spirit of women.
In the context
“Alien” is a model sci-fi horror film, in which the creators laid a lot of subtexts. Since the release of the first episode of the franchise (1979) and to this day “Aliens” has been the subject of scientific articles, research papers, books and dissertations: in the context of the series they see both feminist discourse, the concept of motherhood, and the left idea. But the leader is the perverse sexuality of the human alliance (Ellen Ripley) and the alien life form, their confrontation has more than once been called one of the best battles of the sexes on the movie screen.
Veteran of space battles with "strangers"
No doubt, Ellen Ripley is one of the best and most popular fictional movie characters of all time. The heroine with a light hand of the creators defied the generally accepted stereotype of what the heroine of a sci-fi horror film and action should be, glorifying the performer of the role of Sigourney Weaver to the whole world. Ellen Ripley, whose biography is entirely fictitious, was born in early January 2092 in the US colony on the moon "Olympia". Having received the appropriate education, the girl for some time served as the second pilot of the Zhelyazny spaceship of the American Space Merchant Navy. Circumstances forced Ellen to change his position and replenish the crew of the Nostromo hyper-powered spacecraft. During this period, a brave woman violates the terms of the contract and becomes pregnant naturally. After 9 months, she has a daughter, Amanda. Before the fateful flight, Ripley submits an application for an extraordinary vacation in order to spend more time with the baby. The company, without applying administrative penalties, promises to satisfy her request, but after returning from the next flight.
Alien Time
From the moment the first picture appeared on the screen, which made a shocking impression on the beholder, provoking a situation of mass psychosis, thousands of fans of a brave woman watched her fate. The authors introduced Ellen Ripley as a warrant officer of the Nostromo spaceship returning from the planet Tedus to Earth. The entire crew of the spacecraft, as usual, is in hypersnap mode, from which they are awakened by a distress signal coming from LV-426, one of the planetoids. Having decided to examine the LV-426, part of the team goes on a rescue expedition, which is not going smoothly at all. Together with the returning crew members, the Nostromo gets a model of extraterrestrial life that gradually kills all people - only Lieutenant Ellen Ripley survives. A woman, having got into a rescue shuttle, manages to throw an alien organism that has crept after her into outer space.
After the film was released, film critics instantly designated the film as a landmark event in film fiction. The creators inventively raised alarm, frightened them with unprecedented modifications and transformations of the Alien, using all means of artistic expressiveness in the original way, thereby proving to the world their highest professionalism.
57 years later
In the sequel “Aliens”, which appeared 7 years later, the new director James Cameron continues to tell the waiting audience about the vicissitudes of the heroine’s fate. Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (actress Sigourney Weaver) spends 57 years in a state of sleep, after which her shuttle discovers a rescue service. A female astronaut learns that the planet on which the Aliens reigned in her time, was currently inhabited by Earth colonists. And more recently, they lost contact. Ripley has no doubt that this is the merit of a whole population of monsters and goes with a team of like-minded persons in the guise of a consultant for their destruction. Experienced Marines - the crew of the Sulako spaceship, almost immediately become victims of unbridled monsters. Android Bishop, baby Newt and Corporal Dwayne Hicks manage to survive, together with Ripley they manage to return aboard the spacecraft by installing a bomb on the planetoid. But after them, the uterus of monsters enters the spaceship, wishing to avenge its dead brood. Having lost the battle with Ellen Ripley, the queen flies into outer space, and crew members, wounded but alive, enter a state of hypersn, directing the ship to Earth.
“It has begun again ...”
The third part of the franchise - “Alien 3” - was filmed by director David Fincher, who preferred not an intimidating atmosphere, but energetic action. The film has an atmosphere of fuss, general panic and running around, which not only interferes with understanding the motives of specific actions of the heroes, but also deprives them of the pleasure of observing the next modifications of the space monster. The Nostromo rescue module makes an emergency landing on the remote planetoid Fiorin, turned into a prison for the most cruel and incorrigible criminals. After examining the crew, it turns out that only the invulnerable Ellen Ripley is viable. A stranger, or rather, one of its forms - the face-grab (larva) - begins to ramp up, while not touching Ellen. A woman is alarmed by the manifestation of mercy on the part of an alien monster - she shines through herself with a scanner. The heroine’s worst fears are confirmed: the queen’s embryo grows inside Ripley. At this time, the prisoners manage to drown a stranger in molten lead, and the fearless lieutenant Ellen voluntarily rushes into a boiler with boiling metal.
The cult of Ripley. Final chapter
In the movie Alien 4: Resurrection, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet carries the story two hundred years ahead after a bloody massacre on a planet-prison. An unenviable burden fell on the director - responsibility for completing the quadralogy. The director managed to make a high-quality, successful film, without triviality, shining with originality from all angles, completing a franchise at a high level, many times surpassing its predecessor. The irreplaceable Ripley is cloned from her own DNA, the heroine is even more spectacular and courageous. Sigourney Weaver demonstrates to fans not only an amazing dramatic talent, but also an excellent physical shape. However, having resurrected the lieutenant, scientists grant life to the Alien, he is removed from Ellen surgically. Specialists do not take into account the fact that their DNA is mixed. In a cloned woman, acid flows through her veins, and the queen does not lay eggs, she gives birth to a monster with a muzzle that has human features. The newborn immediately kills the queen, perceiving Ripley as his mother. It is not easy for a woman to destroy this creature, but, having appreciated the full scale of the tragedy for humanity, Ellen gets rid of the monster.
Ripley as a brand
It is not surprising that the heroine of quadralogy has become an object of worship for thousands of fans around the world. Given the circumstances, Seiko prepared a surprise for all fans by releasing an Ellen Ripley watch for the 30th anniversary of the second film. Giorgetto Giugiaro, a famous Italian automobile designer, took part in the creation of the watch. Collection watches were released in a very limited edition and have an impressive cost. One difference of the modern version was the lack of buttons on the left side of the case.