James Cameron's 1986 magnum opus Aliens was his announcement to the universe that The Terminator wasn't a fluke and he was going to be a cinematic force to be reckoned with. I remember seeing it at the show then telling my then-girlfriend that "It was like being shoved through a screen door...without the door breaking." (Even as a young lad I had a way with words. May not have been a good way, but it was a way.)
Back in the good old days of the Aughts when DVDs came with massive special features packages, the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy box set of the (then) four Alien movies included Superior Firepower: Making Aliens, a 190-minute long documentary by Charles de Lauzirika which combined behind-the-scenes footage shot during the filming with interviews taped about 17 years later with the participants. It's been ages since I watched it (probably in 2003 when I got the set), but de Lauzirika is renowned for his production documentaries including Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner which accompanied Blade Runner: The Final Cut and I recall it was good (I've started rewatching it) and comprehensive.
But director Ian Nathan felt there was more to be told so, backed by a massive crowdfunding campaign, he has made 2024's Aliens Expanded, clocking in at a daunting 4 hours, 42 minutes (hough the actual content is 4h 15m and the rest a credits roll of the legions of donors with brief testimonials that I'm guessing higher tier donations purchased) and features the participation of pretty much the entire living cast and key filmmakers including Cameron, producer Gale Ann Hurd, various production personnel, as well as numerous superfans, novelists, scientists, and pop culture experts to comment on the legacy of Aliens after nearly four decades. (Also participating is Charles de Lauzirika, upping the Inception quotient!)
If you're already a superfan of the film, there will be a lot of familiar material like how Hicks was originally played by James Remar until early in production he made the poor life choice of buying a speedball (cocaine & heroin) from an undercover cop, necessitating Hurd to scramble to get Remar deported rather than end up in slam for years. But there are a lot of new details like Cameron's dustup with the tea cart lady and tidbits from the cast like how the initials on the Colonial Marines' monitors were the actors first initial (e.g. Vasquez is "Vasquez J" for actress Jeanette Goldstein).
While the running time seems excessive, it's actually quite manageable by a chapter structure where the movie is gone through sequentially with sidebars "transmissions" for related subjects like the connection to Joseph Campbell (both Alien's Nostromo and Aliens' Sulaco came from Campbell books) and a nice tribute to Bill Paxton whose Hudson had so many quotable lines. ("Game over, man! Game over!") I watched a few chapters per session, nibbling through it over a couple of weeks.
It's a testament to Aliens Expanded's editing and focus that there's nothing that I thought was too extraneous or unnecessary. Having every bit player whose names you probably didn't even remember sounding off could've been a drag, but their comments and insights tie together nicely. And with nearly 40 years of the film's legacy to assay, the perspectives of what the movie meant beyond its own story are interesting.
And I'd really like to commend Nathan for heading off one of my biggest pet peeves about most documentaries by putting up title cards for every person EVERY time they are shown. Most documentaries introduce speakers once and then the viewer has to remember who they are. With over three dozen cast members, podcasters, commentators, etc. participating it could've been confusing as to who that non-cast member person is, but Nathan just puts up a friendly reminder every. Single. Time. Huzzah!
In length and comprehensiveness, Aliens Expanded reminded me of another four-plus hour documentary, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, which also interviewed everyone - and I mean EVERYONE down to the woman being assaulted whom RoboCop shoots the guy's crotch through her skirt and the bimbos at Bob Morton's house that Boddicker dismisses ("Bitches, leave.") - including director Paul Verhoeven and stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, etc. about that seminal cult classic's production. I didn't review it because they broke it up into four hourish-long episodes, but it's definitely worth watching for fans of RoboCop just as Aliens Expanded joins Superior Firepower to form a tag-team 7-1/2 hour making-of fest.
Score: 9/10. Catch it on cable/streaming. (Viewed on AMC+)
I don't know why Sigourney Weaver isn't shown in the trailer, but she's in the movie plenty. Odd.
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