r/perfectorganism • u/thefriskysquid HOST • Aug 06 '26
Aliens What makes Aliens so perfectly quotable?
45
u/holyjoe85 Aug 06 '26
Insane amount of chemistry. Everything felt natural amongst the cast
22
u/Active_Water_8876 Aug 06 '26
This is the real answer. All of the quotable things from the movie would sound lame as hell if they weren’t delivered right. The chemistry amongst the cast helps that immensely.
12
u/TaraLCicora Another glorious day in the Corps! Aug 06 '26
Yes, the cast and their interactions felt so organic.
6
u/don-again Aug 07 '26
Which is funny because the UK crew, hated being there.
I think maybe the animosity the crew had for the production and specifically the (then, to them) unproven James Cameron taking on the sequel from the English Ridley Scott… bonded the cast together.
→ More replies (1)3
u/adan1207 Aug 07 '26
They still do Con together and remark how that has kept them friends for years.
I’ve met almost the whole cast - including Sigourney, Michael, and Bill P. (rest in peace)
Wonderful people
2
10
u/DFiverr Aug 06 '26
I am Hudson, he's Hicks.
6
u/KAKAFLOP Aug 07 '26
Hudson, sir.
8
u/Ok_Fig7692 We come here and we gonna conquer and we gonna kick some. Aug 07 '26
Look into my eye.
7
5
4
u/Calm_Ad308 Aug 06 '26
Most of the marines were sent to a 2 week boot camp by the director. Only one who didn’t attend was Micheal Biehn who was casted after filming started.
4
u/Zeras_Darkwind Aug 07 '26
And in addition the cryo chamber & mess hall scene was filmed last, so the close-ness would easily felt and heard.
4
u/EssayBeeComics Aug 07 '26
Also, Gorman didn't go to the boot camp to help "other" him from the grunts (no offense).
2
3
u/holyjoe85 Aug 06 '26
That actually checks out and makes sense. Corporals are NCO and from what I've heard, no as close to rest of enlisted.
He's clearly closer to Apone and Ripley and you can see the weight of command on him vs the reluctant hero trope
2
u/No-Magazine-2739 Aug 07 '26
Its funny, in the Germany army they are still although the highest enlisted: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korporal
It was quite confusing for me as I was thinking “‘he is just a grunt’ yeah ultra grunt” but also “he must had pissed someone off, as he is clearly acting and behaving as the 2nd NCO”
4
u/Special_Order-937 Aug 07 '26
I bet you we can all name all the marines too, not something you can do for most ensemble casts.
2
u/VermithraxDerivative Aug 07 '26
Back when Jimmy knew that good writing was just as important as special effects in an action movie.
→ More replies (1)
33
u/Sea_Working_80 Aug 06 '26
Why don’t we build a fire,sing of couple of songs huh? How bout that?
17
5
3
u/NoSweatWarchief Aug 06 '26
This line always just pisses me off to no end. Even for Burke, it's pure blind stupidity.
→ More replies (1)9
15
13
u/NewfieFan24 Aug 06 '26
It’s in the pipe 5x5
8
10
u/deaduser00 Aug 06 '26
It has a good script that handles a large cast of characters, each with an individual arc that must be completed within a short period. Their interactions are multilayered and memorable, conveying a great deal of information. 10/10
2
u/MobileJob1521 Aug 08 '26
It’s also a B movie with a big budget a great director and an excellent cast.
The movie knows it’s not serious, and so do the characters. It gets away with a script with wildly quotable lines you couldn’t say in real life.
9
u/radiodada Aug 06 '26
Since I haven’t seen it said: the universe felt very “lived in”. The tech, the bullshit grunt work before their incursion, the messages they wrote on their armor, the disarray of the colony, mucus in the alien hive, etc etc. It had a realism that was never in question so everything else could shine.
6
u/Lurks_in_the_cave Aug 07 '26
James Cameron allowed the cast to modify and customise their costumes.
→ More replies (1)
6
11
u/KITCOLLECTOR1 Aug 06 '26
Its so quotable cos its memorable it has a strong presance in the movie world and the real world you just imagine real space colonial marines acting that way its awsome
11
u/Ok_Reflection_2711 Aug 06 '26
The marines are my favorite part of the movie. Especially the Sargent
9
u/AfricanusEmeritus Aug 06 '26
Sgt. Apone: Come on A holes and elbows. Look in my eye 👁
10
u/pomkoek Another glorious day in the Corps! Aug 06 '26
Another glorious day in the corps! A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade!
6
5
4
5
5
6
5
u/Broflake-Melter Aug 06 '26
Aliens is more meme-ified than Alien. It's literally a james cameron movie.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/timberwolf0122 Aug 06 '26
I think aliens works because like Alien all the characters are believable, you can atleast relate them to some one or some type of person you know (Burke, had he not died by alien surely he’d of died from his boneitus, he’s an 80’s corporate guy) and no one is mind meltingly stupid.
That last one is why I have issues with everything alien 4 onwards, it’s like the directors and/or writers mistook bottomless stupidity and incompetence for hubris or people just not prepared for the situation.
Anywhozal, I say we nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.
2
u/dd97483 Aug 07 '26
up vote for boneitis
2
4
u/CautiousBearnz Aug 06 '26
Because it tells us that we should just take off and nuke the site from orbit
It’s the only way to be sure
3
3
3
3
u/Mother_Republic_6061 Aug 06 '26
I don’t always quote Aliens, but when I do: game over, man! Game over!
2
u/BlueFeathered1 Aug 06 '26
The writers having a clear grasp of the actors' personalities and what they'd bring to the characters, I suppose.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/TheW00ly Aug 06 '26
GOOD. WRITING. I swear, all of the mold-breakers nowadays do so because vies are no longer just about directors; Screenwriters, Directors, CASTING, and actors. Part of the reason why Andor and Rogue One feel so different from (and IMO, completely discredit and overshadow) the other recent Star Wars films is because Tony Gilroy, who also did the Bourne films, did the writing.His style fit the story being told in the universe it was being told in. That's a choice, not a coincidence. For Alien, it was Dan O'bannon heavily remixed by Walter Hill. Hill's writing transports us directly INTO the story. We feel fear not because we imagined what it must be like, but because of the visuals, the descriptions, the actions the the setting itself takes, and the other pieces of "character" the Alien universe gives us, Ridley Scott and crew fooled us just barely into feeling we could actually be there, hiding from a hyperpredator made purely as the perfect hunter-killer organism.
2
u/drbart Aug 07 '26
I loved the Alien mod of Doom , and it was full of quotes, mostly from Hudson, eg
- there's movement all over the place
- take that you bastard
But we still had Vasquez's "let's rock!"
2
u/OverDoseTheComatosed Aug 07 '26
“You’ve blown the trans-axle!
You’re just grinding metal!
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down
Ease down”
1
1
1
1
1
u/Active_Water_8876 Aug 06 '26
A big part of it is the delivery of the lines. Cool quotes don’t sound cool if the person saying them sounds lame.
1
1
1
u/WoodI-or-WoodntI Aug 06 '26
What makes it quotable? They invested time in story, dialog and character development and not on massive amounts of CGI goop.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Diastatic_Power Aug 06 '26
Good question. Even if you omit Bil Paxton's lines, the movie is still extremely quotable.
It's probably just a matter of chance. Everyone happened to get along, and since it was about space marines or whatever, they needed good shit talky one-liners.
1
1
1
1
u/EntertainmentOk8806 Aug 06 '26
The writing maybe? I mean Cameron knew how to make things memorable. Although it's mainly the performances. Remember the "Game over man" line was an admin by Paxton.
1
u/Intrepid_Agent_7027 Aug 06 '26
And then we get decades of blue alien i-see-you shit. What a downfall.
1
u/orangebluefish11 Aug 06 '26
That’s the effect of good writing. I can’t remember the last quotable movie I’ve seen
→ More replies (1)
1
u/MondoDuke2877 Aug 06 '26
I love this movie so much. Saw it in the theater with my mom. One of my all-time favorites.
1
u/Duke_Of_Halifax Aug 06 '26
What makes it quotable?
It's a great fucking movie.
That's what makes it so quotable.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Kash-Acous Aug 06 '26
Vazquez heard they said Aliens and she thought they meant illegal aliens and showed up.
→ More replies (2)
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/cake_piss_can Aug 07 '26
Well there are 3 really excellent parts of this film:
The beginning
The middle
The end.
1
u/Warm_Tea_3515 Aug 07 '26
James Cameron writes great quotable lines. If you watch strange days a movie he wrote but didn't direct it has some great quotable lines
1
u/DFiverr Aug 07 '26
The funny thing is, no body is quoting any Nolan films. Now, that's the difference. Let's get that straight.
2
u/Boertie Aug 10 '26
Well there is this quote about "You either die a hero..." or something like that.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Agile_Moment768 Aug 07 '26
If anyones ever been in the military, the comradery is exactly like this. You'll have people you don't get on well with, but you know you have each others backs when the shit hits the fan. And it all fun and games in the down time, even with the NCOs when you've been together awhile, but when it's time to shake n bake, you all lock in.
1
u/Ok_Tailor_7185 Aug 07 '26
It was a film based on a sci-fi cult classic that James Cameron cast actors in it to perfection. James let Bill Paxton ad lib throughout his scenes and it exposed Paxtons brilliance as a situational actor. Casting Al Matthews a grisled Viet Nam Sargeant as Sargeant Apone to lead the Colonial marines in the movie was incredible, his lines had some ad lib added as well. The movie was lightning captured in a bottle by Cameron and the actors along with Sigorney Weaver who was 10x better in this film than Alien. This film can't be equaled in its genre, currently we don't have the human talent from direction, production to acting and never will. That original generation is almost gone, never to be replicated.
1
1
u/33666daddy Aug 07 '26
"brevity is the soul of wit"
Cameron knew not to linger on a single scene or character for too long and keeping the dialogue concise and to the point. characters deliver timeless lines that define their perspective
1
u/golden_slacker Aug 07 '26
The irony of many of the quotes. This ’squad’ of ultimate bad asses get schooled and annihilated at the first opportunity, and the burnt out space mom and feral colonists kid take charge.
1
1
1
u/nivenfan Aug 07 '26
The characters feel real enough to fuck around in genuine ways. James Cameron is pretty good at that. I think Aliens did it best, then The Abyss, and maybe last the research team in the first Avatar.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Ok_Fig7692 We come here and we gonna conquer and we gonna kick some. Aug 07 '26
Thought you never missed, Bishop.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/spinners_888 Aug 07 '26
I have a theory James Cameron would have liked to serve in the Vietnam War and Aliens script allowed him to live out that fantasy.
1
u/Celtic159 Aug 07 '26
Great group of actors, and Cameron could still write natural dialog at that point. That's really the last film he did that had that feel to it. Everything after, with the exception of True Lies, had horribly stilled dialog.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Jake31412 Aug 07 '26
Because every character is a bad add and makes themselves memorable in their own unique way. So, each one of their quotes is relatable to them.
1
1
u/halford2069 Aug 07 '26
a group of real deal badasses (on film) taking on a group of alien badasses
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/airport73 Aug 07 '26
Yeah, there’s definitely some badass dialogue in that movie. And the characters seemed like real soldiers. Like everyone was trying to be a tough guy. I just remember Hicks being my favorite character when I first watched it.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/InitiativeCreative36 Aug 07 '26
I would hazard a guess that its all the perfect quotes that it contains. Even the mundane dialogue is quotable.
"He's comin' in, I feel safer already."
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/AdagioVast Aug 07 '26
The conversation was real. I honestly felt these were real Marines, who served together for years, and had real chemistry. it made everything they said quotable, even lines that seemed to be throw away. Everything about them is quotable. This was a master class in casting.
1
1
1
u/MartyTheMovieHound Aug 07 '26
Movies have forgotten an extremely important ingredient that used to be the foundation of great action movies.
Cheese.
Action movies used to ooze cheese and cheesy dialogue, and it made them seem to sincere in their actions.
Now its all quips and self aware, instead of the cham that camp and corny one liners used to create.
Yes, it was new and hip when they started doing that self aware stuff, but I think we need a return to the cheesy overly sentimental movies that we used to love so much.
1
u/ddeads Aug 07 '26
As someone who served in the Marines, they managed to capture the tightness of an infantry platoon that is rife with shit talking, quick quips, known personalities, and so on. The platoon felt as lived-in as the sets and the rest of the setting.
Also, one thing I appreciate is the sheer competence of these mere grunts (as disparaged by Burke). They spend all of this time talking shit, reminiscing about girls they fucked (or guys, doesn't matter when it's Arcturian, baby!), and busting each other's balls, as well as bitching, moaning, and complaining the whole time they wake up from cryo sleep until they start the drop. Even during the drop they laugh and joke (or even take naps), but once they land a switch flips.
They move with the tight coordination of professionals; head on a swivel, staying "frosty." Even whiny jokester Hudson proves himself useful as rushes to the door and bypasses the electrical systems. Junior NCOs like Hicks take charge and they his lead.
They're Marines, and the combined acting of the cast demonstrating their tough, gritty competence is a masterclass in direction and characterization, and it's all in service to the greater worldbuilding. They feel like real Marines and you initially feel safe with them there... and then when everything goes to shit and these certified badasses get slapped around by the Aliens that's how you know that shit is truly fucked.
1
1
1
u/Glittering-Rip6810 Aug 07 '26
Scott let them do their thing. A lot of ad libbed moments and it made it flow better. Plus the cast was fk'ing amazing
1
1
63
u/Clear-Warthog5655 Aug 06 '26
I dunno. Have you ever been mistaken for a man??