James Cameron's influence upon Aliens began long before any footage was shot. He was chosen by producers of the film after they read his screenplay for The Terminator. Cameron has revealed in interviews that he would make himself a pot of coffee, sit down and just write. After less than a week he produced the film's initial treatment. Cameron's ability to create worlds that are inhabited by not every day characters is his forte (which we've seen time and time again with Titanic, Avatar). And this film is non exception.
Cameron creates a planet overtaken by the alien lifeforms. The use of special effects allows the story to be an immersive experience for the audience. We see this in the initial descent onto the planet as the crew navigates through the opaque clouds onto the darkened, stormy landscape with seemingly no vegetation. This gives us the impression that there is no life and nothing good will grow out of this mission without having to say a single word. Mr. Cameron uses the visual image to say everything that needs to be known by the audience, the visual cues direct our emotions as well as tell us where we are going in the narrative. The cocooned woman and thermal readings of the alien species even though no one can see the enemy around them--we watch as the alien life-form moves in darkness and this creates a great deal of suspense as we are in on the violence about to come while the characters don't know where it is. The ships lights go red as the aliens approach--this tells us all hell is about to break loose. And it does when an infestation of aliens creep and crawl quickly towards the crew to devour them.
What is vital to clue into with Cameron's work is that he makes it about humanity. Burke loses his as he is solely interested in harvesting the alien eggs back on earth--to the extreme that he puts a face hugger in a locked room with Ripley and Newt. Ripley's humanity is what saves those left alive. It's her unwillingness to give up on a child that most are prepared to abandon. Cameron creates an emotional through-line that serves the story in the greatest of ways: it reveals the always present decision to choose our humanity in the gravest of circumstances or the most mundane. And that is a vital reason Cameron is so successful with his action packed films. They aren't simply a visual show, but they stimulate our emotions in a primary way.
