Kelly O’Brien is a woman who came home from the U.S. Army to a daughter (Molly) who had grown up without her. When her husband dies, her entire world is focused on saving her daughter from the aliens and the predator.
Attitude
Kelly is a passive individual in the movie. When Molly asks for her father to read her a bedtime story, she just agrees and gets up. When her husband is attacked by the aliens, she turns and runs away instead of trying to save him (it is questionable if this is a negative example), and when the aliens are attacking in the store she doesn’t do anything except throw a gun to a guy when he asks for it.
Even in the situation when a man is threatening to kill her daughter if she doesn’t stop making a noise, she just clutches her daughter and says nothing. The man is stopped by a predator, not by herself.
When they find an armored personnel carrier, she hands out weapons (which she suggests) but keeps none for herself at first. The town sheriff asks for a radio and she hands it to him, despite the fact that she has more experience with military matters.
She begins to get more active in her decisions when the colonel tells everyone to gather in the center of town. This is actually one of the first times in the movie she actually was proactive with her decisions. She also questions the decisions which leads into splitting the two groups; this is also the point where she uses plot exposition to explain the trap.
Even in the end, she is told to go to the helicopter while another character “plays the hero” leading into the final battle between the alien and predator.
Appearance
When she is first introduced to the viewer, Kelly is shown in her army uniform coming home. This is used to set up a back story with the character but she only remains in it for a single scene. Later, she is shown in a terrycloth robe before the attack on her husband.
After the attack, she wears a red tank top for the rest of the movie. This exposes a fair amount of skin to the viewer, more so when she is standing in the rain.
Abilities
In the beginning, she is portrayed as a defensive character. When a man threatening her daughter is killed by a predator, she is observant enough to discern that picking up the killed man’s gun would threaten her. She leaves it behind. Despite being U.S. Army, she spend very little of the movie actually armed while being surrounded by armed men.
She is the only one who can fly a helicopter at the end, which ensures her survival.
Relationships
From her introduction, Kelly’s primary relationship is with her daughter and her husband. These are the first two characters she encounters on screen. She is affectionate to both her daughter and her husband, but there are signs that she has not been involved with her upbringing. This is shown by Molly’s response to getting night vision goggles and the look on her face. It is also demonstrated when Molly is being put to bed and how she prefers her father over Kelly to wish her good night.
Kelly’s relationship with her husband is relatively short in the movie. They are shown to be affectionate, both on the initial greeting and also the discussion about Kelly’s distance with her daughter. They are close, but most of the time during that talk after bed is with her husband not looking at her (he’s watching TV).
When her husband is attacked by the alien, Kelly grabs her daughter and runs away. She doesn’t try to save him beyond calling out his name once. Assuming that she had basic training, she seems somewhat passive in her response to a eminent threat to her family. Later, she is still shown running away until another male stops her.
Sexuality
There is very little sexuality about Kelly in the movie, except for the affection and kissing with her husband.
History
Very little history is given of the character. It is implied that Kelly has spent at least one tour in the army given her distance from her daughter.
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