Aliens (1986)

Superlative

PLOT:
The sequel to Alien (1979) sees the sole survivor of the Nostromo crew, Ellen Ripley, return to the nightmare planet with a platoon of gung-ho space marines and an array of incredible armoury. While the mission is sold to Ripley as a species extermination, there are ulterior motives at play. All intentions become irrelevant, however, once the extra-terrestrials arrive on the scene.

REVIEW:
To date, the chief criticism of Aliens from most critics is its slow first half and its departure from its predecessor's elegance and claustrophobic style. Yet there is a wealth of exceptionally sharp dialogue maintained throughout the film, including during the first hour, and once the action begins in earnest, the claustrophobia returns with a vengeance and many spine-tingling moments ensue.

While the sequel's cast was largely inexperienced, talented newcomers such as Lance Henriksen (Bishop), Paul Reiser (Burke) and Bill Paxton (Hudson) utilised the marvellous script to leave lasting impressions on viewers and thus build illustrious careers as both character actors and leading men. Of course there's also the much-expanded alien cast, which includes the hideous alien monarch in her terrifying screen debut. And finally, there's Sigourney Weaver, in the performance of her career as Ellen Ripley.

Score, production design and special effects are solid, and arguably timeless. They should appeal to teenagers of both today and yesteryear. I say "teenagers" because it was when I was a teenager that my friends and I were entranced with this film: the high-tech weaponry; the gung-ho battles; the deadly and elegantly repulsive extra-terrestrials...and the even deadlier Ellen Ripley...

ELEPHANT STAMPS:
James Cameron for writing.
Sigourney Weaver for acting. January 4, 2009

JollyGreenGiant

This film was a staple of my youth. I was an usher in a movie theater when it was released in the '80s. The reactions I kept hearing from the crowd were amazing and now twentysomething years later it still is one of the best Sci-Fi films ever made. The DVD looks great and the sound is incredible but the special features disc is the treasure. The feature length "making of" documentary was very entertaining and informative from, casting, to set construction, to special effects and creature design it had it all. That's the kind of features I like to see not the ones where they all talk about how great working with each other was. But, to delve into character development and script writing what it took to bring James Cameron's vision to the screen, that's the good stuff. Forget all the other special editions this is the one to have. November 17, 2008

Outstanding sci fi shooter!

This is one of the best sci fi films I've ever seen. It's got tension, gore, excellent setpieces and some brilliant lines. The direction is incredibly good and the DVD is well worth getting. It's a superb film that can be watched over and over again. Amazingly good. November 4, 2008

How can't you like this?

Seriously, if you like either sci-fi or action movies, I can't really give you a reason not to like this movie. i think people who rate this movie below a 3 are really either not fans of either genre of film mentioned above or really really stupid. Great action scenes, great special effects(for the time) and great pacing. Listen, they already did the suspense portion of the story. You already seen the alien so it makes sense to put you face to face with it. What better way of doing that then space marines. What, are they going to send scientist or another mining crew? Then you have the same movie over again. So, we finally get a bigger picture of who the "company" really is, and what they will do to secure said alien. What that means to us action fans is a lot, and I mean LOT, of firepower. The action scenes are a delightful mixture of frenetic helmet camera shots and pretty good solid camera work. The camera does not bounce from shot to shot as much as 90 percent of action movies from that era. Oh for the sci-fi fans, we have wonderfully detailed aliens here. The designs are top notch and the way we see how they live and hunt as a pack would scare you out of your skin if you were one of those marines. I loved how this movie played out. To me, it was fast enough that I never got bored, yet seemed to take it's time to let fans of the original get involved in new plot lines and newcomers get a understanding of the alien mythos. I don't know what else to say except, I love this movie. October 31, 2008

Easily, the best out of the series!

Rarely do you come across sequels that surpass the original by a very long shot and this one does just that. James Cameron easily brings probably his best movie of his career to the screen while making the franchise a world wide million dollar hit. This comes with great action sequences, nerve wrecking tension and special effects with fantastic performances by Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton as well as boasting a lot more action than the original Alien which is still a fantastic movie.

The extras are pretty indepth including Cameron's original story treatment and every from pre to post production footage and information. Also you have the choice of choosing the original theatrical version or the new extended version. The theatrical version gives you the 1986 classic original and is great fun. But the extended is far more entertaining with making a difference of about 17 minutes with more story and character design and of course more action. This is great and the added are mostly for good reason, but occasionally it is unnecessary and may slightly damage the suspense. However both of the version are brillantly executed.

This is by far the best out of the series followed by the original and also helped Sigourney Weaver walk away with an oscar nomination from a movie that will be a classic forever. However this is where you stop in the quadrilogy because three and four are ruined by poor storytelling and stupidity. October 25, 2008

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