Review of Aliens (1986) by Keenan S — 09 May 2014

Much like the case with Alien, I have changed my rating for Aliens because it feel now as I've gotten older and more appreciative of films that it deserved a higher score. While my personal preference is for the original film as I enjoy a darker, slower-building atmosphere, Aliens is by no means a slouch for a sequel. In fact, Aliens is a shining pinnacle of sequels in which most other film sequels can only dream of being like in terms of quality.

57 years after escaping the horror that killed the members of the Nostromo, Ellen Ripley's escape pod is finally found by a salvage crew and she, along with the cat, Jonesy are rescued.

Upon waking, Ripley learns that her beloved daughter has died, she has been in space for 57 years, no one believes her story about the alien that killed her crew, and there are now colonists living on the planet where the horror all began (Only now it is called LV-426, with the colony being named Hadley's Hope). Now, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has taken away her license as a pilot and she is mostly shunned as a crazy person.

However, when shit hits the fan on LV-426, Ripley is asked to join a group of colonial marines to investigate what is going on at Hadley's Hope, which she reluctantly agrees to do and joins the rag-tag band of marines along with a humanoid, which she is not happy about because of what happened with the last humanoid she was with on the Nostromo.

Upon arriving, it seems that no one is around at the colony, and things get progressively stranger as the squad of marines investigates. The squad eventually finds the colonists, but they're all dead and appear to be part of an alien nest. Lo and behold, shit hits the fan with the marines and they are forced to contend with an endless army of aliens that seeks to kill them.

Now, Ripley, the marines, and a little girl named Newt must do everything in their power to survive and escape from this hell hole of a planet before it's too late.

Where as the original film was a slow-building film, Aliens is a mostly action-packed frenzy that is never once dull. However, that is not to say that Aliens isn't a scary film. Oh no, it's also got lots of jolts and scares to go around, with plenty of atmosphere as well - just more fast-paced this time around. There's lots of mayhem, lots of aliens, and a whole lot more this time around because Aliens aims to be a grand epic instead of being on a smaller scale like the original, and it not only works extremely well as an action epic, but also as a sci-fi and horror epic.

Much like its predecessor, the acting across the board is terrific. I felt that each of the actors gave their characters an interesting personality. Sigourney Weaver is damn good as Ripley, but I must also commend the actors who played the marines because they made them interesting instead of turning into cardboard cutouts like most other films would. Each character is well-rounded, well-developed, and actually interesting - something most other sci-fi, action, and horror films struggle to do, but this film makes it look effortless.

With an interesting story, great acting, plenty of thrilling action, lots of scares and suspense, and an intriguing atmosphere, Aliens is a definite classic in not one, but three different film genres. It is an exceptional film that does multi-genre effortlessly, and not only is a superb sequel, but it is simply a great film just standing by itself - not simply content to be in the shadow of the original, but rather to bravely forge its own path into classic status. It's a must-see for any action, sci-fi, or horror fan.