Review of Aliens (1986) by Jon D — 22 Sep 2018

Alien is one of my favorite movies of all time. I loved the claustrophobia, the sense of isolation, the Lovecraftian fear of the unknown, the stalking and nearly invincible menace, Sigourney's long hair, and the thrill of not knowing where the alien is or how it will attack.

All of that is gone from Aliens.

Replaced by an expansive colony, a team of annoying self-proclaimed 'badasses', the revelation of Xenomorphs, writhing hordes of petty aliens that are killed quickly and easily, Sigourney's butchered haircut, and the knowledge of exactly where the aliens are and what they're doing.

I honestly don't understand what went wrong here. Alien was an incredible space horror film. Aliens is a generic, over-the-top action movie.

The acting is horrendous in Aliens, as is the majority of the script. I absolutely hated the space marines with the burning passion of a thousand suns, Hudson (Bill Paxton) and Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) being the worst offenders. I literally wanted all of them to die as soon as possible.

It is conveniently revealed that Ripley had a daughter, a fact that - to the best of my knowledge - was never even discussed in Alien. This just to make the bond between her and Newt (Carrie Henn) supposedly more meaningful. I'll take Jonesy over Newt any day.

Suffice to say that Aliens is a huge disappointment in my eyes, and begins the obvious descent into mediocrity that the rest of the series appears to have wallowed in for the past 30 years.