Review of Aliens (1986) by Raymond M — 04 Aug 2018

James Cameron could be prosecuted for having wrecked the magnificent atmosphere that 1979 Ridley Scott's Alien had created. In the original film, the Alien was a mysterious creature, almost invincible. It was pure horror, in space. Cameron came with the idea to transform this in a "Rambo in space", full of thick Marines so caricatural and grotesque that you wonder sometimes if this is parody. The worse is that, to be able to maintain this battle on the length of a film, Cameron had to weaken and banalize the Aliens, who become ordinary monsters that can be beaten with a classic weapon. You have to see how strangely slow and harmless they become, for Ripley to be able to slaughter a bunch of them on her way to salvation, all that with a kid on her arms.

For the rest, the film is well executed, technically impressive, and the storyline between Ripley/Newt involving Ripley's deceased daughter (thats in the Director's cut) is quite moving. And it's an Alien, so a film to watch anyway. But the concept of the film is wrong, by essence.