Review of Aliens (1986) by Harry210 — 14 Apr 2011

Aliens is a worthy sequel to an already classic horror film. It differs slightly from Alien from the fact that it is more of an action movie in comparison to Alien, which is a suspense, sci-fi horror movie.

No doubt, it still retains some horror elements like the fact that the Aliens and facehuggers haven't changed in appearance and the disgusting Alien breeding process. However, even though this movie retains the same horrifying characters from the previous film, it's not as scary.

Going down, the action route, I could where James Cameron was going. Because there are now loads of Aliens, they can afford to have loads of action and shootouts with the Aliens and still not be rid of the creepy creatures.

If Alien was an action movie and the scientists were marines, it would be only about 5 minutes after the Alien had reached adulthood because there is only one Alien. This film introduces the Alien Queen, which now gives us a good explanation of how the Alien race came to be and how those dreaded facehuggers were made.

I toughly enjoyed the plot and it moves at a faster pace from the previous film; no waiting for something to happen, although it takes a while for Ripley and the marines to find the Alien hideout. James Cameron has written a really good story and I found it really enjoyable to see Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) emerge as a determined, tough heroine, trying to protect Newt and battle against the Alien scum.

Ripley forms a bond with this little girl and the final scene is a highlight of this fact, where Ripley has a one on one battle in a mech against the Alien Queen (which is pi**ssed off because Ripley torched all of her precious eggs).

This sets the stage for a pretty satisfying climax to what is actually quite a long movie, longer than the first one. The line, "Get away from her you Bi**h" that Ripley says when a close up of her is shown while she is in the mech is possibly the best line in this movie; I love the way she raises her voice when she says the word "Bi**h!" It's almost like she's saying, "bring it on" in a rather more intimidating and threatning way.

Ripley was definately scared of going after the Aliens with the marines at the start of the movie but she then learns to confront her own fear. The sets are again, astonishing and expand on the scope from the first Aliens.

The special effects are really good; like the Aliens design and the fire effects of the machine guns that the marines use. This movie is just as violent as the first movie and one scene just made me go "Ugggh"; the scene when the android, Bishop gets sliced in half by the Alien Queen and this "Milk" substance pours out of his nostrils and mouth.

James Cameron has made the right choice to make this an action movie rather than a suspense horror film because I couldn't really see what he could have done more with the Alien character in that situation.

Although, this action packed take on the Alien series would be abandoned and return to the slow, suspenseful film in the next Alien film, Alien 3. In my opinion, Aliens is a brilliant sci-fi movie and is overall, the best Alien film I enjoyed in the series.