Review of Aliens (1986) by Delta_Assault — 27 Sep 2011

So many franchises we have today owe their success to Aliens. The Zerg from Starcraft? Aliens. The Tyranids from Warhammer 40k? Aliens. The bugs from Starship Troopers the film (not the book)? Aliens. The Brood from X-Men? Aliens. The Flood from Halo? Aliens. Probably a few others I've missed? Aliens. James Cameron took Ridley Scott's spookhouse in space and completely changed gears to deliver the ultimate scifi war film. Do smartguns on steadycam mounts make a ton of logical sense? Maybe not, but they looked damn cool. So much of what James Cameron designed was incredibly cool and has influenced pop culture. The Pelicans from Halo? Just copies of the Dropship from Aliens. The dropship pilot telling us we're in the pipe five by five? A direct line from Aliens. Angry black sargeant? That's just Apone. Shotgun being good in Doom? Probably Hick's, for close encounters.

The greatness of Aliens, apart from its many cool little tidbits, is the pacing. It's relentless. You're on this sorta roller coaster ride, but it's not quite fun. It's tense, scary, completely draining. And when you think you've managed to escape the worst of it... the Queen pops out of the rear landing gear and you're right back in the thick of it, witnessing an epic fight with a goddamn power loader. This film is great because it dialed absolutely everything up to 11. Looking back, it's easy to see that Alien 3 would've been somewhat of a disappointment no matter what they chose to do. Aliens said pretty much everything that needed to be said about humans in space battling xenomorphs. Game over man, game over.