Almost as good as its predecessor

Rating: 9/10 (23 October 2010)

'Aliens' is undoubtedly one of the greatest action films ever made. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role of Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley and the film's action picks up fifty-seven years after the first film when her craft is intercepted by another spacecraft. She is woken from hypersleep to be not hailed as a hero and survivor but as someone who destroyed a very expensive spaceship. To add insult to injury she is then asked to confront her deepest fear once more by going up against the beast that almost killed her all those years ago.
The aliens' home planet of Acheron has been colonised but contact has recently been lost with the colonists. Ripley is asked by corporate smoothie Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) to accompany a team of heavily-armed marines to journey to the planet and find out what has become of the people who settled there.
Once the action kicks off it never lets up until the breathtaking final battle betwixt Ripley and the Alien Queen, an astonishing creation by the late special mechanical effects wizard Stan Winston. Weaver delivers another bravura performance as the 'alpha female' Ripley; and there is fantastic support from director James Cameron regulars Michael Biehn as the tough Corporal Dwayne Hicks; Lance Henriksen as Bishop, a gentle android; and Bill Paxton as the loudmouth Private Hudson. Jenette Goldstein is great as Private Vasquez, a kickass tomboy who is very much just one of the guys.
This is a roller-coaster ride which will blow your mind. James Cameron just keeps outdoing himself. He was recently named 'the most powerful person in film' and deservedly so. Enjoy.