a great film.

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2009)

James Cameron had some big shoes to fill back in the mid 80's; Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) had been a huge commercial and critical success and James' job was to create a sequel to this film that was almost an instant classic in the industry. How to beat the first film and live up to the expectations set up so high by the first film and it's growing fan base? James' answer was to take the film into a completely new direction. The sci-fi horror was replaced with action (and even bits of humor), though still maintaining the scares and the suspenseful atmosphere of the first film. The combination of these elements turned out to be very much a working one and Aliens (1986) in my books is the definite "Alien -experience" of the franchise. The film took the original idea and developed it into something even more interesting and thrilling. The film can be held responsible of creating a set of pop-cultural benchmarks that still stand sturdy and defining the way action and sci-fi was represented on the film screen for decades to come.
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has to face the alien race again when the connection to an outer space colonial settlement gets cut off. She unwillingly takes part in a rescue mission with a team of space Marines – scares, gunfire, screeches and some bits of laughter ensue.
The movie's a brilliant packet: the visual style, the story, the dialog, the special effects, the sound and music – every aspect of it is able to stands on it's own (in a sense) but combined it sums up to something very cool to look at and listen to. The film has aged gracefully and still looks great though some of the effects look a bit too obvious and "old" in todays standards but it's nothing that could hurt the over-all experience.
The cast is great and it (along with the visual style and design) is what makes the movie stand out. Sigourney is brilliant in the leading role and she and the alien creatures are together what the whole franchise is all about – in Aliens the character is on her best, both on paper and in Sigouneys performance. Michael Biehn (Hicks), Bill Paxton (Hudson), Janette Goldstein (Vasguez) and Al Matthews (Apone) are all great in their roles as are the one's not mentioned here except Carrie Henn (Newt) who fails to live up to the role that probably was too demanding for the very young actress. She doesn't destroy the movie in any means but in some of the scenes her performance breaks the "movie magic" and makes you very much aware that you're watching a kid playing a kid, not a kid being the character.
Aliens is one of the most iconic movies in the history of the industry and it still lives on strongly. It's thrilling and entertaining and I've been rambling about for way too long. A Great film. 4/4