Complete change in genre ensures the originality of this sequel

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2003)

Why Alien is always revered to such an extent i find hard to comprehend when Aliens is clearly a more enjoyable film. James Cameron's conceptualisation of the alien creatures is far more interesting for the screen. All the creeping about and setting of the scene in the first installment leaves a viewer quite simply bored. Aliens completely switches genre from sci-fi thriller to sci-fi action movie. Riply (Sigourney Weaver) is given new strength and is perhaps the strongest heroine to hit the screens if not Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 (another of Camerons creations). The effects in this film are still enjoyable to watch today and the aliens themselves are a much bigger feature in this film, hence the name Aliens! Bill Paxton Provides the comical element in the film representing the average person put in a situation as psychologically crippling as one could imagine being trapped on a planet crawling with homocidal aliens might be. This film delivers great actions scenes with plenty of human and alien carnage to satisfy an audiences blood lust, while the balanced structure of the film does not neglect the characters giving more than Ripley an interesting arc. A failure in many action films is when a character is of such little interest to the viewer that you do not care what happens to them (see 'Black Hawk Dawn'). Aliens avoids this trap and is definitely a film that can be enjoyed more than once. 9/10.