Exactly what a sequel should be.

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2008)

James Cameron took over the helm of directing and partly writing a second installment in the future Alien series. As it has happened before, a different director is a bad sign for a sequel. However, the end result for AlienS is excellent.
First of all, this is a completely different story and film overall. It has basically the same titular characters (Ripley and the Alien), but the plot takes a different direction than the first.
Ellen Ripley's life ship is found wandering in space, with no course set. This is 57 years after Ripley's first encounter with the Alien. Now, the same planet that crew mate Kane visited for his doom, is now populated and with a breathable air treatment. However, after a accident similar to the one that occurred in the first Alien, contact on the colony is lost. The Company responsible for the Colony then sends a group of Marines with Ripley as consultant to investigate what happened, and if necessary, eradicate the threat.
There is no longer a mystery or suspense of what is going on. You already now what is happening. So the tone of the film is more action-oriented. And it works excellently.
Even as it is an action movie, Ellen Ripley's character has even more depth and development than in the previous. First off, she meets a little girl, sole survivor of the Alien attack, and identifies with her, forming a mother-daughter bond. The dramatic and action sequences are excellently meshed together and balanced. I wonder if James Cameron knew this movie was going to be the masterpiece that it is. As for the characters, the Marines are great. A rugged assortment of bad-asses/cowards, the variety is good. My personal favorite was Bill Paxton.
James Horner's score is amazing. It starts very calmly, with a tender space wanderer melody, and builds up to a great trailer-music-like climax, and return to it's mellow beginning.
The visual effects left me stunned. The fact that there were only six aliens in the film and the genius fast paced editing just stuns me even more. The Queen was so convincing in it's movements that I actually believed it was CGI. As for the guns and stage settings, they were also quite convincing. The hallways for the colony were reminiscent to the ones in the Nostromo, giving the classic and iconic image of the Alien.
This is exactly what a sequel should be. A completely different story, although in the same continuity with the first film. I may probably feel tempted to nominate this one for best sequel ever.