Seriously overrated action sci-fi flick

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2009)

ALIENS (1986) is another example of Hollywood reeling the audience in making a bigger, splashier, flashier sequel fooling many of them thinking that it beats the original. While the original "Alien" was a quality, forward-thinking sci-fi film of sustained tension culminating in horror and terror, this sequel "Aliens" is the standard pump-up-the-volume, loud, proud, and extremely empty sequel. The dated argument is perhaps not the best one since many movies (even good ones) from the 80s appear dated now. But the best sci-fi thrillers from the 80s (Robocop, Terminator, Predator, Hidden) still to this day have something at their core that make them universal and stand the test of time. "Aliens" does not. It essentially is just a mindless action flick with annoying, one-dimensional characters, including the lead.
Sigourney Weaver got an undeserved Best Actress nomination playing Ellen Ripley (the only surviving member from Ridley Scott's "Alien"). Weaver literally has one facial expression the entire flick...MEAN! I didn't see any semblance of depth or complexity to her character that would warrant an Oscar nom. She just looks like she could bore a hole through everyone she stares at. Her voice inflection is the same throughout the film, whether she's mad, happy, or sad. Basically, she is just given a lot to do to make her seem tough and brave, but most of it is very manipulative. We get the point Cameron...Everyone else is stupid and weak, but Ripley is stroooong!
James Cameron directs this sequel and it is nowhere near the class of its predecessor. Frozen in space for many years, Ripley is revived and asked to return to the alien planet LV-426 to act as adviser on what happened to a colony of humans. The company financing the mission uses one its top executives Burke (Paul Reiser in an actual good performance as a shifty corporate shill) to persuade her. Ripley has nightmares from her ALIEN experience. She eventually agrees in part to try to beat her demons.
Ripley and Burke are accompanied by an escort of Marines led by the green Lt Gorman (William Hope) and Sgt Apone (Al Matthews). The Marine grunt include Pvts Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez (Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein). Actually, Biehn as Hicks is quite good. He brings a solid, unassuming hero quality to his role. But the rest of the Marines are standard, chest-pumping, obscenity-spewing annoyances. Paxton's Hudson is the standard comic relief and Vasquez' macho-tough-girl-acts-like-a-guy character is very contrived. Also on-board is the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen in a slick, convincing performance). Of course this is a problem for Ripley after what happened to the crew in "Alien". Biehn, Reiser, and Henriksen are the only actors to really rise above the weak material and formulate convincing characters.
On the planet, the group finds that the colony has been eradicated and encounters a horde of alien creatures that they must fight off. The sole survivor is a little girl Newt (Carrie Henn, who is second billed for some odd reason; why isn't Biehn second billed?). Without barely saying a word, Newt is one of the most pretentious kids I've ever seen in a flick and her screaming is maddening...RIIIIIPLEY! As they get whittled down to just a few, in the end Ripley saves the day.
"Aliens" suffers from being much ado about nothing. Beneath the action, there is really no story or strong characters. Most of the characters are cliché: the ineffective officer in charge, the wisecracking grunts who spout obscenities at each other so we'll know they have a strong bond, the kid who is smarter than the adults, the saboteur (idea stolen from "Alien").
The other sci-fi action 80s films I mentioned above all have something going for them underneath the action, mainly multiple genres working together in perfect synergy and have distinct, interesting characters. They all explore to some degree the conflict between different beings and at the end of those films, there is a provocative open-endedness and ambiguity that still resonates today. "Aliens" is just action...that's it!