Best of Sci-Fi Action

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2008)

Aliens is one of many movies from my adolescent years that is just as good today as it was back then. It is an adrenaline filled ride filled with creepy locations, intense action, thrills, much circumstantial humor and one-liners that will never grow old (mostly thanks to Bill Paxton). It is, unapologetically, a man's movie, filled with everything except nudity (which it did not need).
All movies in the Alien series have a claustrophobic feel to them, and involve a relatively small cast of players. Aliens is no exception and really capitalizes on the fear potential of the locale. Cameron is not exactly known for injecting horror into his films, but provides enough here to satisfy.
The characters are very well cast and the actors have great chemistry. I especially grooved to the fact that, even though the soldiers are supposed to be tough marines, not all of them were completely gung-ho about their adventures. In fact, a few were downright cowardly and indecisive in the face of combat - something I'm certain would happen to many in such a situation. Bill Paxton stole the show as the wisecracking space marine. With all the likable characters involved, the stakes were very high. When they start dropping, we feel the loss.
Movies like this just don't come around very often. The pacing is very tight, even when the action is absent. The characters and situations are interesting enough - when the action hits, it just serves to suck us in deeper. I have nothing bad to say about Aliens. It is simply an awesome movie with a well deserved reputation for being such. See for yourself.