At least he didn't give us 'Piranha 2' again

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2003)

WARNING: SPOILERS
In a way, a sequel to Alien was inevitable. It didn't need one, of course, but the Hollywood profit machine saw fit to churn one out. And, compared to the likes of 'Jaws 3' ('Jaws: The Revenge' does not technically count as a film) they could have done a lot worse.
It was pretty obvious that any sequel to 'Alien' was going to have a hard time on it's hands. Ridley Scott chose to reveal his monster at the end of his film which meant nobody was really going to be scared of it lurking in the shadows any more. What James Cameron instead chose to do was give us more aliens. Lots of them. That way we'd be scared of overwhelming opposition. And how do we defeat lots of aliens? The only way Jim knows how: guns.
'Aliens' handles the continuing story of Ripley well, when they could have easily chucked it all away. It also remains faithful to the 'mother and child' undercurrent that was present in Alien (in a warped way, of course) by reinventing Ripley and the alien as mothers. 'Aliens' is hailed as one of the greatest action films ever made and it may be. What's amusing about that statement is there is probably less than ten minutes of action in the entire film.
So, if I'm lavishing all this praise on 'Aliens' then why did I only give it seven out of ten? Well, my reason is this: 'Aliens' single-handedly ruined 'Alien's' legacy and gave all the sequels the excuse to be substandard. A lot of the criticism people hurl at 'Alien3' and 'Resurrection' is present in 'Aliens' yet people can't or won't see it because it has "badass marines in it!"
One of the main problems is James Cameron hauls all the cliche action characters he can think of out of the woodwork for his film, from the quiet but resilient corporal to the loudmouth private who goes to pieces to the butch hard-as-nails woman. And these are the characters we even RECOGNIZE before they die! A far cry from the gritty and realistic characters of it's predecessor.
But my main problem with 'Aliens' is what it reduces it's title stars to. Ridley Scott gave us this uncomprehendable nightmare in 'Alien' In 'Aliens' we have Hudson wondering if "maybe it's like an ant hive!" And, sure enough, 'Aliens' saves the big finale until last when we meet the alien queen. Sure, it's impressive and well designed but it isn't scary. None of these new aliens James Cameron decides to give us are scary. The horror, the mysteriousness and the intelligence present in the original 'Alien' are now only reserved for the alien queen. James Cameron has successfully turned the most innovative, unique and terrifying creature in to mindless cannon fodder. An interstellar termite.
The effects of 'Aliens' are also starting to date, the dropship sequence in particular doesn't compare to the shots of the Nostromo in 'Alien' And the suits themselves look uncomfortably hokey, like rejects from a Japanese monster movie.
If you want a good action movie, watch 'Aliens' If you want a scary monster movie, watch 'Alien'