..one of the most forgotten and under-rated sequels of all time

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 2000)

This film happens to be one of the most forgotten and under-rated sequels of all time. For one simple reason: it totally diverges from the original. ALIEN was a sci-fi/horror film and ALIENS is a sci-fi/action film. In the first outing, you have a serial-killer type of alien that plucks off the crew members one by one and it is up to the feminist heroine Ripley to save herself and a stupid cat. Very predictable. In ALIENS, you have a whole mess of these aliens and they are thirsty for human blood, but who are their victims? Not some pathetic spaceship crew, the marines! They are here for one reason, to kick ass and take names. Their philosophy is simple: we may die, but if we do we are gonna take out as many of these creatures as we can. Where the original succeeded in its basic horror elements, the second one succeeds through taking these elements and adding to them nonstop battle and action sequences. What would you rather use to battle an alien? Your wits or a flame thrower duck taped to a machine gun/grenade launcher? Hmm, tough choice. Also I might add that throughout the film I had no idea who was going to die and who would survive till the end. In the future, Ridley Scott should stick to hardcore drama pieces like WHITE SQUALL and GI JANE. His sci-fi technique is just too slow and drawn out. With that, I think James Cameron should definitely make more films like this one and THE ABYSS, THE TERMINATOR 2, etc. He happens to be the only director that is responsible for two of the greatest sequels of all time! But of course let's not forget, we should give some credit to THE GODFATHER PT2 and THE ROAD WARRIOR.