Tons of action and tons of aliens...

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2016)

Whereas the first, and original, "Alien" movie from 1979 was more of a thriller / horror Sci-Fi movie in space, then this 1986 continuation steps it up a notch and turns it into a fast paced action movie. I could imagine that some fans of the 1979 movie would not particularly enjoy this change of genre, but personally I did enjoy it quite a lot. In fact, I think that "Aliens" is the best movie of the entire "Alien" franchise so far.
What makes "Aliens" special to me is a myriad of things. First and foremost it is the abundance of alien creatures that are present in this movie. Sure, the cat-and-mouse chase from the 1979 movie with a single alien was nice. But having a whole hive of aliens running around in the 1986 was just much more menacing. And the slight evolution and changes made to the alien creatures in this 1986 movie compared to the first movie was also a welcomed detail. Secondly, director James Cameron managed to put a very interesting story to the screen, and he directed the movie quite nicely. Thirdly, the characters in the movie were all very well-detailed and fleshed out to help tell the story of "Aliens". And finally, the ensemble of cast, which were just fabulous.
"Aliens" is a definite MUST watch if you enjoy Sci-Fi, and especially if you enjoy the "Alien" franchise and universe.
The characters portrayed in "Aliens" were all quite well-detailed, as I mentioned above. And they all did add a lot of flavor to the story, despite not giving us much background story to their persons. But their backgrounds were not important here, as they are soldiers and their personalities more than spoke for themselves. The gallery of characters in "Aliens" was really good, and a big thumbs up to the team of writers who came up with these characters.
Equally impressive was the ensemble of cast hired to portray these fleshed out characters. And this feat is really one of the key ingredients to "Aliens" being such an enjoyable movie. Sigourney Weaver is, of course, the embodiment of the franchise, and she had much help from talents performers such as Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton.
The special effects in "Aliens" were great, with lots of nice details and personal touches to the individual marines. And the environment was realistic and believable.
As I mentioned earlier, "Aliens" is the best of all the movies in the franchise. And if you have a chance to watch the special edition or director's cut edition, by all means do so, because it has so much extra contents that just adds a whole new layer of enjoyment to the movie experience.