James Cameron Hits A Home Run With ALIENS

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2019)

After destroying the Nostromo Ripley( Sigourney Weaver)) is discovered by a deep Space Salvage crew. She is taken to a space processing station. While there she is met by Weyland-Yutani employee ,Carter Burke( Paul Riser). While recovering from a deep hyper sleep she finds out 57 years have past. After recovering fully she receives some news about her daughter. She is distraught to hear she has passed with no surviving children. The two then head to her briefing with company executives. There she explains what happened to her crew and why she was forced to destroy the Nostromo. The Weyland Corporation is convinced she acted recklessly and sees her unfit as a flight officer. They pull her flight license, then is shocked to learn that 157 colonists have occupied LV426 for 20 years.
A day later Burke comes asking for Ripley's help. He is accompanied by Lt. Gorman( William Hope) part of a group of Colonial Space Marines. These Marines are trained for anything. Burke tells Ripley they have lost contact with LV426. At first Ripley refuses, but if she goes her flight license would be restored. Burke makes a promise that if it is an alien it would be destroyed; and not returned for further study.
The two are on their way along with these Colonial Space Marines to LV 426. When they wake from a deep hyper sleep they loosen up and have a quick meal. When Ripley finds out that Burke forgot mention Bishop is an android; she freaks . She makes Bishop aware she loath androids due to past experience. Afterwards Ripley briefs them on what they can expect. These marines have no idea what they are facing until Ripley explains that one was able to get aboard the Nostromo; and wipe out her crew in less than 24 hours. This especially gets Vasquez's attention( Janette Goldstein), after her smart remark towards Ripley. Thus, it will take more than fire power to rid a Xenomorph. Among these colonial Marines are Hudson( the Late Bill Paxton), Hicks( Michael Biehn), Bishop( Lance Henriksen).
Once the crew lands on LV426 it looks like a demilitarized zone. The crew checks out the inside of the complex and notice the remains of small arms fire, and destruction from Alien activity( damage from molecular acid). This brings back memories for Ripley. Everywhere they go it is desolate, except for the presence of mice in a lab(Special Addition). The group continues their search, and suddenly their trackers pick up movement coming towards them. They find out it is a little girl named Newt ( Carrie Hien) approximately 8 yrs old. She is the only survivor out of the 157 colonist , her parents and brother are gone. So they take her back to the lab, do a check up on her. Once they walk into the science lab they find three preserved face huggers, two of them are dead and one is still alive. Ripley goes back to check on Newt, which she somewhat adopts. When she returns to the lab, Bishop is examining one of the specimens. Ripley makes it a fact she wants them destroyed; but Bishop explains Burke wants them studied and taken back. This makes Ripley suspicious and she keeps her guard up.
The next step is locating the colonists PDT( Personal Data Transmitters) while they are in the operations lab. They locate what think is all of the colonist over at the processing station. When they are in the area they proceed in and notice, secreted resin, and past alien activity.As they proceed, they are ambushed not bu one alien; but many. They lose half of there platoon, and Lt. Gorman gets hurt. Ripley does what she can, and rescues those remaining from the processing station. After the loss of over half their crew, they decide to nuke the site from orbit. It fails due to an alien aboard the ship, as soon as it takes off it crashes. So the group has to return to operations and devise a new plan.
Once in operations they need to devise a plan to destroy these aliens, but they are running short on ammo. In the meantime, Hicks gets close to Ripley showing her how to use a pulse rifle with grenade launcher. He also gives her a wrist tracker. He is very caring toward Ripley and tells her to get some sleep. So she and Newt get a nap, but when Ripley wakes she notices she is locked in the lab, and 2 face huggers are loose. Burke has double crossed Ripley trying to get an alien back to the company. To do this one would impregnate Ripley or Newt, and he would sabotage Hicks space capsule so no one would know.
Suddenly the remote sentries pick up movement outside the complex, they only last so long. They need to get to the emergency vent which goes off every 4 hrs.. He is the only one that can remote pilot the Suloco, and he volunteers to go out. The remaining Marines Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez, Ripley and Gorman. Have to keep them from breaking their barrier. So each of them take turns making sure nothing breaches their perimeter. As they keep watch, they realize they have found a way in, through the roof and floors. Thus, leaving Ripley, Hicks, Gorman, Vasquez the only ones left.
While they are escaping Newt gets separated from Ripley, and falls into a shaft. She is able to locate her signal, but Ripley accidentally walks into the queens nest. Carefully she watches every move she makes, so she can escape. Then she uses the grenade launcher, plus fire to destroy the eggs and her egg sack. She reaches the landing platform and tells Bishop she is returning 4 Newt, so don't leave. When she goes back in she has so many minutes to locate Newt and get back. She finds her, but she has been cocooned. She still rescues her, and carefully works her way back. To her surprise Bishop isn't there, but suddenly shows. In the end, Ripley, Bishop, and Newt return only to find the Queen Alien is aboard the ship. Bishop is all but destroyed helping Ripley fight it, but in the end it is blown out into outer space.
This movie came out in 1986 and I still have fond memories seeing it as a 15 yr old in Dayton, Ohio .Aliens is just as good as the original, but Alien is still the best. The acting is excellent especially from Sigourney Weaver, and Janette Goldstein as Vasquez. I loved her style and I saw myself in her character, so BAD A$$. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE SPECIAL EDITION, IT HAS OF 17 MINUTES OF RESTORED FOOTAGE; A MAJOR PLUS TO THE MOVIE.