No, It Doesn't Match the Original, So Stop Pretending

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2007)

Ridley Scott's superb Alien opens in a completely foreign atmosphere, making us want to be there, attracting us mysteriously. The camera moves around slowly and quietly, exploring this place, and it makes us want to be there. This is how he elusively draws us in and begins building suspense right under our noses. James Cameron's Aliens is too impatient. There is no build-up of suspense, there are constant close-ups, everybody's made up to look attractive, and the exposition is only long because it seems to think that extension equals suspense, or that there's some quota to fill and then you can play around with your big guns and gore all you want. Cameron presents us with an action film, big fun, special effects, blow this up, blow that up, but there is an hour and 45 minutes of waiting around for it, and less than an hour of action and violence. There is a good 20 minutes of nonstop action that is actually paced quite well and feels very intense, but it's aggravating to be kept from it for so long just so the film can appear as patient and effective as the original.
The original Alien knew the magic of claustrophobia and the effect it can have. Cameron's nature is to do everything he can to outdo. So, he makes a bigger movie, with a bigger cast, and a bigger spaceship and bigger, louder scenes of violence, when that is not what you need to outdo the first Alien. There's nothing wrong with making the sequel more of an action film than a suspense film, but instead, he donned the film with the appearance of being patiently suspenseful and, since the film is about a big bunch of marines going to blow everything up and the film makes no attempt to be subtle, all we're doing is sitting and waiting, whereas in Ridley Scott's original, we were sitting bruising our dates' forearms.
One thing I must add though, is that Jennette Goldstein should've become something bigger than she was. She is a fantastic actress, and extremely hot at that. She's the biggest highlight next to Bill Paxton here in Aliens, as she is to Paxton in Cameron's once wife Bigelow's Near Dark. She should've become a star.