Great Action Film but Not as Effective or Horrific as the Original

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2007)

Fifty seven years after Riply's battle on the Nostromo and her escape, she is found by a salvaging team floating through deep space in suspended animation. She is brought back to Earth and finds that her daughter has died of old age, and that she has lost her contract with Weyland-Yutani.
But things complicate. She learns that the planet that she visited fifty-seven years ago has been colonized, and that the Company has lost contact with it. A group of elite marines are ordered in to 'check it out'. Riply is asked to go, but for obvious reasons, declines. But after a night or two conflicting with herself, accepts to go.
'Aliens' has been universally hailed as one of the greatest action films of all time. It is a good action film, but when I first viewed it, I expected more horror. That's probably the reason that I don't like this film very much. I loved the original, of course, but coming out of that, I wanted more horror. Making it an action film is not all that bad a thing, I suppose. Riply is more fleshed out a character, with Newt, the little girl, as her salvation for sanity.
I am annoyed with those goddamn Marines, though. After a while, Bill Paxton's obscene monologues get really annoying and Vasquez's stupid comebacks get really old really quick. But these things serve a purpose, perhaps. The action in the film is, well...fun--for the most part. And it does have some scary moments, which is what I want. But there weren't as much as I wanted.
Overall, a worthy enough successor to a classic horror film, but still not as up to snuff as I would've wanted.
7/10