"This time it's war"

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2012)

Tell me one sequel that has the power to succeed with taking away the thing that made the first a classic.. That's right. You either have nothing or this film right here, Aliens. Aliens is another entry to the trilogy, this time James Cameron taking the job. But what he does could be considered irrational. He completely dismembers the horror aspect of the series, dismembers the atmosphere the first contained, and then finally dismembered the one thing that the first had to make it a classic. With all this removed, what could we even possibly have? The outcome could either be bad or even worse. But no, James Cameron knew what he was doing. His brain functioned all this stuff to still make a sequel happen, even facing the fact that had a chance happening: ruining Scott's vision. But no. Nothing above happened. He made an action film.
Now I hate saying Aliens is just purely an action film. It's not even close to what your thinking. And if you're expecting non-stop action, again, you're out of luck. Aliens first has a slow-burn beginning that continues the Ripley story arc. Well, when I first heard the term "slow- burn" I would expect something boring, or just unnecessary. But the film has time to develop it's characters, begin it's narrative, and introduce what kind of film we are getting into. And it was fantastic. Then the film goes into it's action territory, which all I could expect is a pure clichéd mess. Wrong. The film twists and turns every minute of the ride. Some scenes my heartbeat beat simultaneously with the character's in the film, others the tension had me at the edge of my seat. It was nothing as I would expect, because the film keeps doing this trick one after another. It was surely an intense experience. And, yes, Cameron may of completely destroyed Scott's envision for his series, but he implanted something no one would expect: an action-film, but there's more. The film contains some heart, and then some soul. It knows it's territory, and it knows it's not going to go where others have. Aliens was a treat for the ones who found Alien boring, and although the original is still better, Aliens is probably the closest a sequel can get to it's source material...
I would recommend this to fans of Alien, and also the non-fans. The film embarks you on this intense journey that keeps twisting and turning until the credits begin to roll. And hearing the term "action" might put you off, but it contained so much more. Aliens proves that sequels can become masterpieces, just as where they originated from. Aliens proves that sequels can be good, and also come closer to what they were originated off of.
10/10.