in space no one hears you scream except the audience!

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2006)

let me begin by saying that this film is magnificent. Working from a 26 million dollar (US) budget and a relatively unknown cast aside from Ms. Weaver, James Cameron broke the mold and blew the lid off of sci-fi action films with this one.
The first Alien was a miracle unto itself. After slyly reversing the lead roles and creating a heroine with Sigourney's Ripley, Scott masterminded a haunted house in outer space that broke taboos aplenty in the seventies. Learning that the cast including veronica cartwright and everyone else were not privy to what was going to happen during the first chest-burster sequence, their reactions are still priceless.
How could Fox ever improve upon a film like Ridley's? After a pitch meeting with newbie, James Cameron, and him turning down a remake of Spartacus, the creative exec shouted 'what about alien 2?' James took a seat and listened then ran off to create a masterpiece. The difference between these two films is the subtext. Alien had none. As beautiful as it was, the characters were clichÃ© and the dialogue lame. Ian holm did a great job, but aside from his malfunctioning synthetic, there wasn't much else.
James built a force to reckon with around Ripley. Corporal Hicks, a talented Michael Biehn, private Hudson, the whiny soldier on his last days of service, private velasqez, the male-ass kicken female, the corporate snake played wonderfully by the slithering Paul Reiser and the sympathetic synthetic played by Lance Henriksen. These characters were drawn well from beginning to end and we sensed a bit of family between them. And lastly, Newt, the darling Carrie Henn who has since abandoned her days of acting and has become a grade school teacher. How I long for her to scream once more! With that said, the reason why this film worked was that it's a film in its own. There is no "2" after it and the names spells it all. Aliens is about multiple aliens. Multiple facets of life. The death of Ripley's daughter and her crying in the beginning saying that she promised to be home for her 6th birthday. Weyland Yutani playing the behind the scenes chess player and compromising people's lives in order to make a buck. (Haliburton anyone?) The concept of synthetics and androids in everyday life, being 1986 this seemed almost implausible, but now it's 2006 and those are just right around the corner. Did anyone catch the close resemblance between Bishop's hyperdyne system model and mr. cameron's cyberdyne systems from terminator? With only six variations of the 'alien suit' and the abandonment of H.R. Giger's designs, I was hesitant but became a huge fan after my first viewing of this film. I was 8 years old when I first saw it and it still has me in awe. This film is a DRASTIC departure from Ridley's haunted house on the nostromo. His was moody, dark, and claustrophobic. Cameron's is an extravagant action spectacle with character substance.