Scary and Action-packed...guaranteed to leave you exhausted

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2010)

Typically, when you get a sequel to a hit movie, it is two things: a, very similar in style and content, and inferior to its predecessor. "Aliens" is neither. I originally compared "Alien" to "Halloween." If you held that same analogy, "Aliens" would be like "The Rock," only instead of a bunch of renegade marines taking over Alcatraz, you'd have duplicates of Michael Meyers. The bottom line is that "Alien" and "Aliens" could not be more different. And if I may say so, this 1986 masterpiece is a lot scarier.
Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) escape pod has been picked up, only for her to learn that she's been in a cryogenic sleep for 57 years. Ripley faces an inquiry, where she loses her license and because no one believes her story about the alien, is confined to a mental institution. To make matters worse, her daughter has recently died. However, a corporate guy named Burke (Paul Reiser) offers her a chance for redemption: assist a group of marines investigating a lost signal on the planet where she encountered the alien, and she gets her life back. Reluctantly, Ripley agrees...
This movie is tense. And when I say tense, I mean TENSE! Screaming your lungs out, shaking with fear, and sweating profusely tense. I've never seen an action movie that left me this worn out after viewing it.
The actors do great work. Sigourney Weaver is back as Ripley, and this time, she's not just a stock character avoiding gruesome death at the hands of a nightmarish monster. To be sure, she does do that, but James Cameron completely revamps her character. She's scared as hell, but she's a tough cookie when it really matters. Especially when it comes to Newt (Carrie Henn), a young girl whom Ripley takes on as a surrogate daughter. Paul Reiser is a little hammy in the beginning, but he's nevertheless effective as the corporate tagalong who may not be telling everything he knows. And Michael Biehn makes for a very sympathetic Hicks, adding a little understated romantic chemistry with Ripley. Everyone else, including James Cameron regulars Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein, are very effective.
Once again, James Cameron has created a superlative motion picture. But instead of creating the epics we have become used to, this is a movie in top form of the kind where he made his mark on Hollywood: the science fiction thriller. It's not perfect, and arguably his weakest film. But it contains some of the most frighteningly tense and scary moments ever to grace the silver screen.
One of the greatest sequels of all time and one hell of a ride, "Aliens" is a must see for the action and/or horror lover, or any adrenaline junkie looking for a rush.