Does Not Live Up to Scott's Alien

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2017)

Seven years after the release of Ridley Scott's Alien, James Cameron took the helm of the sequel, Aliens, starring Sigourney Weaver and Bill Paxton. Aliens, picks up five decades in the future, with the discovery of Ripley still in her cryo-chamber. After her recovery, Ripley is tasked with a rescue mission, to find out what happened to a group of colonists after their signal has been lost. Alongside Ripley, is a military group that brings heavy machinery and firepower, but is it enough to put an end to what is going on, on the colonist's moon?
Hailed as one of the best in the series, and an iconic action film, I went to Aliens with pretty high expectations, and left feeling completely underwhelmed. The film itself felt very generic, and slow, I was never completely interested in what was happening on screen, so much of the film sets up to these huge action moments, and though the sequences were well choreographed and cool, everything else about this film felt very bland. Many of the characters in this film were just complete morons and never found myself rooting for them. Outside of Ripley, I did not like one character. I'm not sure whether that was Cameron's intention, but with so much of the film based around these military personals, and their development, I couldn't wait to see some of them die. Now if the army boneheads weren't aggravating enough, the filmmakers thought it'd be a brilliant idea to bring a child into the mix, and oh, man. What a mistake that was. I can understand the writer's choice to add Newt as a character to the story, as it adds more dilemma to the plot, however most of the time, it just seemed like a plot convenience to further extended the runtime of the climax and the actresses chosen to bring Newt to life was just awful. Many of her awkward line deliveries and forced screams, so rather than care about this character, I just found myself getting annoyed.
Now this film isn't all bad, like I was saying the action in this film is fantastic, and the practical effects used, really held up and still looked good to this day. It's just a shame that this movie suffers so much from being uninspired, I never felt moments of intensity and half the time I was just bored. Maybe it's because I've seen films like this done better nowadays, and it's just a movie stuck in its time, or my feelings of disdain towards this movie, is drawn to the concept mainly being used in a science-fiction horror movie and not sci-fi action.
I've seen this movie a couple times now, and both times, I've felt bored and disappointed, I can see the love some individuals have for this film, but it is just not for me. It is a competent film, however it suffers from weak characters and a lack of originality. If you were a fan of Alien, I would recommend checking this film out, just know it is not for everyone and definitely not perfect, Aliens gets a 5/10.