The "perfect organism" en masse in the perfect movie

Rating: 10/10 (29 October 1998)

"Aliens" is, without question, the greatest science fiction action/adventure movie of all time. This is a spellbinding, jaw-dropping epic of a movie masterpiece that pulls off the rarest of feats -- it actually tops its predecessor, the inimitable "Alien", even going so far as to make it look the slightest bit campy and predictable by comparison (though it still remains a groundbreaking, chilling, landmark science fiction/horror classic).
"Aliens" interweaves competing themes and juxtaposes action, character development, suspense, cameraderie, fear and heroism brilliantly. The movie is far more multi-faceted than the original, which surpassed it on the horror and suspense fronts only. "Aliens" adds doses of realism to make the entire viewing experience seem more "human" -- the Hudson whining at times seems ad-libbed, the dialogue is unmatched in a movie of its genre and the heroism is, remarkably, under-glorified. The characters make mistakes throughout the movie, a deft touch by Cameron and counter to the typical Hollywood action hero "kick ass" mentality.
Every single character in "Aliens" is likeable at one time or another, even the villain Burke. Think of all the great ensemble casts you've seen in the past, whether they be on television ("The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Cheers") or on the silver screen ("Fried Green Tomatoes", "The Shawshank Redemption", etc.). Psychologically, this is an important method to convey and establish a connection between the viewer and the movie. Conversely, movies that fail to develop that connection sufficiently tend to suffer as a result. "Aliens" far and away does the best job of this in the entire series, well ahead of the original and light-years ahead of the successors.
Speaking of which, the third installment was flawed, choppy and illogically constructed but nonetheless a worthy effort and the fourth a debacle in both form and function. My suggestion is that the viewer pop in the original, view and enjoy its atmosphere and cat-and-mouse terror, then immediately view the roiling, adrenaline-inducing, light-speed second installment. You will walk away from that session marvelling at how this franchise was born and raised. See the third one at a later date and consider the fourth one a wayward child and move on.