Cameron's other landmark action/sci-fi epic

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2007)

Aliens is the most pulse-pounding, white-knuckle cinematic experience you'll likely ever have. Not that his already gargantuan ego needs a boost, but the reason why James Cameron is indisputably the greatest action director out there is because he's perfectly meticulous at turning his characters into actual humans. He's not afraid to turn what could have easily been a mere quick-buck 90-minute noise machine into a complex 150-minute epic that yields plenty of time for character development and motivational intrigue to gradually build up into rip-roaring action.
Weaver, of course, is back to reprise her iconic role (which was originally written for a man). There has never been a character like Ripley, and the script here makes her fully multidimensional.
Thrilling from the get go, Aliens is capped by a deliciously tense and hugely gratifying extended finale -- too bad Alien 3 squandered all of it.