a sequel but still better than any Star Wars

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2001)

So here we have the adrenalized version of Alien: it's a high-paced war-movie. The cautious civillian characters are simply replaced by macho soldiers.
One of the best sequels ever, yet not surpassing Alien in many ways. First the cast is not brilliant: it's made great by the cinematography, the editing and mainly the directing, which has become something of a trademark of Cameron. Secondly, some key elements of the first film are copied (except the intellect), e.g. the entrepreneurial dilemma. That does not mean that the rest of the plot isn't fantastic: the story builds up gradually and explodes even further than Alien (including plot-twists). Third, the aesthetics are gone. All the subtle details from Alien are replaced by funky eye-catchers. But then again that doesn't diminish the reality of what's going on. It does explain why Aliens has more votes than Alien though.
Finally, Aliens keeps up with the times and is definitely one of the 10 best SF-movies ever made. As far as I'm concerned this still surpasses every Star Wars episode there is: this is not just greasy kid-stuff! Did you know that the aliens are actually crossbreedings of the Terminator and E.T., as is Johnny Five (Short Circuit, 1986) ? Also see Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Bill Paxton in Near Dark (1986!, stylish horror).
10 out of 10, where Alien is 11 out of 10 ;-)