Review of the director's cut

Rating: 8/10 (30 June 2004)

This review had to be chopped a bit to fit under the maximum word limit.
"They mostly come at night...mostly."
The vessel drifts eerily through the vacant outer reaches of space. There is total silence as the opening credits begin to spread across the screen, and then the words JAMES CAMERON ignite with an overwhelming sense of joy. Yes, this is a James Cameron film, perhaps the way he originally envisioned "Alien" (1979), or at least thought he could improve upon it.
Many critics and moviegoers often consider Cameron's film, released in 1986, superior to the first film. Because the two films are quite different in approach to the entire concept of aliens, it's hard to compare them. Instead it's quite easy to say that they share a deep chemistry of sorts, whereas each entry compliments the other's own flaws. "Alien" was a rather slow, brooding, dark study of humans abandoned in an unnatural, man-made environment, faced with a deadly foe; mother nature's crème de le crème of big bad monsters. There was only one alien in the first film, and it stalked them mercilessly, unseen. Even by the end of the film there was much mystery surrounding the alien itself. In short, "Alien" was a horror film. "Aliens" is not.
"Aliens" is a cold-blooded, terrifying action movie, pumped full of Cameron's own ever-present unique blend of adrenaline, machoism and suspense. Its lead hero is actually a heroine, the only returning character from the first film, Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver as one of the most reluctant screen characters of all time. The company that owned the Nostromo space ship she blew up at the end of "Alien" saves her. It's over 50 years later, her daughter is dead, and everything she has come to know and recognize in her life disappears in a matter of minutes when she is awoken from a deep sleep and informed of all this by Burke (Paul Reiser). Chairmen of the company who take away her pilot's license, believing she is crazy and delusional, mentally disturbed by whatever happened on the Nostromo, debrief her. Days go by until activity is recorded on the planet from the first film -- which is now colonized. The planet where Ripley's crew originally discovered the alien that made its way onto the ship and murdered everyone...except her.
Burke offers Ripley an enticing deal: If she goes to the planet with a group of marines, they will give her back the freedom she desires. Cautiously, she agrees, and is shipped out with a group of Colonel Marines, including Corporal Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn), Private Hudson (Bill Paxton), Lt. Gorman (William Hope), Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein), and Sgt. Apone (Al Matthews). After arriving at their destination the crew soon realizes that the activity is indeed related to the extra-terrestrial. There are no civilians in sight -- it seems everyone has disappeared. The single survivor is Newt (Carrie Henn), a brave young girl who has been hiding in the ventilation shafts of the colony for, apparently, quite some time.
The action soon begins as the aliens wake up from their slumber within the walls of the colony and attack their new guests. Ripley, relying upon her own experiences with one of the creatures, leads the crew as the casualties soon amount and revelations are made about the species.
James Cameron is one of the most visionary directors of all time, a man whose idea for "The Terminator" was sparked by the single image of an endoskeleton rising from fiery flames. His "Terminator" is arguably his finest masterpiece. Even to this day, with "T2," "The Abyss," and "Titanic" under his belt, it is rivaled but not surpassed.
To be fair most people seem to think "Aliens" is a super-fast roller coaster-ride of a movie, when in fact it is also a very long film -- the director's cut roughly two and a half hours long, longer than the first film. Then why does it seem so short to so many viewers? Because of its direction. Cameron's dark atmosphere retains the vision of the original "Alien" but the scope and ideas are entirely different; this is a film about shooting, yelling, running, and lots of blood and guts, which isn't to say it's a stupid film...just a very fun one.
Cameron has commented on the film's Vietnam-related themes, although they're rather outlandish. To be sure, the film does indeed use war as a backdrop. The film's tagline was "This Time It's War!" -- something Cameron claims he made up after deciding to promote his movie as a war picture, not a slow-moving epic in the vein of the original.
Both films are amazing in their own right, and about equal in comparison in many different ways, but what Cameron does is improve upon the first film's action, acting and aliens in general. The first movie, aptly titled "Alien" (as it was not about any more than one of the species), has far better landscapes, and although both directors are wonderful Scott is generally better at evoking the paranoia of space. Cameron doesn't do that because he doesn't need to. The acting by all involved is top-notch, with Paxton especially stealing the scenes as the whiny and constantly worried (but never quite annoying) marine. The writing is fairly good, given the material, and the action is some of the best you'll ever see.