Another Cameron Classic

Rating: 10/10 (1 March 2006)

Like Terminator, Cameron's breakthrough film, Aliens is another classic directed by him that mixes the genres of horror and science-fiction as well as action. Its also one of my favorite movies like Terminator, and because of this Cameron gets a lot of respect from me. Two classics by the same director? You just can't go wrong with that.
Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in a role that never quite type cast her) is found 57 years after the first Alien film. She is picked up by a salvage team and sent back to Earth, where things have changed quite a bit during her very long sleep. She also discovers that she has outlived her daughter, but the edited version doesn't give her anytime to mourn. I've never seen the director's cut, but I heard it goes into more detail about this.
Not long after this she is sent to some sort of board meeting where she has to explain what happen. Her story is of course meant with skepticism, but it is at this meeting that she finds out that LV-426, the planet where she first discovered the hostile Alien with her Nostromo Crew, has now been occupied by colonists who are now able to live on the harsh planet because of Atmosphere Processors.
The skepticism proves false though when transmissions with the colonists are suddenly lost. So Ripley, with a high-tech combat team of marines to back her up, returns to the planet to destroy the vicious creatures forever and put an end to her nightmares. Of course the Aliens, now way more than one, aren't going to be beaten so easily. And the only help they have is one little girl named Newt (Carrie Henn) who is the only colony survivor and knows a little bit about the creepy monsters. Newt also taps into Ripley's motherly instincts and strengthens her for her final meeting with the hateful Queen alien and leads to the thrilling climax.
I don't really have to summarize the plot anymore. Let's just say that the acting in this film was superb. Michael Biehn, Lance Hendricksen, Jenette Goldstein, and Bill Paxton give great performances, and what can I say about Sigourney Weaver. She is just one of the best female action heroes that ever crossed the screen.
The visuals were remarkable and still hold up today, and the pacing was classic Cameron. This guy knows how to make and action film, and he also knows how to cross genres like horror and sci-fi as well as drama. He did the same thing with 1984s Terminator, and he doesn't slip at all with Aliens. A great film.