Less atmospheric but kicks butt!

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2005)

The first Alien film is an undisputed masterpiece and oddly enough so is the second. It happens very rarely that a sequel can maintain the high standards of a first in a series but that is the case with Aliens. Some say that the second is even better than the first. I don't know if I agree but I still think that Aliens is a pretty darn excellent movie.
James Cameron took the original concept and changed it so we wouldn't get yet another sequel that just copied of the first. Ridley Scott's vision was a sci-fi horror picture and it worked beautifully. Cameron's vision is that of a sci-fi action movie that has some of the memorable quotes of all time. Although there are two versions its pretty safe to assume that the one that will be remembered is the director's cut version. It was the version that Cameron intended for us to see and it really is much better than the theatrical version which is too short in my opinion.
As stated previously there are a lot of memorable quotes in the movie like: "Leave her alone you BITCH" and "Hey Hicks. Man, you look just like I feel" but aside from the excellent quotes the dialog seems a little bit forced but then again Cameron was never really that good at writing dialog. I'm not saying he is as bad as George Lucas but compared to the exceptional dialog of the original Alien film Cameron's just doesn't quite cut it. The dialog is Cameron's best I reckon and it is not really important as it doesn't lessen to quality of the film in any way. He will certainly produce worse dialog in some of his films to come (*cough* Titanic *cough*).
When it comes to the design of the film I can safely say that it looks really, really good. Cameron designed many of the sets by himself and that is something he knows how to do because the sets are brilliant and immensely detailed. Cameron also designed the Alien Queen and she remains to this day his masterpiece when it comes to any form of design. The Queen is both menacing and beautiful and can to a higher degree display "emotion" than the regular aliens who have also been altered slightly from the first film. They have become more streamlined and faster. This is probably due to the fact that Aliens is an action movie and therefore we need speed rather than the eerie, smooth motion of the Alien in the first film. In the original Alien you could see the outlines of a human skull underneath the front of the face. Cameron opted not to do this for reasons unknown. I preferred the original design but I still think that the Alien Queen is absolutely brilliant. Kudos to Mr. Cameron.
The story is a good epic one that works fine on many levels. First and foremost we have the revenge motive. Ripley wants to see the aliens dead because of what they did to her crew in the previous film and because she is severely marked by her experiences (e.g. bad dreams and so on). Then off course there is the greedy corporation, Weyland/Yutani, who have their own reasons for sending Ripley and the marines to the planet where the aliens reside. This is the bulk of the story and then there are various sub-plots like Ripley's relationship to Newt and Hicks respectively and the marines' relationships to each other. All in all a good, solid story.
The acting is very good. Sigourney Weaver does even better in this film than in the first and she received a well earned Oscar-nomination for her performance as she balances the grief/horror and the hope and optimism of her character extremely well. Michael Biehn does a fine job and there is really nothing more to it. Carrie Henn does an exceptional job for a child actor. She has a fine emotional range and times her dialog pretty well. Only her accent could have been better but then again you can't expect a child to do a proper American accent when she was born and raised in England. The supporting cast is excellent as well and all do fine jobs in bringing their characters to life. Especially Lance Henriksen who is nearly as good an android as Ian Holm was in the original Alien. Pretty much a flawless cast.
All in all Aliens is a worthy sequel and in some ways superior to the first film.
8/10