What a Ride!

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2018)

Back in 1986 20th Century Fox released the first sequel to its 1979 sci-fi/horror-great Alien directed by Ridley Scott. This time James Cameron scripted and directed after his wonderful success in 1984 with The Terminator. Here Cameron has made a sequel that first does no harm to the original or the 'Alien' name in following that film and essentially leading us directly to this sequel. Secondly, in my opinion it brings the bar that Scott has left so high and brings it up another notch. To me this is something that does not happen very often. Interestingly, Cameron did it again when he made Terminator 2 (which to me was even better than the original). Co-written with Walter Hill (who directed the 48 Hrs. movies) and David Giler.
Ripley (wonderfully played by Sigourney Weaver) is in deep sleep with Jonesy the cat after escaping the clutches of the alien from the original. She is found by a salvage team and woken up. Thing is she has been out for 57 years. The moon that she visited decades ago is now being colonized, but contact with them has dropped. In dealing with her own mental problems from her experiences in the first film she decides to join a group of marines to visit the moon and see what has happened.
Like I did with the first film I watched this with my girlfriend who has never seen this film. In the end I think she loves this film as much as I do. I could tell there were a few scenes where terror took hold, but this is more aimed into the sci-fi/action/adventure genre where as the original was more sci-fi/horror.
Also starring Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks, Paul Reiser as Burke, Bill Paxton as Private Hudson and a really great performance from Lance Henriksen as Bishop. Weaver also got herself an Oscar nomination for her performance and I think she deserved it. In my opinion this film has the pinnacle of the Ellen Ripley character in her interactions with Newt (played by Carrie Henn), her desire to never give up and her ability to kick ass.
Now, I own the Director's Cut version and would personally suggest viewing it. It does add 17 minutes of material and off the top of my head I can not think of a scene that really shouldn't have been added. Some times when extending the film from its original theatrical length can hinder the film a bit, but here in my mind it helps this film. It really gives you more character story or to me adds more meat on the bone. With the Director's Cut it clocks in at over two and a half hours, which to me is sometimes a breaking point on how long your film should be. But, to me it never begins to push you to a point of wondering when the film will end. Highly recommended.