with the success of the surprise hit alien , directed by ridley scott , a sequel was inevitable .
in fact , after watching the first film , a sequel was wanted , particularly by this reviewer .
handing over the director 's chair to recent box office gem james cameron , who had only made two films previous to this one ( pirahna ii , a surprisingly dull film , and terminator , making cameron a household name ) , the alien series got a face - lift of immense proportions .
instead of being a suspense / science fiction film , cameron alters the series and changing it into an action picture .
what results is one of the most terrifying films ever created .
a film like aliens comes along only once in a while
, and when it does , audiences are usually unprepared for it .
i never saw this movie in theaters , but i wish i could have .
the terror and fright must have been unimaginable , most likely with audiences members literally shrieking in fear .
aliens is an action film unlike any i have ever seen .
with a science fiction plot , cameron gives aliens added testosterone , pumping up the action and fire power from the original film .
in fact , aliens is one of those few sequels which tops the original .
perhaps what makes the alien series so impressive is the hero -- or heroine , as the case may be .
never have we had a more sympathetic hero in an action film , and never have i seen such an impressive acting job done by the main character .
sigourney weaver is possibly the only actress who could play this character and make her realistic enough for us to care about .
placing a woman in these situations would sometimes seem unusual , but because of weaver 's presence , a woman is the only suitable hero .
aliens begins 57 years after alien ended .
lieutenant ellen ripley ( weaver ) is discovered in hypersleep on the nostromo and is awakened .
she explains how she is the only survivor of her past encounter with the aliens , but " the company " is doubtful .
they explain that a colony of families is flourishing on the same planet from which she just left .
despite stern warnings from ripley , the company remains rigid and wo n't call the families back .
however , when the company loses contact with the colony , ripley 's story seems much more feasible .
one of the company 's directors , carter burke ( paul reiser ) , wants to gather a team to travel to the planet .
this team includes a buff private vasquez ( jenette goldstein ) , a questionable corporal hicks ( michael biehn ) , and a loyal android bishop ( lance henriksen ) .
burke tags along with ripley as they fly to the planet in order to locate the members of the colony .
arriving on the planet , the team finds most of the human life extinguished in a cocoon - type environment .
the only survivor is 12 year old rebecca " newt " jorden ( carrie henn ) .
ripley finds this a chance to be the mother she never had the opportunity to become , and she becomes newt 's surrogate mother .
ripley and newt are the only ones who knows what has happened , and soon , all hell breaks loose .
aliens
not only multiplies the thrills and suspense from scott 's version , it also multiplies the number of aliens in general .
alien focused on one alien in particular which systematically killed each crew member , except ripley , who managed to jettison the alien out of the nostromo .
aliens focuses on an entire race of these aliens , and as a result , the chills are incredibly heightened .
then again , this is james cameron , the guy who has given us true lies and terminator 2 : judgment day .
he is the best action director
out there ( topping renny harlin , who directed cliffhanger ) , and only he could create something as terrifying as this film .
it seems that every alien film seems to have some memorable scene or scenes , and aliens has the motherload .
with perhaps one of the most astonishing endings ever created for an action film , aliens climax never seems to hit until the viewer is nearly pushed to extreme exhaustion .
i ca n't recall another film ever to sustain this level of intensity throughout , never dropping for a moment .
just when you think the movie is over , something else will occur , and it starts right back up again .
with a seemingly endless conclusion , aliens ends with one of the greatest moments in film history .
this scene is usually the one remembered most from the film , as lieutenant ripley steps into one of the lifting machines to fight the alien queen . using flawless special effects , the climax is exhausting , leaving any audience member drained from extreme anxiety .
of course , for a film of this genre to work properly , the technical aspects must be realistic enough for us to believe what we see .
aliens is completely realistic , even a decade after its initial release .
the special effects are wonderfully seamless , with a terrifying alien to go with them .
one of the most overlooked aspects of this film is the music , composed by cameron - regular james horner .
horner has created a terrific score , receiving an oscar nomination for his work .
not only that , horner has also created one of the best scores for any action film , or science fiction film ever
( and that includes 2001 : a space odyssey , which was mainly a compilation of well - known composers ) .
in fact , the climax music is also some of the most recognized of film music .
the production design is incredible , which also happened to snag a nomination from the academy .
dark corridors lit by red lights are very impressive , but more impressive is the amount of terror which arises from well - lit locations .
normally a film will be very dark in order to scare a viewer ; aliens uses lights to scare the viewer .
then , of course , is the cinematography , which uses point of view shots , along with video feeds in order to build suspense .
some of the scariest scenes involve the perspective of ripley .
surprisingly , the acting is not only above average for this genre , but
some of the best . sigourney weaver received an oscar nomination for her portrayal of ripley , incorporating the right amount of sympathy into her hard - edged persona .
weaver
soars above the rest in this film , but she is supposed to .
carrie henn gives an above average performance for a child , developing a three - dimensional character from her quiet attitude .
lance henriksen is terrific as bishop , showing that androids do n't always have to be flat characters .
jenette goldstein shows a fair amount of enthusiasm with her role , and steals several scenes of her own ( though her personality becomes slightly annoying when she is n't fighting ) .
michael biehn gives a very nice performance in the most obligatory role of the film .
however , biehn does a good job , making it seem original again .
paul reiser may seem like an odd choice to play the sleazy corporate director , but reiser manages to pull it off quite well
( however , i still see him as paul on tv 's " mad about you " ) .
a very good cast ( which also includes bill paxton and william hope ) highlights this action film , making it stand out from others .
aliens is rightfully rated r for violence , gore , language , and terror .
aliens is sort of the redefining moment of the science fiction genre , as alien was more of a suspense / horror film .
aliens pumps up the stakes , and cameron directs it with professional quality . cameron certainly knows how to make a good action film , but here he proves how he can create some truly horrific moments on screen .
technically astonishing , aliens '
only flaw is small characters who are only there to get killed .
aside from this , you probably wo n't experience anything like aliens for quite a while .
Output: P