'Aliens' continues the story of Lt. Ellen Ripley as she awakens 57 years later after narrowly escaping the vicious Xenomorph creature that wiped out her crew. Returning to Earth after her escape pod was found by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and completely discredited and deemed irresponsible in her decision to destroy the Nostromo, Ripley has now been called in to help guide a platoon of Colonial Marines through a recently deserted civilian outpost on the Xenomorph home planet. And if you know anything about movies, this obviously doesn't go as planned.
'Aliens' was one of the most anticipated films of 1986 and opened with a big bang rarely seen in those days. The film even went on to gain several Academy Award nominations including Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver and deservedly winning Best Special Effects. Everything about 'Aliens' is five times the scale of the original, from its set pieces to its heart pounding action scenes. The film is often if not always considered the best in the series, putting James Cameron on the map and bringing the 'Alien' franchise into the mass media marketing world. This film gave us a comic book series, novels, and even some amazing action figures back in the day. 'Aliens' was everywhere, and it helped tremendously that the film was also an amazing one to boot.
The film's strength is that it places its characters and story before the action and special effects, creating a perfect blend that is rarely matched today. The bonding relationship between Ripley and the young girl known as Newt is the film's heart and soul, and you truly end up loving and caring for the little girl yourself in the end. I would agree that 'Aliens' has the most likeable cast in the entire series as well, with Bill Paxton being my personal favorite. Michael Biehn and Jeanette Goldstein also provide some great moments. While I said the action comes second in Cameron's script, it's still the high quality you expect from him. These are some of the most memorable film moments since the creation of the medium.
What truly makes the film stand out during these sequences is just how cleverly they were pulled off. 'Aliens' believe it or not was not a high budget film, even back then and it also had a very tight production schedule leading Cameron and effects supervisor Stan Winston to be very creative when it came to the film's special effects and cinematography. The alien costume you see in the photo above was one of only twelve in the entire film, but Cameron could convince you that dozens and even hundreds of these creatures were filling the screen at once and its a testament to just how much of a talent he truly is (even if he takes his sweet time making movies nowadays). Winston on the other hand, enhanced the already amazing creature design and included the stunning Queen into the mythology, and it's all practical. No CGI whatsoever.
'Aliens' is a different animal than its predecessor, so I won't exactly say that it's a better film as that's comparing apples to tomatoes. What I will say is 'Aliens' is one of the best sci-fi action horror films of all time and definitely in my top 10 favorite films. This film gets everything right and doesn't reduce itself to a quick cash grab. They took their time and got some real talent to work on this, giving us an excellent final product. It's a shame studios don't attempt this as much anymore.
ALIENS: A+
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