Aliens

Hands down the best installment of this famous franchise. James Cameron confirms his incredible talent and visual sensibility here and imprints the film with his unique directorial style. The action is fantastic, raw and “realistic”. Similarly, the characters are unusually dense and well-developed for this type of sci-fi. The Marine commando is one cool gang, dropping one-liners faster than the bullets from their machine guns. Finally, we get to see the feared monster in all its beauty and power, and it's no longer just “a guy in a costume”. Sigourney Weaver is even more likeable, and her transformation from a timid advisor to a seasoned warrior is brilliant. The minimalist soundtrack and the android Bishop have become legendary. Together with Blade Runner, clearly the best sci-fi films of the 1980s. (01/11/2003)

Whereas in Alien Ridley Scott pitted defenceless explorers against an invisible threat, in the sequel James Cameron pitted well-armed Marines against a swarm of threats that are visible in all their “beauty”. He replaced disarming fear with disarming adrenaline-fuelled action. In relation to the first film, Aliens could be faulted for its lack of horror intimacy, but here the director replaces that with a cannonade of great ideas, a brilliant plot packed with unparalleled scenes, and his usual technical perfection. It’s an exemplary sci-fi spectacle full of action and suspense that makes your blood run cold. In the context of the genre, giving it anything less than five stars would be an act of barbarism. P.S.: The Director’s Cut, in which we follow the inhabitants of the base before Ripley’s crew lands on the planet, definitely does not detract from the film’s suspense and mystery (“What happened here?’), but rather stylizes those aspects in a different context (“What happened to them?”). And it gives some of the plot elements a broader meaning. (27/05/2002)

A really good action film, even one of the best. It has perfect craftsmanship, but compared to the original Alien, it's just too uniform and predictable. Cameron is undoubtedly a great fachman, but one sees through Aliens very quickly. Still, some of the ideas are unforgettable (for example, cameras in the soldiers' helmets). High above standard in the genre. And after seeing the SE I can only add another star. The excellent atmosphere is guaranteed by both the added additions (e.g. Newt and Ripley's deep relationship is much more logical) and the excellent THX packaging... I enjoyed the atmosphere almost as intensely as I did the first time. :o) Light predictability remained... I'm not so sure about the uniformity anymore. Of course, from a filmmaking point of view, Cameron did not achieve Scott's vision, but one cannot ignore the fact that his visions predetermined the form of science fiction not only in film. (27/01/2004)

Cameron took it radically in his own way and plays on a rather belligerent string. Compared to the first film, there’s less atmosphere and mystery, but the suspense hasn't disappeared and James shows his immense talent and sense of perfectionism in his second big film (not counting Piranha...ahem.). (12/04/2003)

Clearing a seemingly unattainably high bar was an impossible task, but James Cameron did what he could. Ripley still works, and even Newt, Hicks, and Bishop quickly grew close to my heart. Still, I only started to like Aliens after seeing the extended version, which truly gives the right charge to the psychological background of the first half. The film's success with the audience is also due to the timeless action and breathtaking moments full of elegantly deadly antagonists. (21/04/2005)