Aliens
Rating: 5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
Ridley Scott did a fantastic job creating the world of the Alien franchise, introducing the world to the badass character of Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver. Not only did he craft a fantastic sci-fi film, but scare the living daylights out of anyone who watched it. The film now faced the scary challenge of being followed-up by a successful sequel, which has proven to be really hard for numerous films. However, with James Cameron at its helm, he released an amazing follow-up to Scott's film, one that some consider to even be better than the original.
The film opens with Ripley finally returning home after being in stasis for 57 years abroad the escape pod she used to get far away from the alien that attacked them in the first film. However, she is questioned about whether or not the events that she reported actually took place as the planet where they found the alien eggs is now the site of a colony of humans. When they lose the signal with the colony on the planet, they want Ripley to go on an investigative mission to find out what happened to the colony. What she doesn't expect is for her to protect the life of a little girl named Newt (Carrie Henn) from one of the giant aliens that tried to kill her last time.
While the first movie felt more like a sci-fi horror film where this unfortunate crew encounters a terrifying life form, Cameron takes on a more sci-fi action film, relying more on showcasing this military team try to find any sort of life form on this planet. So the films really sort of take on two different routes, making it sort of hard to compare them to each other. It's pretty much all about preference, whether you like horror or you like more action-driven films. Personally, I really enjoy the horror in the first film, but this film does everything it needs to be a damn good movie.
Weaver really comes into her own here, already having solidified the character of Ripley in the previous film. She is a badass throughout this whole film, and I really enjoyed her relationship with Newt. It gives her character a much more three-dimensional feel, allowing her to really have a reason to go on and fight these aliens. At the same time, not only does Henn give a really good performance, she has such fantastic chemistry with Weaver, and allows viewers to really see them like a mother and daughter duo. It really elevates her character beyond the typical, bland action hero and presents a reason why the audience should root for Ripley and why she is one of the most iconic, and best, female sci-fi protagonists.
This time, Ripley is joined by a military group, consisting of performances by Bill Paxton, Michael Bien, Jennette Goldstein, and Al Matthews, to name a few. I think they are all good additions to the film, and really do a great job of giving performances that show the true fear and terror someone would feel in a situation like this. Paxton plays a particularly standout character here, really commanding the screen in the scenes he is present in.
Cameron does a fantastic job of directing this cast and production, really adding his own flair onto the film. While Scott's film relied more on terrifying the audiences than character development, Cameron really likes to take care of his characters and craft them in a way that makes the audience not only root for them, but empathize with what they are going through. This is evident throughout many of his films, and Aliens is no exception.
The effects and the cinematography are also great throughout this movie, really capturing the horror and the terror these Xenomorphs on casting onto this crew. It really puts the viewer right into the crew aboard the ship, really forcing them to experience the terror the crew is going through. It doesn't have the same amount of horror and frightening imagery that was present in the first film, but it does a great job of really tapping into the audience's psyche and leaving imprints on them that they will remember when they close their eyes after watching this film for the first time.
Aliens is such a fantastic sequel, and really allows the Alien franchise to expand farther than what it could have become. The first movie ends with Ripley on a safe journey home, but I am very happy Cameron decided that a bigger story needed to be told with this character in this world created by Ridley Scott. It's hard to decide which film is better between this and Alien, and that's honestly a very good problem to have.
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