Aliens (DVD)

Aliens is a 1986 science fiction/action film directed by James Cameron and the sequel to Ridley Scott's classic 1979 'Alien'. If Scott did the haunted house, Cameron's approach was the rollercoaster and like his previous film The Terminator, Aliens provides a considerable amount of fun once it gets going. The film begins, under the strains of James Horner's atmospheric score, with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) adrift in space in hypersleep. Awakened by a salvage crew, Ripley is taken to a space station orbiting the earth and told she has been asleep for 57 years by Burke (Paul Reiser), a young representative of the 'company'. To make matters worse, no one seems very ...  Read the complete review

Aliens is a 1986 sequel to the acclaimed Alien, and is directed by James Cameron, starring Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn and a screenplay by Cameron. Picking up from the events of the first film, we find Ripley (and Jonesy the cat!) is suspended animation. She is finally awoken and learns that she's been floating in space for 57 years. Gaining the first name of Ellen, and a backstory telling us Ripley had a daughter, she also finds out that said daughter has passed away in the intervening years. Meeting with a representative of the company Weyland Yutani named Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) Ripley is horrified when she is told that colonists were dispatched ...  Read the complete review

Arriving in 1986, this follow up to Alien (1979) is a rare breed indeed. A sequel that is not only on par with the original, but possibly even betters it. As the title of the review states this movie plays out like the Vietnam War but in space. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley from the first film and returns to the planet on which they first encountered the titular Xenomorph. She is joined by a platoon of marines. The parallels to the Vietnam War are numerous. Heavily armed soldiers underestimating an unseen primitive army with less technology and suffering as a result. To say this film is better than the ...  Read the complete review

Anyone who knows a bit about films, will know that sequels are dodgy ground. Generally dire, sequels are mostly film companies flogging a dead horse, in order to squeeze the last ounce of profit out of a franchise. So, to that effect the films produced are sub-standard. Of course, some sequels slip through that are amazing. Sometimes even better than the original. Personally I think that Aliens is in this category. Now, I agree this is an outlandish claim. Ridley Scott's original Alien, is potentially one of the most atmospheric, and terrifying films of all time. In its time, it was perfect. The effects were great, and the performances exceptional. I ...  Read the complete review

In some ways, a sequel to the hugely successful Alien was inevitable. The difficulty facing any writer, however, was where to take it next. Attempts to go down the usual sequel route of "bigger is better" would inevitably pale into insignificance next to the frighteningly good original. These problems are solved in an inspired fashion. Rather than attempting to copy the original, the writers decide to take the franchise in a whole new direction. It's a brave decision and one that pays dividends for them. The basic plot in Aliens is as simple as its predecessor. A group of colonists settle on the original planet from Alien and all contact ...  Read the complete review