Aliens

Where Ridley Scott triumphed through the use of a creeping atmosphere, Cameron puts his money on action-packed antics at a seemingly deserted military base. Where Ridley afforded us just as fleeting as possible glimpses of the alien, believing that unseen evil is the most effective, Cameron deploys whole armies of aliens degraded to the role of insectoid cannon fodder. Where Scott has made do with a few actors in what is almost a chamber piece, Cameron gives us a mega production. Hard to say which of them is better. Both are completely different and yet perfect, although each in its own separate genre. But I won’t try to hide the fact that I prefer the movie that uses the singular in its title. (02/10/2007)

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. (05/27/2002)

Skipping the seemingly unattainably high bar was an impossible task, but James Cameron did what he could. Ripley still works and even Newt, Hicks, or Bishop quickly grew close to my heart. However, I only started to like Aliens after the extended version, which truly gives the right charge to the psychological background of the first half. Its contribution to the additional success with the audience also lies in the timeless action and breathtaking moments full of elegantly deadly villains. (04/21/2005)

Although it's out of place, I can't avoid the comparison; as far as I’m concerned, Aliens is more creative and entertaining than the first one. Cameron is amazing, he elevated an already perfect space survival story to the ultimate polished and incredibly balanced action flick. In the manner of the original, it’s almost heart-attack inducingly suspenseful (you almost can't breathe during the sequence before the first contact with the monsters), but at the same time it's adrenaline-fuelled and superbly choreographed terror for film and computer geeks (so it's quite timeless), and still a prime example of how to use film space with maximum efficiency and how to work with characters in an action story where most of them have to gradually disappear, inventing a variety of traps in line with keeping the pace and delaying the climax in favour of a moment of surprise to the point of being outrageously sexy and cool. An amazing Weaver and a brilliant Henriksen. Together with The Dark Knight and T2, the best sequel ever. (05/13/2018)

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. (11/01/2003)