Aliens (1986)

One of the evolutionary films of the 20TH Century was 1979's Alien which was one of the first films to feature a woman as the main hero of the film. That was a huge move back in the day considering that most films featured men as the heroes and women were always rescued. That is why I decided to check out the sequel in 1986's Aliens which was written and directed James Cameron (Terminator: Dark Fate). The film once again stars Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) as Ripley who has been frozen for over 57 years on her ship when she is found after the events of the first film. Since that time, as colony had already set up shop on the moon, but the problem is that they've lost contact and now Ripley is on her way back with Colonial Marines, but do they have the firepower to handle what is happening? The film also stars Carrie Henn (Alien³) as Newt, Michael Biehn (The Terminator) as Corporal Hicks, Paul Reiser (The Little Hours) as Burke, Lance Henriksen (Alien Vs Predator) as Bishop, Bill Paxton (Weird Science) as Hudson, William Hope (Captain America: First Avenger) as Lt. Gorman, Jenette Goldstein (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) as Private Vasquez, Mark Rolston (Rush Hour) as Drake, Al Matthews (Superman III) as Sgt. Apone, and Ricco Ross (Mission: Impossible) as Frost.

Prior to viewing this film, I had only seen Alien and Alien: Covenant so I didn't really know what to expect going into this one. I will say that the original had a certain magic to it thanks to Ridley Scott who gave it that horror element whereas James Cameron was going for the more big budget blockbuster style we had seen in plenty of his films. Now I am not taking anything away from his version because it was really good and it had me glued, but I liked that he added a more corporate element to it. The addition of Burke (Reiser) added a different element naturally because he looks at things in a dollars and sense kind of way and he would naturally have conflict with everyone else. Up until now, we never really had that element in the previous film so you need a more human villain and he was perfect. The Aliens themselves were absolutely awesome including the introduction of the very pissed off mama alien who does not appreciate what Ripley and Co. are doing. The element of suspense wasn't as great as the first film, but there were some really good intense moments in this one. I absolutely loved the cast of the film and I thought the choices were great especially the late Bill Paxton. Some of the special effects were a little noticeable at times, but overall it was actually pretty good and it has to be for a film like this. I think I am definitely looking forward to continue the journey towards having seen every film in the series, but I fear they are not as good as this one. I am going to go ahead and give this film an A- for a final grade.