The big budget follow up to the deeply disturbing Alien, James Cameron’s (Avatar, The Terminator) Aliens sadly lacks the psychological undercurrent of its predecessor. Instead, Aliens is simply a testosterone-fuelled high adventure war film.
With Lt Ripley (Sigourney Weaver – Avatar, Paul) the only survivor from the ill-fated Nostromo, she finds herself disbelieved and dismissed from duty. The Company refuses to accept her story. In the 57 years Ripley has been in hyper sleep, there’s been no reported problems from LV-426 on which the Nostromo landed. But then communication with the planet is lost.
Reluctantly agreeing to travel, on arrival the planet settlement is found to be deserted – with the exception of Newt, a surviving young girl. Taking her under her wing, Ripley discovers she is in the company of trigger happy grunts – and a Company representative (Paul Reiser – Whiplash, Diner) determined to recover the aliens for biological weapon research.
It’s a full-on, blast-your-way-out-of-trouble approach from Cameron that ultimately becomes dull and tedious – not helped by a Newt that spends most of the time she is on screen screaming.
Nominated for 7 Oscars in 1987 including best actress, editing, art/set direction, won 2 for best visual and sound effects.
Rating: 50%
An Opinion or Two 