When Ripley's lifepod is found by a salvage crew over 50 years later, she finds that terra-formers are on the very planet they found the alien species. When the company sends a family of colonists...
WHAT I LIKED: In my opinion, James Cameron's 'Aliens,' is better than the first movie in almost every way, but largely because it delves far more into the corporate colonisation idea.
As the only sane and surviving member of her old crew, Ripley returns home to warn her company about the alien planet, but they decide to send a bunch of engineers anyway. Then, when contact with them is inevitably lost, Ripley and a bunch of Marines are sent to kill the aliens and colonise the planet. Soon enough though, the team's corporate representative once again reveals the true mission is to capture alien DNA to make weaponry, no matter the cost to human lives, and, low and behold, the team end up in terrible danger.
This time around the lives in question are more engaging too, as the characters are much more vibrant. Plus, whilst they lack the finesse and tension of the original, the set-pieces are far less repetitive this time around, and that makes them automatically more engaging.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It is certainly a sillier, goofier affair than its predecessor, with much more cheesy, muscular action sequences. Plus, to say it's less repetitive, is not to say it isn't at all...
VERDICT: James Cameron's 'Aliens,' is smarter, sillier, slightly less repetitive, and ultimately more engaging than the first 'Alien,' movie.
