Aliens

Ripley: "These people are here to protect you. They're soldiers."
Newt: "It won't make any difference."

release year: 1986
genre: sci-fi/action/horror
viewing setting: home Bluray 3/23/24 and 11/2/20 and 2/1/20 and 9/30/17 and 5/29/16 and 7/12/13 and 11/22/10 and home DVD 8/9/04 and at least a dozen other times since 1986

synopsis: 57 years after her terrifying adventure on the Nostromo, warrant officer Ripley is discovered, revived, debriefed, and then screwed over. Nobody believes her wild story about a dangerous alien...until contact with the colony on that planet is suddenly lost. Ripley is persuaded to accompany a squad of Marines there to get to the bottom of things.

impressions: This movie has it all: action, horror, memorable characters, wisecracks, special effects, gunfire, explosions...everything. It was James Cameron's second breakthrough, hot on the heels of The Terminator, and it's a sci-fi epic that is both a sequel and a stand-alone classic. Anything that any action fan could ever want...is in this movie; it's in my top ten all time list! You'll need to watch the movie multiple times to catch all of the good lines and little bits. Note: I watched this the last few times as part of the newly-released Alien Bluray box set, and this is absolutely the best picture and sound treatment this movie's ever had on home video!

activation point: 26:00 - this is when everyone realizes that there's a real problem on LV-426

something this movie has that no other movie has: Colonial Marines!

acting: Sigourney Weaver did a great job as action heroine and surrogate mother Ripley, but several others were equally memorable: Bill Paxton's loud and obnoxious Hudson, Jeanette Goldstein's tough-woman Vasquez, Lance Henriksen's distant but helpful android-Marine Bishop, and Michael Biehn's calm, cool Hicks.

final word: Superb effort thanks to all involved; required viewing for action and/or sci-fi fans.

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