Aliens (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Aliens (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Ripley's back with a vengence
Summary: 5 Stars
"Aliens" is the sequel to the smash hit science-fiction movie "Alien". Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Officer Ripley. There are some differences. Now, she's Lt. Ripley, and she's now playing a determined marine soldier. Her acting is amazing throughout the movie, especially the bonding with the young girl, Newt and the emotional aftermath from the horrifying experience in The Nostromo. Such level of acting deserving earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. All the other actors were also wonderful: Michael Beign, Paul Reiser, Lance Henrickson, and many more.Besides Sigourney Weaver's amazing feats, James Cameron's directing is amazing. He led the entire cast and crew to their fullest potentials in creating his creative and original ideas. Every detail is flawless. He proves on "Aliens" that he is the master directing and producing science-fiction and extravegent movies.
The visual effects and the sound effects are amazing! Every physical detail looks as real as if the audience was standing next to Ripley. No one can notice any of the computer editions. The sound effect technicians deserving won an Oscar for their efforts. The aliens and the eggs look very scary in credit of the great make-up team. The queen alien is the most amazing. Such elaborate settings give pride to the science-fiction genre.
The plot was written wonderfully. Few writers can master continuing the flow between one movie to its sequel. Every line contains heave substance, keeping the audience's eyes wide open anxiously awaiting for the next scene. The twists and turns between dramatic scenes and action scenes offer added watching pleasure. There is no dull moment. There are many unforgettable quotes that the audience may continue repeating for days after watching the movie. One example is, "get away from her, you b****!" exclaims Ripley.
"Aliens" is one of the best movie sequels released in movie history. Few others succeed this feat. It offers added action versus the original. Those who love action movies and/or science-fiction movies should watch "Aliens". However, "Alien"(the original) must be watched before this installment. Otherwise, all events will be confusing. It offers insight of how Ripley became haunted by the aliens. The two movies, plus "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection" offers the audience an explosive experience.
Movie Review: Marines in Space! It doesn't get any better!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, so maybe that particular concept was already done in Heinlein's Starship Troopers novel, but let's face it - this is much cooler.Some great things about this movie:
1) The setting and effects! I know a movie rocks when it was made in the mid 80's and still has the best effects in a scifi / action fusion movie I've ever seen. Yeah, even better than the Matrix. I didn't see Keanu piloting a dropship. The colony is also completely convincing, as are sets like the Medlab and the Alien Hive in Sublevel 3.
2) The action! Cameron spends enough time at the beginning setting up the story and the characters, and BAM. Two thirds of them die in one big rockin' firefight. Then we have a nice fancy dropship accident (once again, how'd they make that look so cool??), Vasquez being her badass self in the air vents, Ripley finding the Queen, and just when you think there can't be anymore, UH OH! Looks like you shoulda laid off that non-dairy creamer Bishop!
3) The characters. Talk about great acting! We have Ripley who rocks as usual, Beihn doing his usual "calm and collected quiet leader" thing, Hudson with the greatest lines in movie history ("Why don't you put her in charge???"), Burke as a slimy corporate villain with some great furtive looking facial/eye expressions, and Apone with REAL LIFE military experience (he was the first black sergeant in Vietnam or something, I think). I mean, look at how cool Drake is - this guy could be the lead role in a low-budget, fun-on-a-weekday-evening scifi movie, and he's ALIEN FOOD in this one!
The DVD rocks too. The added footage lends more depth to the movie, I think, because you get to see the colony fully operational before it's destroyed. You also feel more empathy for Newt after seeing her family, and Ripley gains more character depth. I've heard criticisms that the sentry guns make the aliens look weak and powerless, but since I'm a fan of a certain computer game featuring sentry guns (Yeah, TFC baby!) I gotta say I loved 'em.
Only thing I wish was included in the DVD was the "lost scene" in which Ripley finds Burke cocooned while looking for Newt. Even if Cameron thought the acting was bad, it would have been nice to include that at least for the hardcore fans... after all, really casual viewers aren't going to buy a DVD.
Movie Review: I worship this film
Summary: 5 Stars
Since I was a young lad, I enjoyed this movie start to finish. Of course my parents didn't let me watch it so when I found out it was on TV or somebody had rented it, I would rush to their house and watch it.Loving a movie as a boy should be different from loving a movie as an adult but really, not much has changed since then. The added scenes are like gold to most of us (there are some attention getters who say that they tear down the meaning of the film, but do you think Cameron would allow the studio to release his greatest film if this were true? No. I feel nothing is lost in the added scenes and actually more is recieved. When a perfect film gets longer, I feel no pain of another 17 minutes of entertainent bliss.)
Anyways, watching the film as a child I was intrigued by the action scenes and the amazing suspence. Now I watch it for the same reasons aforementioned, but also enjoy it for it's originality and symbolism. Some say symbolism in an action flik, yeah right. Well, Cameron confirms it in the interview included on this disc. The entire movie is like a tribute to his experinces in Vietnam. Technology is defeated by simple design and tactics. I enjoy every minute of this film now as I try to compare it to Vietnam (call me a freak please). A colony is set up on some distant, basically unknown region. The French set up colonies all along the coast of Vietnam. A threat invades killing the foriegners. The Vietnamese rebel and kill many of the French living there. Marines are sent to rescure the survivors and revive control of the colony. I could finish the movie but I have a word limit.
I cannot compare this film to Alien as they are so different in the directors' approach and time at which it was made. Aliens took the ideas of Alien and threw in a lot of changes that not only validate it, but differentiate it as a sequel.
I cannot stress you enough to buy this film. This film that has defied the test of time and remains a comparable film to even some of todays most advanced special effects. This film that has caused an uprising in copycats (Pitch Black most recently). This film that forever changed the publics view that a blend of genres is not always a bad thing.
Movie Review: Sets the Standard for Sci-Fi , Horror, and Action Movies
Summary: 5 Stars
When ALIENS was released in 1986 the studio made James Cameron cut over 17 minutes of film because they felt it was too long. Still the released film was over two hours, but audiences didn't seem to mind. The film was branded an instant classic, setting a new standard for sci-fi, horror and action movies... all at the same time. It even earned Sigourney Weaver (returning to her role as Lt. Ellen Ripley) a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar nomination. ALIENS proved that a sequel can live up to, if not surpass the vision of the original. It has been imitated dozens of times, but is has never been topped. Ripley awakens 57 years after A L I EN, only to find out that no one believes her story about a monster that gestates inside of humans, killing it's host (rather violently) at it's birth, grows very fast, has acid for blood and is pretty much an "unkillable" killing machine. So they fire her and threaten to sue her for destroying the Nostromo (the company's ship in part 1). She's forced to live in a run down apartment building and gets a job working on the cargo docks because no one else will hire her...However, the company did send out some colonists to check out her story. The colonists are unaware that for the past 20 years they've been sharing the same planet with Ripley's monsters.
That's the setup before all hell literally breaks loose.
James Cameron masterfully choreographs a decent into the bowels of a planet taken over by a demon monster and her brood (and there are many of them in this one). This DVD edition includes the 17 minutes of cut footage, which adds tremendously to the narrative, filling in some rather irritating gaps that were left in the theatrical version. Ripley is given a past, making her relationship with the little girl Newt more understandable. You actually see how the aliens took over the colony on LV-426. So when the marines arrive at the colony, you FEEL the loss. The movie is an emotional roller coaster ride and at the same time, a well-crafted nightmare. The final 45 minutes alone will have anyone literally sitting on the edge of their seats. Followed in 1992 by a somewhat mellower sequel, ALIEN 3.
Movie Review: I'll match your dead Alien..and raise you a Planet
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a true curse to always want things to work out when watching the "art" of film...imagine the disappointments! And then they ask you to suspend reason because it's "entertainment" e.g. (slasher wipes out young jocks, bested by frail femme). So, imagine if you will, how much of a pleasure this sequel to ALIEN was..It was actually the last film I ever paid to see at the theater more than once. It's truly that good, one of the best action films ever made.
The plot - everyone should know it by now, (but one more time for the cheap seats) Ripley, lost in space, after the near wipe-out on the Nostr-whatever(where the heck do these names come from) is rescued by a salvage ship...a mere 57 years later. Bummer for her, and let's suspend the reality starting now, no alien contacts since.
The Company (rather BIG Brother name there) blow off her fantastic story (I suppose all of Ash's entries aren't in the recovered logs) and yank her license, off you go, to the docks.
And while Ripley tries to cope with life, her nightmares of impregnation drive her to agree to accompany Burke, Company man, and a squad of Colonial Marines back to -(guess where).
And that's where this movie kicks off. What follows, anyway you care to view it, broke new ground in effects, writing, action scenes..you name it. Imagine if you will, the stubborn Texicans attacking the Mexican Army at the Alamo..They may have had heart, but the Marines soon (very soon) find they are no match for the Aliens. Down to a quickly dwindling group of survivors, the film never lets up in suspense or action. (I'll leave the character development and sub-plots to those better suited to flesh them out, but rest assured, they are superb on many levels.)
What makes a film classic..in whatever genre, (in my opinion) is does it still stand up as watchable today?
ALIENS does..in every category. Cameron made a masterpiece (hey, I don't know the guy) in a series that was deep-sixed in Aliens3. Jeez, what a kiss off. I don't know if I will ever buy the DVD series (I have the VHS tape practically memorized)
but any collection SHOULD HAVE THIS MOVIE> A Classic!