Second Viewing: Aliens (1986)
Aliens is great. I do prefer it to Alien, though not everyone does. This is basically the same story as the original Alien, but with a lot more character development for Ripley, and with a more action movie feel.
But that’s not to say there’s not significant buildup. The first half of this movie is really slow, and does a great job of building tension while also developing its characters.
And I should specify that I watched the special edition here, which is the cut of the film that James Cameron says he prefers. I couldn’t tell you all the differences because I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever seen the theatrical cut, but I think most if not all of the stuff about Ripley’s daughter is in this one, which I think is good. What isn’t good is that we see the colony when stuff starts to go wrong, which I think kind of ruins it a bit.
But it’s an exciting, suspenseful movie that has a perfect amount of character development.
It’s a wonderful movie, and I think it’s even better than Alien.
Rating: 9/10