Rent Aliens (1986)

The greatest of all Sci Fi films? - Aliens review by JD

Aliens is an epic win by Cameron. I could leave it at that.

Its a film that wreaks of his skill and attention to detail. God, that detail. Unlike 90% of Sci Fi's Cameron makes everything and everyone something real. The way the pulse rifle is explained, the auto turrets - even Paxmans excellent comic book style scene during the drop where he details the weapon systems.. It makes it all feel so real.

And talking comic book, the marines are comically over played and almost annoying but, but it brings them to life and you quickly want everyone of them to survive. And Check out there armour. Standerd Marine issue but custom decorated, another awesome detail.

And the Marines and the weapons are just 1 small part of this film, yet that alone puts Aliens amongst the very best action films of all time. Yes, this film can trade blows with the best of horror, sci fi and action independently its that good.

A lot is said about Aliens being relentless action. It isnt. It takes almost an hour to spin up and does have the odd break through the remaining 90 minutes.

I just put it down to how the film sucks you in, then once your in its pummels you senseless. One pro writer explained it well, saying he didnt know how to rate the film as he came out dazed. He was entertained, he was exhausted.

And has any film left behind so many quotes re-used in daily life or so instantly recognizable?

Its an utter masterpeice of sci fi which only has one flaw. It set a bar with a carrot dangling from it that the film industry cant help trying to reach. Needless to say, nobody has even got close.

better than the first - Aliens review by CP Customer

When Alien made an unexpected impact in theatres a sequel was clearly predicted. Many critics thought Alien 2 would be a very bad idea but when the film was actually released they quickly changed their minds.

After destroying the alien that killed all of her crew Ellen Ripley, and her cat, begin making the journey back to earth. But the problem is that their craft has gone off course and Ripley has been floating around in space for 53 years! Luckily a team of astronauts find her and bring her to a huge centre where she receives many odd looks from people who do not believe her story about the alien she faced 53 years ago. But when the centre loses contact with a large group of colonists, living on the planet where Ripley's crew first discovered the alien life form, Ripley is forced to return to the planet along with a determind army of troops. Soon terror breaks loose as Ripley and the troops don't discover one alien but hundreds.

This film is completely action packed. James Cameron knows how to write an action movie and the storyline doesn't get stupid at all. There is no bad acting and although the special effects look a bit dodgy now they don't take away any of the experience. The relationship created between Ripley and Newt is also very clever and convincing!

As near to perfect as you'll get - Aliens review by SV

Sometimes I'll rewatch a film just because it happens to be on, but this is more or less the only film I actively, deliberately go back and watch again and again.

What sets this apart from all other action films is that there is no deux ex machina. Everything that happens is a logical consequence of what happened before and the choices made by the protagonists given their circumstances - there is no moment where something you didn't already know about intrudes to change the course of things, and no moment where people make unfathomable decisions, given who they are. It's also true that the plot only plays out the way it does because of the conflicting interests and motives of the protagonists - despite a sort of inexorable, slow motion trainwreck narrative, nothing that happens was actually inevitable.

It is also fabulously lean, without any guff that doesn't serve either to establish the characters so their subsequent actions make sense, or to move the plot along. I'm talking specifically about the theatrical cut - the director's cut should be avoided (or at least, saved for a later viewing) as it only adds crap which diminishes the film: an unnecessary opening sequence which only serves to destroy all mystery as to what the expedition finds when it arrives; the scene about Ripley's daughter which was intended to explain why she relates to Newt and connect her to the alien queen as a mother, neither of which is necessary; the corridor cannon scenes which only expose the aliens as men in rubber suits.

If I'm totally honest I also consider the final scene unnecessary - the film could have convincingly ended before that and been no worse for it - but it's an iconic scene and the rest of the film is so good, I can happily go along with it.

In short, if you're not an action movie sort of person, I'd say just for once case put aside your misgivings and watch this.