Aliens (1986)

How do you approach or even top a brilliant film? One that was so advanced in terms of visual flair and design and had such a gripping story?

You get a young director with a very clear vision and let him rip.

That is what happened when 'Aliens', the sequel to the masterpiece 'Alien' (obviously) was construed. James Cameron had already shown that he had a new and refreshing take on things through 'The Terminator' and he had honed his designskills whilst working for Roger Corman on numerous low budget sci-fi-flicks.

The great thing about Cameron is that he used to have a very clear idea about where he wanted to go. You may not like 'Titanic' a whole lot (lord knows I don't), but you can't deny it's a solid film with some pretty impressive special effects. His turn with 3D for 'Avatar' is also not to be laughed at. But here, it's Cameron at his most visceral and boy, does that make for a great ride.

Cameron did not want to do a simple rehash of the original story and that was probably the best decision he and the studio could have made. Way too many sequels just do the same thing over and over again, and that becomes stale so fast. Instead of a claustrophobic space thriller/horror (basically 'Ten Little Indians'), the focus shifts to action/horror.

Ripley is found floating through space after a staggering 57 years. She has no one left and the company doesn't believe her story about the xenomorph, especially seeing as for the past 20 years, colonists have been living on LV-426, the planetoid where they found the ship (and eggs). But guess what? Suddenly the colony no longer responds and a team of marines is sent out to investigate, taking Ripley along because she is probably the most knowledgeable about the creatures, being so close to one. Naturally, all is not well in the kingdom and soon everyone will be fighting for their lives.

Saying it like this takes away quite a lot of the grandeur and excitement this film has to offer, but most importantly: this is all about great characters. True, you don't get to know that many of the marines (because most of them are fodder anyway), but those you do get to know, are great. Asskicker Vazquez is awesome, and probably one of my favourite 'old school' female action stars. (disregard the fact that actress Jeanette Goldstein isn't Hispanic but plays one, you'd hardly know it) Michael Biehn is great as the stoic Hicks, Bill Paxton nails it with the panicky douche Hudson and sergeant Apone is one of those great cinema sergeants, like R. Lee Ermey, in that he's realistic. Not surprising, considering Al Matthews was a real life officer during the Vietnam War. And I'd almost forget Lance Henriksen as the android Bishop, who has this naive, childlike quality to his character that fits with a synthetic lifeform.

Sigourney Weaver once again shines in her role as Ripley, and the introduction of a little girl as a surrogate for her own daughter works really well. It also gives some more subtext to the events at the end, where it's basically mom versus mom. Speaking of which: how cool are those loader robotsuits? I know it's all trickery with wires and and extra human operator, but hot damn, everyone wanted to have one of those powerloaders to play with, because mechsuits are cool.

Cameron ticks all the right boxes in this one. Characters are great, the action is fluid and exhilarating, the suspense is nailbitingly on point and the setpieces fit wonderfully into the already established universe.

Together with the first outing, this makes for the best double bill you could possibly hope for. I love it, to LV-426 and back.