CLASSIC SUNDAYS: ALIENS

ALIENS (1986)

Director: James Cameron

Rating: 10

Welcome to Classic Sundays, where I will bring a classic movie out of my vault so I can review it to you. Celebrating Women's Day and Sci Fi Month, I  shall bring you one of my favorite films of all time and one of the best sequels in movie history: Aliens.

After what happened on Alien, Ellen Ripley is found by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation which needs her help, since the planet where the Nostromo crew found the Xenomorph eggs was terraformed and became a colony that has been attacked by a local threat. Ripley will team up with a group of Marines to investigate the menace and save the few survivors. 

To be honest with you guys, I didn't catch up with the Alien franchise until a few years back, I rented the first Alien, and I loved it, from a movie that came up in '79, it still holds up pretty well, the scares are there and the quality is amazing. A few months later, I rented the sequel, which I was very excited to watch due to the great reception it had back in '86, and I was relieved that this film had the same level of quality as its predecessor.

There is a huge shift of genres here, from Horror to Action, usually this shift sucks in a franchise, but this is the rare exception where it works. James Cameron is one of my favorite filmmakers, not only because he is a visionary, he also takes his risks in a very professional way and he makes a good use of his regulars, Michael Biehn and legendary Bill Paxton.

Let's talk about the cast, Sigourney Weaver is Ellen Ripley, this was Weaver on her prime, her character doesn't start up as a badass, but eventually she is developed as such, something that makes Ripley so great is the humanity she represents which is reflected in her relationship of little Newt, as she tries to save her from the Xenomorphs. Also, how can you not call this one of the BEST moments in cinematic history?:

The rest of the cast is excellent as well, apart from Biehn and Paxton, I need to mention the great Lance Henrikssen as the Android, who unlike Ash from the first movie, is a more sympathetic being with artifical intelligence.

On technical aspects, the movie holds up after more than 3 decades, the animatronics from Stan Winston´s Studio are astounding, the scares are effective, the action sequences as well, and also the ending is very satisfactory like a good meal.

Mi biggest gripe is not directly with this movie, but what came soon after. If you ask me, Aliens is the end of the saga for me, from Alien 3 onwards, the franchise went downhill with mediocre sequels, badly executed ideas and a promising new chapter called Prometheus that spawned a mixed up sequel that left me unexcited for the next one. No matter how many times they try, another Alien movie won't top the first two entries. Unless someone like Dennis Villeneuve takes the helm.

This was my entry on Classic Sundays, which I will be posting every week, next week, I'll be reviewing Annihilation, a new International Geek Film more. If you liked this, you can comment and share it, this blog isn't just mine, it's yours as well.