A re-viewing of The Terminator (1984) led me to see this James Cameron followup. Strangely, I had never seen it. I had see Alien (1979) and suppose I didn't think this sequel-worthy at the time. So 28 years went by.
In this movie, 57 years have gone by since Lt. Ripley escaped from LR-212 as the sole survivor. Now she's going back. Since she was out, colonists have occupied the planet for years, but now there's been no word from them. A crew of Marines is assembled to go in, and Ripley tags along.
At its best, this is really a war movie, with the crew of Marines being a colorful bunch, from the cigar-chomping Sergeant, to the bandana-ed Vasquez (no helmet needed), to the the solid Hicks. The Marines once inside the target area, become the Lost Patrol, cut off and having to fight their way out. On their way they pick up a survivor girl, Newt, which adds to the humanity of the fight.
The Aliens were likely state of the art in 1986 but the effects fall a bit short by today's standards. In the first Alien, we hardly ever saw the monster and that added to the suspense. In this case, it was by its day, considered very violent, but again, by modern standards, not so much.
Sigourney Weaver plays a great leading lady for a sci-fi war movie - it makes this a classic film
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