Where Alien was a genre defining entry into scifi/horror, Aliens takes that a step in a different direction, keeping the horrifying alien monster roots and adding in a pile of action scenes. Space marines, big guns, and flamethrowers–oh my.

On one hand, taking the (more or less) single alien of Alien and upping the ante to a whole pile of them–and then blowing at least some of them away–lessons the mystique. They’re not unkillable perfect monsters any more. But it’s still a good way to up the ante rather than just putting us through more of the same.

Sigourney Weaver remains a star of the episode, this time mixing her tough surviverness with a ‘save the child’ complex that I think just works. But this time around, we have a whole pile of soldiers, playing up every stereotype you can think of.

Vasquez: Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are.
Drake: Go, Vasquez. Kick ass.
Vasquez: Anytime, anywhere, man!
Hudson: Right, right. Somebody said “alien” she thought they said “illegal alien” and signed up!
Vasquez: Fuck you, man!
Hudson: Anytime, anywhere.

And some very memorable lines.

Private Hudson: That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?

(You can hear it, can’t you? Even if you haven’t seen the movie?)

Ripley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Overall, it’s a different feel of movie, but every bit as good as Alien. I’ve heard that Alien³ is a step down, but honestly, it would be hard to believe they could do it a third time in the first place. Onward!