Aliens (1986)

After Ridley Scott’s grand de tour with Alien, it was natural to expect a creditable sequel. With Aliens, James Cameron not only refined the franchise further but created a masterpiece even better than it’s original. Apart from the horror elements already seen in its prequel, Cameron had taken a different approach & flared the story with heart pulsating action.

Events in Aliens kick starts right after where it ended in Alien. After surviving the horrors from the space freighter Nostromo, Ripley gets drifted into space for fifty seven years until she gets rescued & revived from hypersleep. Things turn murky when her employer Weyland Corporation cancels her space flight license for dubious action taken for destroying Nostromo as they were not able to ascertain the alien life form. Ripley’s testimony is even met with cynicism as no sightings of alien eggs were reported by colonists at LV-426 who were now working to establish terraforming colony. When all of a sudden communication is lost with the colonists, the company requests Ripley to act as an advisor & escort a group of high-tech colonial marines back to LV-426 to establish the situation. Initially Ripley refuses but sooner she realizes that the only way to surmount her fear is to confront it head on.

The movie is irrefutably well scripted but it’s the actors who have fleshed out the story so well. Sigourney Weaver’s stupendous performance as Ellen Ripley earned her an Academy Awards’ nomination for the best actress back in 1986. The character of Ripley is still measured as one of the most significant & memorable persona in the movie history. By the time the end credit starts rolling you will all be depleted. Truly, some times it makes me actually think that James Cameron was born to make this epic tale. Aliens is not only one of the Cameron’s best conception but also one of the most treasured science fiction sagas in history.

My Rating : 10/10