Aliens

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton

Year: 1986

Rating: R

EERin's rating: "Effing cool!" - 5 out of 5 Slashes

At 10-years-old, this was my favorite film and I was supposed to be idolizing princesses (Ellen Ripley was my princess!).  True to its plural title, Aliens is filled with ghastly creatures out to kill the protagonists.  Director James Cameron wisely saw an opportunity here for a military theme with good-old-fashioned man vs. aliens. Of course this scenario has been hacked to death over the years, but Cameron was one of the first to think of taking a scary situation and filling it with some kick-ass battles!

After 57-years of hibernation sleep, the last survivor of the first Alien film, Ellen Ripley, awakens in a remote space station. Her account of the events that took place on the Nostromo with the "alien" is met with skepticism and scorn. Until communication is lost with the colonization who have inhabited the site of the alien space craft which provided the first creature Ripley encountered. A team of high-tech Marines are sent in to investigate with Ripley accompanying them as an advisor. Her greatest fears are confirmed when the team enters into an all-out war between the creatures and survival chances become slim.

I miss the old ways of special effects. Before the overuse of CGI, if you wanted an alien - you made an alien. The puppets/animatronics provide a more realistic vibe to these creatures that supposedly don't really exist. They're dark and sleek like creepy eels and best of all they have a Queen who's gigantic and pretty much the creepiest of all! These aliens look like they're ready for war which makes the battle sequences all the more gripping

Now back to my princess. Sigourney Weaver received an Oscar nomination in this role for Best Actress and rightly helped to define the female action hero. It's rare to find a character that embodies smarts, grit, and feminism without coming off as obnoxious or shrewd. Weaver does it with such honesty and grit so as to make her completely believable in an unrealistic setting. The Marines in this film are an arrogant, grungy albeit tough group. They brush off Ripley's dire warnings with sarcasm and she apprehensively puts her safety into their hands. When the ball drops, Ripley takes the reigns of the "rescue" operation for the colonists which has turned into a battle for survival. Who can't love a woman who takes over a man's job?

Best scene: Ripley gets on an elevator to descend alone into the creatures' lair. On the ride down, she gears up with a pulse rifle, flame thrower, grenades and flares. By the time the elevator reaches her floor and she steps out, you can tell she's not one to be f----d with.

Bottom-line: This a great, stylish thriller with a kick-ass heroine...AND I highly recommend watching the director's cut version.