Aliens

Name: Aliens
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Released: July 18, 1986
Duration: 137 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Michael Biehn, Sigourney Weaver

1986

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Universal acclaim based on 22 Critic Reviews

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Universal acclaim based on 977 Ratings

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Aliens

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: July 18, 1986 | R

Starring: Michael Biehn, Sigourney Weaver

Summary: In this action-packed sequel to Alien, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the monstrous Alien. Her account of the Alien and the fate of her crew are received with skepticism - until the mysterious disappearance of colonists on LV-426 leads her to join a team of high-tech colonialIn this action-packed sequel to Alien, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the monstrous Alien. Her account of the Alien and the fate of her crew are received with skepticism - until the mysterious disappearance of colonists on LV-426 leads her to join a team of high-tech colonial marines sent in to investigate. [20th Century Fox]… Expand

Director: James Cameron

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 137 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Rita Kempley

Cameron and company have made a sequel that is gripping and vital. The 2 1/2 hours fly by with this brave company, our imaginations sucked into the screen as if by a black hole. [18 July 1986, p.N31]

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

A nonstop, high-tech, souped-up war movie, with gung ho marines blasting special-effects creatures, and a genuinely convincing, exciting action heroine. Read full review

100

Rick Kogan

Though Aliens is unable to eschew some obvious sci-fi conventions and those of other genres as well, it brings a fresh and lively spirit to this tired cinematic clime. Scene to scene, encounter to encounter, its tension builds unrelentingly. So, fasten your seat belts. It`s a blast. Read full review

Jay Scott

Essentially, it re-constitutes the war movie, and in so doing marries a feminist Rambo to Star Wars. [19 July 1986, p.D9]

Sheila Benson

But of all the film's choices, the best was Weaver. She's its white-hot core, given fine, irascible dialogue to come blazing out of that patrician mouth, and the chance to look, for a moment, like a space-dusted Sleeping Beauty in her hyper-sleep casket. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

James Cameron's vault into the big time after scoring with the exploitation actioner The Terminator makes up for lack of surprise with sheer volume of thrills and chills - emphasis is decidedly on the plural aspect of the title. Read full review

Pauline Kael

An inflated sci-fi action-horror film...[Cameron] does it in an energetic, systematic, relentless way, with an action dicretor's gusto, and a shortage of imagination. The imagery has a fair amount of graphic power, but there's too much claustrophobic blue-green darkness.

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User Reviews

ERG1008

Aug 23, 2010

Ripley wakes up 57 years after the original film, bad nightmares, colonies now on LV-426, lose contact, marines go in, action-a-go-go!!
Sequel to Ridley Scott's masterpiece. It's not as creepy & maybe not as dark but the larger than life Marines, number of Aliens & fast dialogue make it big,Ripley wakes up 57 years after the original film, bad nightmares, colonies now on LV-426, lose contact, marines go in, action-a-go-go!!
Sequel to Ridley Scott's masterpiece. It's not as creepy & maybe not as dark but the larger than life Marines, number of Aliens & fast dialogue make it big, loud & a lot of fun to watch.
After watching it again recently it's interesting to see how many video games have used this film as an influence.… Expand

18 of 18 users found this helpful180

Kai82

Nov 8, 2020

The rare case of a sequel that rivals an excellent predecessor. Even more it changes the formula. While Alien is pure science fiction horror Aliens is more science fiction / action with horror elements. It continues Ellen Ripleys story. After surviving the events of Alien she drifted inThe rare case of a sequel that rivals an excellent predecessor. Even more it changes the formula. While Alien is pure science fiction horror Aliens is more science fiction / action with horror elements. It continues Ellen Ripleys story. After surviving the events of Alien she drifted in space for 57 years until she is found by another ship. After telling her story no one believes her and she is turned into an outcast. However she got the information that on the moon where the eggs were found a colony was established. After the contact with the colony is lost she is recruited for investigation together with a group of space marines. So starts the story. It is intense, has great action, suspense and creates this feeling of distrust and dread that makes this movie remarkable. The menace is so intense that you are lost in the immersion. The great actors / acting increase this effect. Again Sigourney Weaver delivers an awesome performance as Ellen Ripley. Michael Biehn as Dwayne Hicks is equally awesome and became one of the most acclaimed characters in the franchise. Must I even praise Lance Hendriksen as Bishop? He is a great actor and he nailed his role. Special praise also to Carrie Henn as newt. Good child actors are rare and deserve even more praise. If I think about it this movie has a lot of favorite characters of the franchise so I can call it the gold standard all other movies will be compared to. Of cause I must also praise and mention James Cameron as director and writer and Gale Anne Hurd as producer. They tired to make something a bit different than the original while staying also true to it. There are so many cases in changing too much and pissing off fans in movies, videogames or books. Here it works and was acclaimed by fans and critics. Then there are the sets and Alien design. They did again a great job in delivering the mundane of science fiction that looks natural and believable. The Alien design were from H. R. Giger from the first movie except one that was done by James Cameron himself. These effects and care made the difference. Everything looks whole. Overall this is again a cult classic and must see. It cemented the status of the franchise and is one of the rare sequels that rivals the original movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ii_like_bl00d

Mar 8, 2014

The best Alien movie I have ever seen, the story is great, the acting is great, the movie is everything I could ever want in a sci-fi/ horror film and more.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Robwinz

Dec 11, 2020

Aliens is actually a brilliant movie and it's honestly a masterpiece and a half. The movie's got a brilliant story, which is about this lass called Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who's sent back to the planet LV-426 to fix the contact with a terraforming colony.

However, when Ripley andAliens is actually a brilliant movie and it's honestly a masterpiece and a half. The movie's got a brilliant story, which is about this lass called Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who's sent back to the planet LV-426 to fix the contact with a terraforming colony.

However, when Ripley and her team get there, she later bumps into the Alien Queen and her offspring, the team have got to fight the Alien Queen and her offspring to survive. The acting from all of the main characters throughout this movie is all honestly brilliant and non of the actors/actresses feel out of character at any moment in this movie.

The dialogue which is given and received from each character throughout this movie is honestly all very strong dialogue and non of the dialogue feels forced in any sort of way.

Also, the cinematography which was done by Adrian Biddle is honestly beautiful. He captures every single moment so well and especially the action scenes, he does such a great job on capturing these moments so well.

The action scenes throughout this movie are all honestly brilliant and they all work so well. Most of the action scenes hold up pretty well because they mainly used practical effects for them.

The movie's even got a beautiful soundtrack which was composed by James Horner. He did such a great job on composing such a beautiful soundtrack for this movie and the soundtrack is used so amazingly throughout this movie.

Finally, the pacing throughout this movie is honestly brilliant, every moment is built up very well with the pacing. While, non of the scenes which end up happening throughout this movie aren't built up badly.

The movie's even got some great emotions with the characters throughout this movie. They're also very well built up with the amazing pacing which this movie's got.

The design of the Aliens throughout this movie have got a very scaly, vicious and a very deadly look to them, which really adds to them as a creature throughout this movie.

Overall, Aliens is a brilliant movie and it's honestly a masterpiece and a half. The movie's got a brilliant story, brilliant acting, very strong dialogue, beautiful cinematography, brilliant action scenes, a beautiful soundtrack, brilliant pacing, great emotions and some very vicious looking Aliens.

I'd honestly recommend everyone to watch this movie straight after watching Alien because you'll honestly enjoy this one as much as Alien (1979). It's honestly worth the watch if you enjoyed the first one or if you just enjoy watching Action/Horror movie's, this is the movie for you.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Akshay7

Jan 4, 2014

Now that's Kick-alien!!

Firstly make sure you watch Alien (1979) first before reading this review. You may watch Aliens independently but miss out many plot elements key to the franchise. With Alien having established the presence of deadly alien in a suspenseful horror manner this sequelNow that's Kick-alien!!

Firstly make sure you watch Alien (1979) first before reading this review. You may watch Aliens independently but miss out many plot elements key to the franchise. With Alien having established the presence of deadly alien in a suspenseful horror manner this sequel satisfies the kick-alien action which was missing (definitely not necessary) in the first film without sacrificing much of the suspenseful storytelling that made Alien special. Another plus point for Aliens is that it has a strong lead performance by Sigourney Weaver and very impressive visuals for 1986. It has the typical James Cameron touch for both screenplay and direction and does complete justice as a sequel. The movie always has edge of seat thriller feeling with the Aliens getting smarter with every advent thus suspense has a strong hold. The final act is full on entertainer but has feel like the protagonists would escape any kind of dangerous numerous times which has a bit hard to digest apart from that Aliens is among the top lists in sci-fi, a justifying sequel which answers few unanswered questions of 1st film and not to be missed even today.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

AceIsCoolPro

Aug 13, 2010

Awesome movie. A good film mixed with scary sci-fi and deadly action. Mysteries build up in the discoveries and you feel that you are part of the group of humans and you are about to die. 8.4/10

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

lilkillpappy

Aug 3, 2012

James Cameron wrote a **** script, and it shows as this film gets cheesier and cheesier as the years go by and Alien gets better and better as the years go by. Some of the acting was absolutely horrible, and the story was uninteresting, and lacked emotion. I wont deny that this was a funJames Cameron wrote a **** script, and it shows as this film gets cheesier and cheesier as the years go by and Alien gets better and better as the years go by. Some of the acting was absolutely horrible, and the story was uninteresting, and lacked emotion. I wont deny that this was a fun action ride, but it doesn't even come close to Ridley Scott's film, and is not part of the franchise in my opinion. I own the Quadrilogy, and have watched these films probably like 50 times in my life time, and its funny how my first impressions of them have changed so much, and how the really good stuff just got better, but the hidden crap under James Cameron's film just started leaking out over time. Would have given it a higher score as an entertaining action film, but since its the sequel to a fantastic Art film, and it lacks any art on any level it completely fails.… Expand

9 of 67 users found this helpful958

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