Bill Paxton, Carrie Henn, Lance Henriksen

57 years after the original attack, Ripley and a crew of marines return to the planet to kill the remaining aliens that have slaughtered the colonists on the planet.

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90% liked it

218,081 ratings

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100% liked it

43 critics

R, 1 hr. 17 min.

Directed by: James Cameron

Release Date: July 18, 1986

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DVD Release Date: June 1, 1999

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Flixster Reviews (22,765)


  • September 21, 2009
    James Cameron takes Ridley Scott's original movie, takes the best of it and adds a lot of action to the claustrophobic and scary atmosphere of the original. After a long introduction of the situation and the interesting characters, Cameron is in his true element and blows you awa...( read more)y with what is basically a 90-minutes actions showdown, pushed by the disturbing soundtrack, great creature effects and camera work. Sigourney Weaver continues to create a true classic movie heroine with her portrayal of Ripley, one of the strongest female characters ever put on film, showing its widest range of layers in this film of the series. When she is going down the elevator getting her guns ready you know that it's kickass time.
    Thrilling, scary, breath taking, spectacular. One of the most exciting movies and best sequels ever.
  • August 28, 2009
    Good sequel but it lacks the intelligence of the first. It makes up for it in cheesy action though!
  • June 20, 2009
    Their camouflage is pretty. Bill Paxton's character was such a baddass when I was little... He's such a whiny bitch! Lance hands the gun back. Special effects still great
  • May 7, 2009
    Another Stan Winston creation with Cameron direction, genius.
    State of the badass art, this film rocks on every level, the only downer for me is the fact that you never really saw hords of aliens, some would say its more powerful that way but I think it would have been more tens...( read more)e and savage. Its still the perfect film with the perfect cast, I dont even really need to go on about it, awesome sequel.
  • April 13, 2009
    "This time there's more."

    The planet from Alien (1979) has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, enough?

    REVIEW

    As you may recall, Alien was taut, ...( read more)oppressive, mysterious, etc. While Aliens has some of that it wisely tries not to compete with Alien. It is its own thing. Action - and lots of it - in this fest. Some movies have lots of action but are low on actual thrills. No doubt about it, Aliens is definitely a keeper in any library. All of the characters are interesting. Not a dog in the lot. The acting is fun and convincing. Even the child was great. Everyone is introduced through situations that make them all very memorable without being mediocre. The pacing moves along quickly and is practically never dull - at least I was never bored. This is another one of those movies that keeps piling it on. Just when the situation can't get any worse or more thrilling - it does.

    The special effects are top-notch and convincing. The Aliens are also interesting characters as well - not just random murderers. In other words you get more acquainted with the little darlings. Their expanded role allows for them to compound on the interest that may have been generated by viewing the first installment. Background pretty much stayed in the background. It helped when it was needed otherwise it mostly stayed out of the way. The overall story was really very good too. It didn't sound stale and in fact, was almost completely plausible. That's a good thing for SF to do. Although I didn't do it I think it is entirely possible to watch this movie by itself without having seen the first one and do just fine. The dialogue alone leading up to the eventual reconfrontation with the aliens pretty much explains it - but does it in a way that is fun to review.

    Most everything about this movie - as a sequel- was smart.
  • November 7, 2009
    Kickass and breathtaking horror/sci-fi masterpiece by James Cameron, not surpassing the original film but owning an explosive action-oriented nature. To make such turn of events literally changing the psychological suspense of the original is an audacious thing to do, but if Came...( read more)ron had experience in a particular department, it was action, and the final outcome is an amazing film not so far from the brilliance of Riddley Scott's best film.

    87/100
  • November 4, 2009
    the best of all the alien movies
  • November 4, 2009
    Just gr8, i loved it from start to end
  • November 3, 2009
    La mejor pelicula de la serie de ALIEN. Un clasico de clasicos!
    Esta segunda parte si es la excepcion a la regla.
  • November 3, 2009
    Get away from her,you bitch!!!-Ellen Ripley

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    Director:James Cameron
    Cast:Sigourney Weaver,Michael Biehn,Lance Henriksen,Paul Reiser,Carrie Hehn,Bill Paxton
    Genre:Action,Science Fiction
    Year of release:1986
    Running Time:132 minutes

    Plot:
    Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the alien attack on the mining ship Nostromo, awakens half a century later when she is found by a salvage ship. The welcome given to her by the "Company" officials is far from warm, since they refuse to believe her discovery of alien existence and strip her off her flight officer's license. Ripley also discovers, much to her horror, that the planet LV-426 where her crew had encountered an alien species for the first time, is now colonized by the company. But when all contact from the planet is lost Ripley is called back into action again as an advisor to a team of tough space marines with lots of firepower. To get rid of her recurrent nightmares about the alien creature, Ripley prepares for a final battle with the monsters - and this time, there are hundreds of them out there.

    Review:
    This time,it s war!!There are few sequels on movie history that can be even better than the original and Aliens is the right example.I always loved this movie because is an amazing classic and a an oustanding improvement of the original movie directed by Ridley Scott in 1979.While Alien is a scary space horror movie,Aliens is a spectcular space action movie with adrenaline,intensity and brilliance aswell.This is one of the best action movies of all time and one of the greatest sequels of movie history.

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    Sigourney Weaver delivers an excellent and improved perfomance as Ellen Ripley.She looks even better than in the first movie.Sigourney is one of the greatest actresses of all time and she s the original action lady of Hollywood.Ripley is one of my favorite movie heroes because she dominates a genre dominated by men but she left her mark as the most iconic female hero of all time.Ripley is much stronger in this movie because the events of the first movie affect her mentally but she faces her own fear like she knows best.Sigourney became a icon thanks to Ripley.Michael Biehn was great as Corporal Hicks but i like him more in The Terminator,Bill Paxton is soo cool as Hudson.He s the most coolest character of the entire movie and Jennette Goldstein is a badass as Vasquez.Carrie Hehn is so adorable as Newt and i love the scenes with her and Ripley .And of course,the aliens were fantastic and this movie marks the first appearence of the Alien Queen.

    James Cameron is indeed one of the greatest directors of all time.He really directs Aliens with his signature and he makes a bigger and better movie than in the first one.Cameron is one of the best reasons that i love this movie and his other movies aswell and he will bring another masterpiece with Avatar.

    Aliens is one of my all time favorite movies and is better than those CGI craps of today.23 years later after it s release,Aliens is one of the greatest action sci fi movies of all time and a timeless masterpiece.Cameron rules!!!!

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The ads for Aliens claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. full review

View more Aliens reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • bSpiker
    February 22, 2008
    If there are any Gamers here, the March 08' issure of GameInformer had a cover story on the Aliens: Colonial Marines video game, due out in mid 09' for the XBOX 360, PS3, and PC. Fuck yeah!
  • Zanjum28
    January 22, 2008
    Absoluteley badasses!! the marines are so awesome (hudson's ma favourite) and the sulaco looks seriously menacing.
    james cameron is the man. why cant more films be this good?
  • SkywalkerJones
    December 26, 2007
    Hicks:where īs Apone?whereīs Apone?
    Hudson:The Sarge is gone.Letīs get the fuck outta here.
  • SkywalkerJones
    December 18, 2007
    It īs game time.you re damn right it is.
  • mmy92
    December 3, 2007
    Hi,

    Here is an awesome trailer parody twisting Golden Compass Vs Aliens :

    http://parodiesaffichesfilms.blogspot.com/2007/12/parody-golden-compass-vs-alien-aliens.html

    Compare with the original trailer !
    Enjoy !
    My
  • warblade15
    September 17, 2007
    James Cameron expanded Riddley Scott vision.This movie is one of my all time favorite movies.But unfortunately the alien franchise was destroyed by Alien3 and resurrection didnt help either.I invite everyone to take my Ultimate Aliens quiz,so far none has passed it and the average score is 36%.The highest score is 56%,lets see if you can beat my quiz.
  • TRONBATMAN
    September 12, 2007
    CAMERON DOES GREAT WORK ATFER T1 PUT HIM ON THE MAP,DOES WHATEVER HE WANTS AFTER TITANIC.MAYBE HE CAN REMAKE BLADERUNNER IF SCOTT TURNS IT DOWN.THAT MOVIE DESERVES THE NEW TECHNOLOGY.
  • jpm122880
    August 24, 2007
    I was 9 the first time I seen this and ever since I have loved Aliens =)
  • left4dead1100
    July 24, 2007
    Hi, nice to meet you. I couldn't agree with you more. This is my all time favorite movie (which I am sure you read already on my page, haha)
  • killer535
    July 20, 2007
    it's awsome i love the screeches!!!! they might be makin an alien 5!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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