Most directors would be lucky if they made one great sequel. With Aliens and Terminator 2, James Cameron made the greatest sequel ever made, TWICE! How awesome is that!

Gotta miss that era when female action leads existed w/o the dumbest controversies.

*RIPLEY:* "Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons or training". *HUDSON:* "Well why don't you put her in charge"?!!

My favorite scene? When Ripley's in the elevator preparing herself as she descends to the lower level to get Newt. How, without a word, she conveys her terror at what she would face below, yet allowed her fear to be overridden by her determination to save the girl. Her acting in that one small scene was brilliant! She made you feel as if you were riding in that claustrophobic elevator to hell with her.

Alien and Aliens are like Terminator and Terminator 2: the first movie was a small-scale sci-fi horror film (with a strong female lead) while the sequel was a big-budget action blockbuster which toned down the suspense and horror in exchange for fist-pumping thrills and even more great one-liners ("Game over, man! Game over!" "Hasta la vista, baby.") And then the third film came along, killed off beloved characters, rehashed previous concepts, and generally pissed everyone off, and the fourth film took the franchise to a _totally_ different place and got really weird and pissed everyone off a lot. Huh, Alien and Terminator are even _more_ alike than I initially thought...

THIS is how you do female protagonists. You can have them be tough and do badass things, but she still has feminine​ qualities such as motherly tendencies and more emotional responses. Having a woman act like a man to have her be a strong, tough character isn't the right way to go.

This is my favorite movie of all time. Ellen Ripley shows us what bravery is. Not bravery for a woman..just badass bravery. She was scared but moved on anyway.

"We take off, and nuke it from space." "That's a $4 billion facility." *My favorite line in the movie* "They can bill me!"

Best line in my opinion. Bill Paxton; "I'm telling ya, there's something moving and it ain't us! "

"GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER! What the fuck are we gonna do now, what are we gonna do?!" Classic moment. RIP Bill Paxton

Wow Aliens was such a good movie. It had the most lovable characters ever, and especially at the end, Ripley's relationship with her "daughter" was made perfectly concrete in the last shot. Such a great duo, Newt and Ripley. And such great supporting characters, Hicks and Bishop. NOW IMAGINE IF THEY MADE A SEQUEL WHERE ALL OF THESE CHARACTERS DIED WITHIN THE FIRST ACT. *sighs. tears.*

"Alien: Isolation" is actually a game based on Ripply's daughter and her search for answers about her mother. It's a VERY good game with elements from Alien and Alien 2. And they kept the technology from the movies with large old fashion tv monitor screens and everything else. Its sett (obviously) between the first and second alien films. Worth checking out.

It's still my absolute favorite film. I'll never forget watching it for the first time.

They mostly come at night... mostly.

As a veteran myself, James Cameron's direction and the acting felt extremely genuine. Sgt. Apone was the epitome of the rough Gunny. The lieutenant was the perfect dummy that all enlisted men hate. Hudson is the perfect naive, straight out of basic, boot-ass Private. And Hicks is THE Cpl that every NCO wants to be.

Special edition all the way. I love the sentry gun turret scene.

I have a good memory from my initial viewing of Aliens in the theater. Patrons were SO engrossed with the plot and loving the characterization that when Ripley delivered her line, "Get away from her, you bitch!" they started cheering, applauding and whistling. That moment was comically-bonding for everyone sitting in that theater. Love it!

This movie is an A+ and one of mine top ten favourite movies of all time.

Did you know that James Cameron was trying to make Aliens a really scary movie like the original Alien but everyone thinks he was just going mainly for action. He did say one thing that is true as can be though, he said that he refused to make Aliens really gory because gore doesn't scare people, it just disgusts people. I agree.

Can't believe people didn't like the sentry turret scenes. Never has a scene showing numbers counting down been so intense and soul destroying. The same with the motion sensors. This movie does such a good job at building tension with the simplest of visuals.

''It's game over man,game over!!'' RIP Bill Paxton

Shit, unlike chris i had to grow up with Alien vs Predator :(

This was one of the best action packed horror movies I've watched.

Michael Biehn was pretty hot in that movie.

I grew up with "Chris Stuckmann grew up with…" jokes.

I remember reading that Cameron wished he had wrote the soldiers differently in the screen play. He modeled them after young draftees of Vietnam, he later wrote that he should have modeled them after 'elite soldiers', such as the SEALS. It's a great film that I mostly watch at night, mostly ...

Hands down one of the best movies ever made. Everything feels organic and nothing is forced...Cameron just absolutely nailed it.

There is something wrong with Alien: the Airfix sprue on the computer console.

Aliens is without doubt my favorite action movie of all time. It does everything right. The alien effects, the script, the action, the suspense, the score and especially, the casting. This is a text book example how to do an action movie. Aliens have what most action movies lack today, a believable protagonist that you really, really root for. Ripley is just perfect. She's tough, yet tender when needed. Strong, yet vulnerable. She knows what they are facing and it scares her senseless but somehow she finds the strength within herself to survive and protect Newt. Nothing is more boring than a protagonist with no interesting background that comes across as invulnerable.

a month after i watched alien for the first time, john hurt died. a month after i watched aliens for the first time, bill paxton dies. i just watched alien 3 for the first time...

There's a reason Jim Cameron kept using Bill Paxton in his movies. He was a National Treasure. 👍😎

You didn't like the scene with those auto-turrets in the tunnels!?! *GASP*

My favorite movie is Nine lives

They just don't make films like this anymore...

"I grew up with Aliens" Trump: *HEAVY BREATHING*

Bill Paxton God rest his soul. Miss him. And that soundtrack...G Dammm!

I actually prefer the Special Edition. I feel the additional scenes either added atmosphere, world building or welcomed context to certain characters

Whattt? The Special Edition has the sentry gun scene which is really tense/great. I'd say that's the best added scene when compared to the Theatrical.

I started watching this film when I was five years old. It may have scared me, I honestly don't remember. My cousins and I watched it over and over, acting every scene out. It is still my #1 favorite movie and universe to this day. Ripley is definitely my favorite action hero as well, Chris

I remember my first time watching Aliens. Well, I closed my eyes for a lot of it. My Dad took me to the movie theater when I was 5 years old; not sure how my Dad got me through to see a rated R film at the time. I still have the memory of walking out as the credits rolled, I felt like I just got off a rollercoaster. The last 15-20 minutes was such a rush. I specifically remember being terrified seeing Ripley and Newt trapped with the facehugger and got excited seeing Ripley fighting the mother alien with the power loader.

The sound of that machine gun is still the best ever!

Terminator 2 and Aliens and Die Hard are my favorite action movies.

The direction, acting, editing, pacing, lighting...everything was flawless

"show me everything. I can handle myself." "yeah, I noticed "

You forgot to mention the sound effects. The pulse rifle is an iconic sound that started in Aliens. Hell, even Goreman's pistol sounded like it packed a punch. I swear to God, to this day, there has never been a "last stand" moment that is as badass as Hudson's in this movie. When he's just seething with adrenaline that overcame his fear, when he was swearing his ass off, mowing aliens down with attitude and aggression, he turned into the badass he was bragging about at the beginning of the mission. The lighting was amazing as well. The suits and models for aliens. Thank God this was made before CGI took over. It's one of the rare times I disagree with Chris. My personal favorite in the Alien franchise is Aliens, hands down. Alien was awesome, but as a kid, this movie captured my imagination and sucked me in. I'm very grateful my dad sat me down to watch this and the old Predator movies with him. RIP Bill Paxton :( still makes me sad knowing another one of my favorite childhood actors is gone.

I was obsessed with Aliens as a kid. It might be my favorite movie of all time. You can't imagine my shock and disappointment when I saw Alien 3.

Aliens is one of the best sequels ever!!!

I admit, this is one of my favorite films of all time. Random geek fact: the picture of Ripley's daughter in the special edition is actually a picture of Sigourney Weaver's Mother. Can we say META, boys and girls?

I grew up with black friends

No one going to mention of how Aliens highly influence the Halo series? Ok....

This is the movie I had most nightmares with.

When I was working at a VHS rental store, I had ALIENS, playing on the screen all day during business hours, therefore the rental copies were always out.

Here’s the thing for me… I understand how some people can prefer “Alien” to “Aliens,” but it’s very simple and obvious for me when watching these films that “Aliens” is a superior film in so many ways. James Cameron has been able to do what no other filmmaker has been able to do, and that’s finding a way to take what is considered a masterpiece original film and make a sequel that elevates past it by a mile. He did it with “Aliens” and he did it again with “Terminator 2.” Look at what he was able to accomplish visually with “Aliens.” He wrote an unbelievable script that fleshed out Ripley to the point of an Oscar nomination, he added to the world even more, and he was able to build onto the alien species in such a way that it made it a fully realized entity. Like you can wholeheartedly believe that such a species exists somewhere in the universe just like this. Simply amazing! It’s scary, suspenseful, dramatic, funny, sad, and so fuckin action-filled. Alien$

One of my favorite Paxton lines was in a deleted scene. Just at the end of one of sentry gun scenes just before they learn the plant is gonna blow Bishop says over the intercom that he has "some bad news" and Paxton says "well, that's a switch."

One of my favorite memories of watching a film in the theater was with Aliens.

This is one of my favorite movies but rewatching this in my 30s is a different experience. Obviously there’s so much that’s awesome. We all know that. One of the things I realized this time around was that the marines, who I thought were so badass as a kid and in my teens, were really annoying. I also question how they are marines with previous successful missions. They are so undisciplined. They act like bratty teenagers. Ripley is somehow a weapons expert after a brief explanation from Hicks on how a gun works. The Alien Queen taking an elevator was pretty comical. The gigantic Queen hiding on the ship was also pretty comical. And while the fight between the Queen and Ripley in her mech suit was awesome it went on for about 10 second too long and also became a bit comical. Again one of my favorite movies ever just felt differently about a couple things this time around.

The one thing about Aliens you didn't mention was the fact that there is no action for the first hour, then the crap hits the fan!

This one is my favorite. Ripley having a daughter is better for me, especially as she finds redemption for missing out by finding and saving Newt. And Newt is awesome... but then alien 3 takes that development and wipes the queen aliens butt with it.

My fave, Hudson quote : Gorman : ok, I'm coming in ... ( comms vocal ) Hudson : Oooo, He's coming in. I feel safer already ... Hahahahaha 👊🏻🎃👊🏻 I always say that at work about my bosses, it's so sarcastic 👊🏻🎃👊🏻

Perfect example of a movie with a strong female lead that isn't forced

I thought Alien 3 was basically just a sh-tty story brilliantly told. The atmosphere, suspense, even the performances, all were just fine. David Fincher did a great job of creating a world and letting us live in it, but the story was such a huge letdown - especially after having killed off two of the best characters in the previous films right in the opening credits - that it just sort of let the air out of the balloon right from the get-go.

One of my all time favorites. When they added the cut daughter story back in the mother daughter dynamic between her and Newt was elevated and the determination to retrieve Newt made her even more of a bad ass. In essence you get two main characters tapping into that "don't screw around with maternal instinct" motivation. It's a shame that they could not build on that going into the 3rd movie. Would have been interesting watching those three find themselves fighting the Aliens once again. The emotional attachment would have been solid and they could have tapped into that and rolled right into the action without having to build much of a backstory. Nice review as always..

No… the directors cut is the only way to go… the sentry gun scene is incredible.

This is my favorite Aliens movie and one of my favorite movies of all time. I watch it at least once a year.

My favorite line is "What killed the dinosaurs? The ice age!"

Aliens is my all time favorite movie. I love it so much and get pumped every time I watch it.

"Ridley Scott's ALIEN was a masterclass of sci fiction suspense James Cameron's ALIENS was a masterclass of sci fiction action" Perfectly describe it.

This is probably my favorite review of yours. You really explained how much this movies direction works in such a passionate way. ps. love the metroid shirt, since metroid is basicaly alien as a video game.

I really hope you give Alien 3 a thoughtful review and not the kneejerk "it's not Alien/Aliens" reaction that everyone else has. I initially didn't like it but the more times I've watched it the more it's grown on me, especially the excellent Assembly Cut. It's certainly not without its issues, and yeah it's a heartbreak (spoiler) to see what happens to some of the major players left over from Aliens, but I respect the chances it took and what it brought to the franchise. I'm honestly glad Blomkamp's sequel to Aliens that would have de-canonized (is that a word?) Alien 3 isn't happening...

One of my favourite scenes is one that isn't discussed very often, and that's when the aliens are attacking the barricaded marines, while they're watching their motion sensors. It's such a suspenseful scene, especially since we, the audience, know as little as the marines about what is happening. Where are the aliens? How did they get past the barricades? Then, when Michael Biehn freezes up, and realises what's going on, it's one of THE biggest oh f*ck! moments in cinema.

I think this movie and the first are both AMAZING, but Alien is probably better. It feels like you're watching true events, because there's nothing overdone or theatrical about it. There are zero contrivances in the plot, and the story is tailored to the characters, not the other way around. I love how the dialogue is written and acted. People have throwaway lines that add nothing to the plot, talk over top of one another and sometimes repeat themselves. Why? Because that's what real conversations are like. The character of Ripley isn't as fleshed out as she becomes in Aliens, but this makes her seem like a human being, not a character. Aliens feels like a movie. Most movies feel like movies. Alien just doesn't, it's more of an experience. I would give both films an A+, but two very different A+s, if that makes sense.

These are some of the best sequels in my book, since I'm seeing quite a few users list theirs, some of which even I....grew up with: The Godfather Part II, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, The Dark Knight, The Return of the King, The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2, Toy Story 2, Spider-Man 2, Aliens, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future 2, The Bourne Ultimatum.

"You secure that shit, Hudson!"

So that's it huh we're some kind of aliens

I've watched the special edition and the original version. With the special edition you get that unnecessarily long feeling, BUT you get some background on Ripley's family which brings a lot to the story as Chris says, and you also get that brief 5 second scene that is so meaningful where Ripley and Hicks tell each other their first names. That brings so much to their interaction and makes the special edition my favorite.

I saw Aliens in the theater the summer after the 8th grade, and was blown away. The practical effects still stand today and even look better than most movies today. Thanks for this review!

Saw it in the theater and is still my all time favorite movie of all time!

Hey, Chris, I know you're busy, but when you find the time, could you review RoboCop (1987)? Also, definitely looking forward to your review of Alien 3. Personally, I prefer the Assembly Cut to the Theatrical Cut, but I'm interested in seeing what you and your buddy think about it.

Top review man. Just discovered your channel and you’re on point! Thank you 👌🏻👍🏻

My favourite movie of all time with the best one-liner of all time. I think Newt is the key to this movie in that she brings out the humanity in all the characters, especially Ripley. The tension as they try to plan their survival behind the barricades. Director's cut all the way.

review the Phantom pain

Hey Chris with Dunkirk coming out soon why don't you review some old war movies e.g saving private Ryan ,black hawk down and more interested in your thoughts about these films just a suggestion keep up the good work

Chris I have a technical question about the film based on your review. I will assume that you have seen the actual theatrical release of Aliens, namely the cargo hanger duel between Ripley and the Queen. (Spoiler Alert) Most versions skip/cut through the scene where Ripley actually cuts off the tip of the Queens tail. The 2003 Special Edition, which I upgraded from my severely edited VHS copy. Was promoted as including 17 Min of deleted scenes, and did include some footage from the theatrical release such as the machine gun tunnel turrets, but not the complete Hanger Fight. I'm thinking of buying the Blue Ray 6 film set which claims to include both the Theatrical and 2003 Special edition, etc. So my question is this...have you seen the hanger fight tail cut off footage. And if yes which version did you see it included in the film, and not as deleted scenes. Anyone else who might have the answer please weigh in. I want to make sure I buy the right release that actually includes that footage. Thanks.

I was 11 when I saw Aliens.. actually before the first film Alien. I thought Aliens was amazing. I got around to seeing Alien about a year later--my parents were reticent about my seeing an R rated gore fest. I didn't appreciate Scott's film until I was a little older--17 or 18--when the SciFi channel did an Alien marathon with the director's cut scenes. After that, I loved Alien. I think it's one of the greatest films of all time, from a design standpoint, direction, writing, acting... I love that movie, and consider it one of the few perfect films. Aliens, however, is still amazing. So many films and games have tried to mimic 'space marines vs monsters' and failed, utterly. I appreciate these reviews. Good stuff

Everybody is so "Aliens is great, but Alien is a better movie overall" and shit to sound like a knowledgeable film enthusiast. I enjoy watching Aliens a lot more than Alien. Alien is fucking amazing and still holds up to this day as one of the best both in the horror and sci-fi genres, but Aliens is just another level. I could watch Aliens, Terminator 2 and Robocop every day for the rest of my life and never get sick.

I give it an *A* Mother Fucking *+* !!!

1986. Third act so white knuckle, I literally put grip indentions in my arm rests. The theater was silent, all shook with Cameron’s mastery of pacing and action sequences. My friend was so worked over the film, he drove us into a ditch on the way home. Now that’s a reaction.

First time i saw it was with my grandpa as a kid. I loved it so much grandpa would play it every time i would visit. We would talk about the movie after with our ideas of how everything worked, the universe etc.. Wish my grandpa was still here, least i have many amazing memories of him and every time i watch this iam reminded.

1:09 you just know he wanted to say "I grew up with aliens"

This movie is godlike.

The actor who played Newt's brother in the extended director's cut is Carrie Henn's older brother Christopher Henn.

Pvt Hudson: "Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen!" (RIP Bill Paxton).

I can give you three reasons for why Alien is that little bit better than Aliens 1. By its very nature, Aliens can't help but diminish the creature's uniqueness 2. There's a certain timelessness to Alien whereas Aliens has a certain 80s-ness 3. Good horror is harder to come by than good action

When did Chris' comment section become so toxic?

LOVING YOUR METROID T-SHIRT, which is highly inspired by this movie series!

It's crazy to think that for Ripley the events of the first three alien films occurred to her over the course of days while it actually took place over hundreds of years.

I prefer "Alien" for the simple reason that it plays up the mystery more. The derelict, the fossilised space jockey, its all left open it doesn't create plot holes by leaving these unanswered. "Aliens" demystified them a tiny bit by fleshing out their life cycle/hive society but at least it didn't beat us over the head with a flash back origin story.

Alien better than Aliens? Really? Okay, Alien IS the mother of all Sci-Fi, monster, horror movies combined, but you have to admit that Aliens brought a much-needed human aspect to Ripley that was absent in the first movie. In Aliens, Ripley transitioned from survivor to mother F***ing bad-ass because of how fleshed-out her character had become. And that scene with Ripley and Newt facing the Xenomorph queen? The definition of suspense!

Hey Chris, love the channel and I've been watching for a long time. I gotta say: these recent reviews have seriously been lacking in content. This is a 6 minute video that really doesn't even try to say anything even remotely interesting about the film in question. I love that you like the movie, I just wish there was more effort put into these. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your Alien3 review. Have a good night!

Aliens is my favorite film in the franchise, and one of my fave movies in general. Everything about this movie is absolutely perfect for it's genre. The fact that a young director James Cameron pulled off the stuff with the Queen is still amazing. Weaver is awesome, but that supporting cast is so great too...Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser. I loved that Biehn, Paxton and Henriksen turned up in so many movies together over the years. Listen to the cast commentary on DVD. They have such an incredible bond together, and Paxton is just the funniest and most charming guy in the world. RIP.