Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Sci-Fi
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 17 mins
ReleasedJuly 18, 1986
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorJames Cameron
StarringSigourney Weaver
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Aliens (1986)
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| Aliens's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 07/18/1986 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 17 mins |
| Budget | $18.5M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Characters by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett |
| Country | United States, United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Aliens's Interests | |
| General | Pulse rifles, motion trackers, power loaders, dropships, hypersleep pods, a whole lot of beeping. |
| Music | James Horner. Military drums with a heartbeat of pure dread. |
| Movies | Alien (1979). That was the quiet one. This is the loud one. |
| Television | The Expanse. Space is still huge, and Marines still swagger. |
| Heroes | Vasquez. Toughest Marine on the ship, never asks twice. |
| Aliens's Crew | |
| Director | James Cameron |
| Writers | James Cameron, James Cameron (story), David Giler (story), Walter Hill (story) |
| Producers | Gale Anne Hurd |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Music | James Horner |
| Edited By | Ray Lovejoy |
| Production | Brandywine Productions |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Ridley Scott built a haunted house in space. James Cameron kicked the door in with a squad of Marines who talk like they’ve already won. That’s the fun and the flaw. The Marines are mostly loud stereotypes in matching gear, and you can guess who won’t last by how much they brag. Paul Reiser plays a company man so smarmy you’ll want to check your wallet. The first act is slow setup, too. But when it goes, it goes. Bill Paxton’s Hudson panics in the funniest way possible, Lance Henriksen makes an android the most trustworthy person on the ship, and Sigourney Weaver turns Ripley into the fiercest protector in sci-fi. The power loader is still the coolest outfit in movies. A 9.1 because it swaps dread for adrenaline and somehow loses almost nothing. $461 says you rewatch it and still yell at the screen the second Burke starts talking.
What works: Sigourney Weaver’s fierce, protective Ripley, Bill Paxton’s panicky Hudson, and a final act built for maximum adrenaline.
What doesn’t: The Marines are mostly loud stereotypes, Burke reads as a villain from the second he smiles, and the first act takes a long time to get moving.
Who it’s for: Action fans who want their sci-fi loud, sweaty and smart, and anyone who ever wanted to fight a monster in a forklift.
Spoilers
Burke wants the creatures brought home as weapons and tries to get Ripley and Newt infected to smuggle them back. Ripley rescues Newt from the queen’s nest, and when the queen stows away on the ship, Ripley fights her in the power loader and sends her out the airlock, with Hicks, Newt and Bishop still alive.
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) wakes up after fifty-seven years drifting in hypersleep, and nobody at the Weyland-Yutani company believes her story about the creature. Worse, the moon where her old crew found it, LV-426, now has a colony of families living on it. When the colony stops answering, company man Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) talks Ripley into flying back out as an advisor to a squad of Colonial Marines, including Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn), Private Hudson (Bill Paxton) and Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein). The Marines are sure this will be easy. James Cameron directs. One hundred thirty-seven minutes, game over, man.
Anyone certified on a power loader. Motion tracker strongly recommended.
| Sigourney Weaver | Ellen Ripley |
| Michael Biehn | Dwayne Hicks |
| Paul Reiser | Carter J. Burke |
| Lance Henriksen | Bishop |
| Carrie Henn | Rebecca "Newt" Jorden |
| Bill Paxton | Hudson |
| William Hope | Gorman |
| Ricco Ross | Frost |
| Al Matthews | Apone |