![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/a/aliens.jpg)
Aliens: Special Edition
Found drifting in space after 57 years, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the lone survivor of the Nostromo, regains her health but loses her pilot's license after an official inquiry. It is only when a colony of humans drops out of contact — a colony based on the same planet that Ripley claims the Nostromo encountered a deadly alien species — that she is urged by her employers to join a platoon of interstellar Marines that will investigate. In this celebrated sequel to Ridley Scott's ultra-creepy 1979 Alien, James Cameron made a smart move by refusing to cover old territory, and instead fashioning an entirely new story that, while retaining much of H.R. Giger's art design, dispenses with the haunted-house horror and concentrates on the hardware. Cameron's wide variety of spaceships and weaponry are fascinating creations, and the entire cast delivers memorable performances, in particular Paul Reiser as a spineless corporate shill and Bill Paxton as an obnoxious Marine. Cameron's use of the female/maternal protagonist (a common theme in his oeuvre) is ready-made for Sigourney Weaver's single-minded Ripley, and makes Aliens one of the few action films that will engross women just as much as men (if not more so). Also starring Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, Jenette Goldstein, and Al Matthews. This edition includes 17 minutes of additional footage that was cut from the theatrical release. Great transfer from an excellent source print, DD 5.1 or Dolby 2.0. Special-edition extras include interview footage with Cameron, behind-the-scenes footage, an extensive photo gallery, and teaser trailers of all four films in the Alien series.
—JJB
