Aliens (Extended Version)

Fifty-seven years on from Alien (also showing this October), Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is discovered – Sleeping Beauty in space. Plagued by nightmares and surrounded by sceptics, she’s forced to return to the resting place of the original alien’s mother ship with a bunch of seen-it-all-before marines.

Confidently directed by James Cameron (heretofore known only for The Terminator and Piranha II), this sequel dares to build slowly, allowing Weaver to develop a multi-dimensional character even as it ups the ante by fetishising the marines’ hi-tech hardware and spawning legions of aliens (the suspense involves guessing which group will be cannon fodder). There is always an interesting tension in Cameron’s work between masculine and feminine qualities. When the shit finally hits the fan here, we’re in for the mother of all battles.