Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4607 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-15
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 148 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
James Cameron's Aliens digests all the virtues of Alien and regurgitates them bigger, louder and brasher than before. By the simple expedient of turning the singular beast of the original into a plural, Cameron transforms the franchise's focus from horror to all-out action. Sigourney Weaver's Ripley--one of the strongest roles for a female lead in mainstream cinema--is centre-stage throughout, more than able to hold her own either among the butch Marines and insectoid aliens. Although the director later revealed that there were only ever six alien costumes in any one shot, rapid-fire editing makes it seem like hundreds. Aliens is one of the most dynamic, viscerally exciting movies of the decade and, as a bug-fest, remained unsurpassed until the glorious Starship Troopers in 1997.

On the DVD: The Director's Cut reinstates 17 crucial minutes of footage deleted from the theatrical release. It reveals how the colony on LV-426 encountered the aliens, and more importantly why Ripley's maternal bond with Newt is so strong, which adds an extra dimension to the film's climax. Also included is a short, fairly bland interview with James Cameron, recorded at the time of the cinema release, as well as some background explanation on how specific special effects were created. Unlike the Alien disc, there is no directorial commentary. --Mark Walker

Amazon.co.uk Review
Aliens is one of the few cases of a sequel that far surpassed the original. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, who awakens on Earth only to discover that she has been hibernating in space so long that everyone she knows is dead. Then she is talked into travelling (along with a squad of Marines) to a planet under assault by the same aliens that nearly killed her. Once she gets there, she finds a lost little girl who triggers her maternal instincts--and she discovers that the company has once again double-crossed her, in hopes of capturing one of the aliens to study as a military weapon. Directed and written by James Cameron, this is one of the most intensely exciting (not to mention intensely frightening) action films ever, with a large ensemble cast that includes Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, and Michael Biehn. Weaver defined the action woman in this film and walked away with an Oscar nomination for her trouble. --Marshall Fine

DVD Description
Ripley must fight not one creature, but thousands - this time it's war.

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece sci-fi/action/war movie
Aliens is probably my favorite film of all time. It is one of the finest examples of a sequel surpassing the original. Not that Alien is bad, far from it, Alien is a fantastic film and a benchmark in cinema history. It set a very high standard, but is a very different type of film.

Aliens has everything, intense action/suspense, good story, characters you care about that have very individual personalities, excellent pacing, detail and subtlety when needed, stunning special effects and a great musical score. Despite being set in the future it is believable, mostly due to the quality acting by the cast and the non-CGI special effects. The character interplay is pheonominal and there is a lot of believable emotion throughout.

It is without doubt the best of the Alien films and one of the best sci-fi action movies ever made. Probably James Cameron's best movie although Terminator 2 is right up there too. Many films have tried to do similar things in this genre but nothing comes close. It doesn't get any better than this!

A slow beginning, but a fast end
Just finishing Aliens, I can see that it is a film that has inspired many others, just like its prequel, and I can also see some influences of Thunderbirds, in the way the space ships are built.

This sequel is set years after Alien.

It has an extremely slow beginning - quite a lot of the film shown did not need to be there. But, with some new loveable, and some non-loveable, characters, the pace soon quickens, making this film a match for its prequel. However, I still think that this film tops it.

Arguably best movie ever
First of all great review Lee Madden, i echo everything you say.

You know when you watch a films deleted scenes or you watch a directors cut with them included and you think "yes i can see why they left them out"? Well this is not one of those movies.

Every new scene from the colonists at the start to the sentry guns just adds to the quality of the film. This is the best extended version of a film ever.

You can read what everyone else says, legendary characters and the dialogue is so good you could quote it all day. This film is a masterpiece, pure and simple.