You can make a Vietnam style film that is beautiful to look at (Apocalypse Now.) But the more raw "Platoon-esque" (two months before Platoon no less) documentary-style film was absolutely the way to go. I find that not only is ALIENS the most timeless of all the films in the series (a retro war film but with forward thinking elements like 16:9 monitors in all facilities/vehicles that wouldn't become standard in real life until more than a decade later) but it's one of the most timeless sci-fi actioners period. Lose a couple moments of obvious rear projection and Ripley's 80's Reeboks and the film has elements of the 70's, 80's, even today with "totally played it straight" production values and performances across the board (minus a couple weak line readings by Paxton that are mostly in the extended cut.)
If horror movies are your thing then you certainly won't prefer ALIENS. If dismissing Cameron's entire body of work because he's gone off the rails with Avatar is your thing then again, ALIENS won't be for you either. But I remember Joss Whedon lamenting back in 1997 that he knew after Alien 3 everyone wanted the promised "Earth War" but that it just wasn't feasible to actually have that play out on screen. He said, "aside from the budget being insurmountable it's not going to be this thing where the aliens come to earth and are hiding under your bed." But Cameron himself had already come up with an excuse to bring every kid's nightmare to life, your mom tucks you in bed and you're left alone in your room while you know there are monsters lurking around, with the whole Ripley tucking in Newt thing. He squeezed damn near every awesome scenario you could possibly imagine with these creatures into one film, no small reason IMO why it's been so hard for any director to do a satisfying follow-up since 1986, Ridley Scott included.
If horror movies are your thing then you certainly won't prefer ALIENS. If dismissing Cameron's entire body of work because he's gone off the rails with Avatar is your thing then again, ALIENS won't be for you either. But I remember Joss Whedon lamenting back in 1997 that he knew after Alien 3 everyone wanted the promised "Earth War" but that it just wasn't feasible to actually have that play out on screen. He said, "aside from the budget being insurmountable it's not going to be this thing where the aliens come to earth and are hiding under your bed." But Cameron himself had already come up with an excuse to bring every kid's nightmare to life, your mom tucks you in bed and you're left alone in your room while you know there are monsters lurking around, with the whole Ripley tucking in Newt thing. He squeezed damn near every awesome scenario you could possibly imagine with these creatures into one film, no small reason IMO why it's been so hard for any director to do a satisfying follow-up since 1986, Ridley Scott included.
My only issue is that I think ALIENS takes a bit too long to set up. Not for first time viewing mind you... It was all fine the first time I saw it but now I find the stretch of first landing on the planet till they find ALIEN hive to really drag.. There are other moments that drag for me (especially in the Director's cut) but overall it's a well put together adventure and I really would not change anything.
