While Ridley Scott did not return as director, they got someone to take the reins that seems to have proven in teeny tiny ways that he was capable of the job, a man named James Cameron. This film is better (which isn't an easy task considering how good "Alien" was) simply because more care is put into the creation of the characters. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, and this time, she gets more dialogue to express who she is underneath the rather sheltered heroin from the first film. She has not given dialog just to hear Sigourney Weaver speak, because this dialogue really expresses the lessons that she has learned through the events of the first film, and how secrets of her personal life impacted the way she was as a human.
Sigourney's recipient of an Oscar nomination for this film is no joke, even if it is the first for a woman in a science fiction film. She truly is magnificent, and in moving up the ranks after a couple of films in the late 70's, she truly proved the notion that she wasn't just a fluke. When seen at the beginning of the film, she is having a nightmare of being back in space and the victim of the alien utilizing her through inserting another monster inside her. It takes a lot of convincing for her to go back into space, but once she is there and settled in, she is willing and determine under every circumstance to destroy the evil force that could bring around the destruction of the universe.
This is a heroin that the women can look up to and men are comfortable with her because she feels like someone you could pal around with. Her interactions with the other members of the crew (which includes a very tough younger woman, Jenette Goldstein, who basically ridicules her at the beginning) vary from person to person because she is someone who obviously judges on strength of character. Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn have very unique personality is quite different from each other that have different types of relationships with Weaver's character.
A little bit of tenderness is added through the presence of a nine-year-old girl (Carrie Henn) they find as the only survivor on a space vehicle, and if they were looking for a nine-year-old who could scream loudly non-stop, they accomplished what they set out to do. It gets to be a bit piercing at times, but if the viewer just thinks of how they would react in a similar situation, then they may be able to tolerate it more. Like the first one, this is non-stop action, but scores higher simply because they put more effort into making it more than just Another Science Fiction / space monster movie. This really has great themes and ideas, and 35 years later, is it true classic, with the leading lady who has become one of the great movie heroines of all time.
Sigourney's recipient of an Oscar nomination for this film is no joke, even if it is the first for a woman in a science fiction film. She truly is magnificent, and in moving up the ranks after a couple of films in the late 70's, she truly proved the notion that she wasn't just a fluke. When seen at the beginning of the film, she is having a nightmare of being back in space and the victim of the alien utilizing her through inserting another monster inside her. It takes a lot of convincing for her to go back into space, but once she is there and settled in, she is willing and determine under every circumstance to destroy the evil force that could bring around the destruction of the universe.
This is a heroin that the women can look up to and men are comfortable with her because she feels like someone you could pal around with. Her interactions with the other members of the crew (which includes a very tough younger woman, Jenette Goldstein, who basically ridicules her at the beginning) vary from person to person because she is someone who obviously judges on strength of character. Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn have very unique personality is quite different from each other that have different types of relationships with Weaver's character.
A little bit of tenderness is added through the presence of a nine-year-old girl (Carrie Henn) they find as the only survivor on a space vehicle, and if they were looking for a nine-year-old who could scream loudly non-stop, they accomplished what they set out to do. It gets to be a bit piercing at times, but if the viewer just thinks of how they would react in a similar situation, then they may be able to tolerate it more. Like the first one, this is non-stop action, but scores higher simply because they put more effort into making it more than just Another Science Fiction / space monster movie. This really has great themes and ideas, and 35 years later, is it true classic, with the leading lady who has become one of the great movie heroines of all time.