A sequel even better than the original, with James Cameron in his element. It's an entirely different movie from the first one, which was basically a haunted house film in space - this one is mostly an action film. I always read this film as an indictment of American soldiers in Vietnam (or really any over confident world power in the third world): a bunch of cocky, gung-ho, heavily supplied soldiers get in totally over their heads in a hostile environment and get wiped out. The army here really aren't very good - they lack discipline, are poorly led, panic, and overly trigger happy. The film doesn't endorse these qualities (except maybe the "kill them all mentality" as it is espoused by Ripley) which is what makes it so entertaining (a sensibly led proper army surely would have found it easier to deal with the aliens - actually maybe I'm being a bit harsh: they do the right thing after the initial attack, they just have to deal with a traitor).
There is some excellent acting: Sigourney Weaver confirms she's a star with her lead performance (she's maybe not the best actor in the world, with some lines of dialogue she's a bit wooden, but she is charismatic and a half). Top support cast, too: Michael Biehn as the sensible Hicks, the dynamic Vasquez (a real find and its disappointing her subsequent career didn't come to much - one would have thought she'd at least made a solid made-for-video star), Paul Reiser in perhaps his best big screen performance as a slimy corporate yuppie (though not one without courage - no one credits him for that, he does show bravery at times), Lance Henrickson as the decent, kindly Bishop (a superb example of sympathetic underplaying) and most of all Bill Paxton as the quintessential 80s gung ho coward. Thrilling, explosive and logical. Maybe the final fight between the alien and Ripley in the loader is one too many.
NB the director's cut put back some scenes which I think was a mistake. I know the whole Ripley-finds-out-her-daughter-is-dead scene gives some extra resonance to her being asleep for so long and finding a new daughter in the form of Newt, etc but it wasn't really needed - the audience reads those things in anyway. Secondly the scene on the planet where we see Newt and her family first isn't really necessary either - it's a lot more effective to just land on the planet without knowing what or who is down there.
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