Disclaimer, this is a review of the edited version so that it does not receive an R rating. These thoughts are specifically from that version and the score will likely differ from uncut and cut versions.

You may remember my review of the first Alien film as it was only a few months ago. It was a pretty decent Alien film and while it may not be as amazing as all of the hype, it was solid. If not for the small aliens that blow people up, the score may have been even higher. Can the sequel surpass the original classic? Let’s find out!

First, I will say that the premise is excellent! “This time it’s War” is a great tagline and it does get you hyped for the film. Unfortunately, it may raise the bar a little too high for the actual film to reach. The main problem is that the film doesn’t feel like it is a war. The scientists are skeptical so once again, an unprepared team is sent out to fight the creatures. Aw man……

The plot involves Ripley as she makes it back home in one piece. Her cat appears briefly, but that’s a good thing. This film manages to avoid one crucial fact…no animals are destroyed! Awesome eh? Ripley tries to warn everyone that there are Aliens out there, but “they” (The big shots) don’t believe her. After all, a lot of families are living on the planet, so it sounds like it’s all good right? (Where were they in the first film? Well, the main character was asleep for 50 years, but even so…)

Unfortunately, they lose contact with the planet. This could only mean one thing….obviously there are no such things as aliens, so the government seems to think that it’s another country. At least, that’s the vibe that I was picking up. They convince Ripley to go along with a group of….Trained Professionals! Obviously, they’re prepared to deal with what comes up. Unfortunately, they joke around a lot and are very unlikable. “Game Over Man!” is probably the best line that’s uttered in the film.

There are quite a lot of fighters at first, but after the first major Alien scene, let’s just say that the cast is whittled down to size. Will the survivors make it off the planet or will they be the next skeletons on the planet? Ripley doesn’t plan on dying here, but things sometimes take a turn for the worst. Ripley is all right at best, but I’m not a fan of the character. She’s better than the kid, but that’s not saying much. It’s really hard to root for the gunmen and even the android isn’t a great character. The Aliens are definitely a lot more charismatic.

Were the Aliens exceptionally cool? Well, there were a lot of them, but it’s definitely quantity over quality. The Aliens go down pretty quickly when met with gunfire and dozens of them lose to one warrior. The Alien Queen is definitely a smart opponent, but I wouldn’t say that she’s much stronger than the average alien. You seemed to be having some trouble with an outdated mecha that was lying around. Still, the Aliens do have a pretty neat design for the most part.

All in all, this film was much better than the first film. One would expect a higher rating if that’s the case right? Well, sometimes things aren’t so straightforward and the ratings can get sketchy. Still, for the record, Aliens is better than Alien. The film still has it’s share of negatives including some language scattered about, the Aliens who blow people up, (I’ll never like those guys. It’s just too…graphically intense!) and a pretty Awful character roster. With all of the gross out moments that happen in the film, you’ll also want to make sure that you haven’t had lunch in a while. There’s also not much of a soundtrack to get behind, but that’s the case with most films. There were significant moments where a lot of plot hax was used, but it’s to be expected in the long run. If you liked the first film, then you’ll probably like this one. I lightly recommend it to those who want a nice adventure with aliens and “Hardcore” characters, but I wouldn’t recommend it to those who don’t like violence. If you want a true alien adventure, check out Superman vs Doomsday!

Overall 4/10

Tremors is a film that you may have heard of, but perhaps it has not been mentioned in your past. There are giant monsters creatures who are out to wreck havok and it’s up to the two main characters to stop him. Will they be able to save the world, or at least their home!? It’s crunch time!

Well, the plot involves Val and Earl as they go around helping people with small jobs. It may not be the greatest work out there, but it’s fulfilling and they’re making a difference. They decide to leave town and head for greater things, but they find a dead person. After that, people start disappearing and the monsters start to show themselves. It may be too late to leave the city and they may not even get to leave this place with their lives!

One thing that I have to note about this film is the fact that I forgot the names of the two main characters almost immediately. I can only vaguely recall them mentioning the names during the film and the characters are more memorable than their names. This may not be very surprising, but it’s still a bad sign when you can’t remember the names of the characters. I wouldn’t say that any of them were likable characters either.

They spend most of the film arguing and they tend to panic when the going gets tough. I doubt that either of them would last a few seconds against a true warrior, which brings me to Burt. Burt was definitely a solid character and I dare say that he was the best one in the film. He had a lot of ammunition and along with Heather, they managed to fend off the worms. Burt may have thrown in the towel a few times, but without his grenades and raw power, the main characters would have died out a long time ago.

There are other characters, but they don’t really do anything important. There’s a character who’s monitoring the tremors in the area and she ends up helping out against the worms. We’ve also got a teenager who keeps on messing with the main characters. There’s a pretty hardcore shop owner who’s ready to name the giant monsters as well.

Let’s talk about the giant monsters, aka, the Graboids. The Graboids may have sounded really hardcore and epic in the trailer, but there are not that cool in the film. The Graboids are very weak and a construction worker injures one by accident. The Graboid can move at a decent pace when they are underground, but they still end up getting outrun by the humans. Bullets do damage the creature if you aim at the correct spot and they will go down. Since the monster wasn’t that great, that pretty much ended the discussion on whether the film would be really cool or not.

There is also a scene where a lot of animals die and it didn’t really have any point. Once again, animals died because all horror movies need those scenes apparently. This film counts as a horror film in my book because it had giant monsters. The film does contain some pretty graphic violence and I wouldn’t recommend it to kids or the faint of heart and especially not to animal fans

Would I recommend this film to the rest of the world? I don’t think so. When a film lacks a good character cast, any noticeable soundtrack, a good monster, and has animals die for no reason; what did you think would happen? If you want to watch a true Kaiju film, check out Godzilla Final Wars! Otherwise, I’d advise you to just go buy some popcorn at the theater, but don’t watch the actual film. There isn’t really any good reason to watch this one and while it was not awful, I doubt I’ll be seeing it again.

Overall 2/10