Aliens (1986) - #19

Empire top 301: #19
IMDB top 250: #60

Rating 10/10

Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, 
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein , Bill Paxton & Lance Henriksen

"Get away from her, you BITCH!" 

Set 57 years after the events of the first Alien movie, Ripley (Weaver) has been in a deep sleep drifting through space. After being rescued she tries to convince her employer of the disaster aboard the Nostromo. Her employer advises the planet LV-426 has been colonised. The company soon lose contact with the terraforming colony on LV-426 and dispatch a team of marines to the planet to investigate. After suffering constant nightmares about what happened aboard the Nostromo, Ripley wants to face her demons and agrees to go back to LV-426 and help the marines investigate what has happened. 

Where Scott's first Aliens film was all about atmosphere and build up, Cameron's Aliens is just all out action! Once the marines land on LV-426 and first encounter the Aliens it's pretty full on until the end of the movie. Like the first movie, this film has some great tense and suspenseful moments and some brilliant jumpy bits. It also has an amazing score and sound effects. 

The thing that makes Aliens score higher than Alien for me, is the characters. I think the supporting characters in Aliens are some of the strongest from any movie. Whilst Weaver's Ripley steals the show (more on her later), the rest of the cast are just as impressive and I absolutely love their characters. Hudson is my favourite and I think Paxton did a great job. Vasquez, Hicks and Bishop are also superbly written and portrayed. 

Sigourney Weaver is just amazing. Partly down to Weaver but also to Cameron who has managed to develop the character from a straight laced by the book, sort of frightened character to a strong, knows how to handle herself woman and make it believable. I think it's with Aliens that Ripley became the sort of template for the modern day action heroine! Weaver delivers a great performance and has some real acting scenes to sink her teeth into; each time I watch this movie I still find myself glued to the screen!

Cameron does carry over some of the tatics used in the first movie in terms of building the suspense with clever camera work but he also manages to show more of the Aliens and still make them scary. Cameron has just made a really fun, exciting movie and it's one that I can watch over and over again and never get bored. 

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - #28

Empire top 301: #28
IMDb top 250: #34

Rating 9/10

Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron & William Wisher Jr. 
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton & Edward Furlong

"Hasta la vista, baby"

Set 10 years after the events in the first Terminator, another T-101 cyborg is sent back in time, but this time not to complete the previous failed mission to kill Sarah Connor but to protect her son John Connor from another more advanced and powerful Terminator, the T-1000. Sarah, John and the T-101 seek out Miles Dyson (no relation) who works for Cyberdyne to try and change the future by stopping him from creating new a microprocessor that will form the basis for Skynet. Reuniting Schwarzenegger and Hamilton from the first movie, T2 features the two working together and this adds a whole new spin on the story and was a brilliant decision.

Where the first movie was parts action and horror, T2 is just all out action; amazingly filmed action that you can see has influenced so many movies that have followed it. Again Cameron along with William Wisher Jr. has produced an amazing script, filled with even more memorable dialogue and genuine, real laugh out loud moments. There was a time many years ago when I was obsessed with this movie and I could recite every word. 

The film features some of the most amazing action set pieces ever and for the time some really unbelievable CGI. The dirt bike chase scene with the huge truck leaping from the road above down into a concrete flood channel is still spectacular, the kind of stunt where you watch and firstly think "wow", and then secondly "how did they do that?" T2 is much more violent than the first movie, however the fact the 'good' Terminator agrees not to kill people it doesn't feel as extreme. The special effects are amazing and they did a great job on the T-1000's shapeshifting and dissolving into liquid. 

Arnold is still amazing in the role that made him famous, the character has a complete shift in personality but Arnold still makes him menacing, funny and on this time out even a little sweet. I love the relationship between the Terminator and Edward Furlongs' John Connor. Furlong gives a really mature and great performance, although I forgot how screechy and squeaky his voice is at times. He too has some great lines..... "did you call moi, a dipshit?" for example! 

Linda Hamilton is like a completely new character in this movie, gone is the awful perm and constant screaming, replaced by a ripped bad ass chick, to rival Ellen Ripley, who knows how to handle herself. Not only does she look the part but her performance is much improved from T1. I still get goosebumps during the scene when she encounters Schwarzeneggers' Terminator again for the first time. Robert Patrick is a really cool villain and I love how they've reversed the roles, with the big bulky guy being the protector and the skinny scrawny guy being the villain and the more dangerous of the two. 

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a brilliant sci-fi action film; much better than the first. It's an 
absolute must see classic! 

The Terminator (1984) - #107

Empire top 301: #107

IMDb top 250: #174

Rating 8/10

Director: James Cameron

Writers: James Cameron

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton & Michael Biehn

"I'll be back!"

The franchise has now became more known for it's Arnie catchphrases (see above), poor sequels (not including T2) and on set meltdowns (remember Christian Bale's rant at some poor crew member), but the first Terminator released almost 30 years ago is a genuine landmark in Sci-Fi action/horror filmmaking. Schwarzenegger is a cyborg assassin sent back in time from the year 2029 to "Terminate" Sarah Connor (Hamilton), the mother of John Connor, who will grow up and lead humanity in the war against the machines.  Kyle Reese (Biehn) - a human - is also sent back in time to protect Sarah against the deadly cyborg. 

This is the movie that made James Cameron a real force in Hollywood and it's no surprise, his script is clever, interesting and quite dark with some brilliant, quotable dialogue (most, if not all said by Arnold) and his direction is great with bucket loads of tension and superb action set pieces. The special effects, animatronics and make-up do, at times, look a little dated by todays standards but the fact they did what they did with such little budget is astonishing. 

The acting is alright, if maybe a little bit hammy in places. Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as the Terminator, a cyborg of few words but with a massive presence. The few words he does have are delivered brilliantly and hilariously and are so ingrained in pop culture that even if you've never seen the movie you know the quotes and you know who says them. Michael Biehn is a bit hammy at times but not a completely terrible performance and Linda Hamilton's shocking perm will distract you from any kind of performance she is giving, which on the whole is pretty good.

Now, I can't talk about The Terminator without talking about the amazing score. The film features one of the best electronic scores ever! The main theme by Brad Fiedel is instantly recognisable and once in your head you'll be humming it all day long. 

The Terminator is by no means a perfect film; it does look a bit dated now and the Sarah & Kyle romance seems a bit obvious and not needed however, it is a film filled with some great, tension filled, scary moments, some laugh out loud brilliant dialogue and a pitch perfect performance from Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's rightly so become a bit of a classic and it's definitely one to watch!