“Vasquez, Have you ever been mistaken for a man?”
“No.... have you?”
That will forever be one of my favourite movie comebacks.

About Bill Paxton. Most of his lines in this movie was improvised, not just the game over line. He was such a gem of an actor. Bless his soul.

I always liked the fact that Ripley's demotion to dock duties pays off at the end. Not shoehorned in. You are so right.

My generation grew up on sci-fi films where the finale is a woman fighting a giant, female alien, to protect a little girl. Or the finale is a woman with a broken arm firing and reloading a combat shotgun with one hand to protect her son from a murderous robot. Or where a woman takes over the bungled attempt to rescue her from a battle station and organises everyone to safety, before using her contacts to organise an entire space fleet to destroy said battle station (and I could continue at length with Buffy, Farscape, TNG, Voyager, B5, etc, etc.). We adored those women - if you hung around boys in a playground in the 80s and 90s you'd quickly pick up the worship. I can still remember the excited conversations at the back of boring school lessons: "How awesome was it when Ripley duct-taped all those guns together into one massive gun", "How cool was it when Sarah Connor was pumping that massive shotgun with one arm", etc. In fact I'm pretty sure Linda Hamilton was the first woman I ever fell in love with :D We loved them because the characters were great, they were believable, they had strengths and weaknesses that drew us into empathising with their difficulties then rooting for them when they eventually found a way to overcome adversity, and their growth knitted fluidly into the story. We empathised with the scatty waitress terrified by the invincible robot assassin, then roared in celebration when she found the courage to crush it, despite her own injuries. We loved the soldier she slowly made herself into and mourned the elements of herself that she realised she'd lost along the way.

The characters and story took absolute priority over everything else. And all the characters in each story were driven to try and cooperate with each other when push came to shove, because more was at stake than their own egos. My generation was very fortunate to enjoy a golden age of better-crafted films where soldiers, pilots, engineers, doctors, captains, technicians, nurses, admirals, psychologists, etc were male or female and everyone willingly accepted it without even batting an eyelid because a) it was fucking cool and b) the character-writing was skillful, careful, and given priority. That age of sci-fi films and TV presented a future of 'cooperation to overcome adversity', of 'growth from hopeless to better'. A future where (as in Aliens, when Ripley demonstrates her training with the loader) false assumptions about people's capabilities were laughed at for their folly when they were exposed, and said exposure became part of the characters growth towards a shared direction. Characters learned about each other and altered their perceptions of each other based on these learnings, and thus they grew. Apone learns that Ripley has worked hard to become as skilled with heavy machinery as his grunts are, because she needed a job. Ripley learns that Hudson is more than just a flighty, loud-mouthed coward when he eventually finds his own courage. We all got on board with it because it was real, it was conceivable and relatable, thanks to the care and attention taken to prioritise character development and story craft over everything else. And of course the professionalism, dedication, and grace of actors like S.Weaver, L.Hamilton, C.Fisher, C.Christian, M.Furlan, C. Black, S.M.Gellar, and K.Mulgrew, to name a few. They inspired us.

But apparently Brie Larson, Tessa Thompson, and Kathleen Kennedy have figured out that this was the wrong way to do it, and that what should inspire the next generation is being an entitled arsehole, not showing any weakness ever (because weakness is bad), and being keen to attack and humiliate anyone they feel like. Ladies and gentlemen: these women are pure Cobra Kai, and we all know what happened there (y)

(BTW: RIP Mr. Miagi)

There wasn't a single by-the-books romantic scene between Hicks and Ripley and those two had more chemistry in one movie than two seasons of Jon Snu and Daenerys Bend-dee-knee.

Aliens Is the gold standard in how you make a movie. Every scene has value…there is no fluff!!

The Drinker GPS: “You’ve driven yourself into a lake. Nah, it’ll be fine.”

The thing for me is the spectacular character arcs of the marines and their redemption after first contact. Hudson goes down in a blaze of glory, Gorman goes back for Vasquez knowing it’s certain death, Vasquez shows she vulnerable at the end (although still badass), Bishop comes back to the platform. Every time I watch this film it’s like revisiting old friends. “Outstanding”

Genuinely a masterpiece of a movie. Not a single fault in terms of plot, cast, script and story. Modern filmmakers can learn a lot from this

Hudson has the best line of the whole movie. “Why don’t you put her in charge?”

If this movie were made today, the character intros would be filled with clumsy exposition, ala Suicide Squad- "This is Hudson. If you need a com relay patched during an ion storm, he's your man. This is Vasquez. She may look small, but she packs a big punch. Trust me, you do NOT want to piss her off."

Best Hudson line: "They cut the power? How could they cut the power? They're animals!"

Here I am in 2023 listening to this and now planning to go home and watch again. It’s been years and if I can find it I’ll watch the first one as well.

I hate that people go on about “strong female characters” like it was an idea born in 2017.

This was made in 1986 and it wasn’t even the first to do it.

"They can bill me" 🤣 my favourite line .

Alien 3: The original F you to fans and subverting your expectations.

This movies side characters had more likeability and character development than most the protagonists shat out if Hollywood these days. Gorman redeeming himself by going back to help Vasquez and dying beside her was just awesome.

Yea, this movie is basically a sci-fi action masterpiece. One of the greatest movies of all time, and perhaps my personal favourite.

I felt like Hudson was one of the best characters in this film....I'm tempted to say 2nd after the lead Ripley. So sad when he got dragged away.

RIP Bill Paxton.

I had to stop halfway through and watch the movie again. Good job guys.

I remember being a kid and being absolutely devastated at Hudson’s death.  I was even angry at the time 😂