Review Detail

It's a tragedy that I had to watch Aliens a second time, hot on the heels of Bobson's other edit of this tremendous sequel, but alas, these are the sacrifices one makes for one's hobbies...

But seriously, folks, this is another great crack at Aliens, and I'm glad to have more snippets woven back into this masterpiece. I'll admit, having been a bit spoiled by the "No Hope Edition" I skipped over the Hadley's Hope sequence here too, and that definitely added to the experience. The main draw here, the titular scene of Burke in the hive, is interesting but ultimately tonally unnecessary. We've seen Burke get his xenomorphic comeuppance, seeing him later on as a pathetic victim just elicits unearned sympathy from the viewer.

I'd love to see an "expanded No Hope Edition" down the road, with the snippets from this version, but without either Hadley's Hope or Burke's cocooning. If I have to flip a coin in the future to decide which edit to watch, there's much worse problems one could have.