Written and Directed by James Cameron, who also directed:
Ghosts of the Abyss 2003
Titanic 1997
Terminator 2 1991
The Abyss 1989
The Terminator 1984

DVD Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Original Theatrical Trailer
Interview with James Cameron
Behind The Scenes Footage
Still Photo Section
Includes over 17 Minutes of Restored Footage

The colonists on LV-246 are terror formers and planet engineers who are sent there to set up atmoshere processors to make the air breathable, the colony is called Hapleys Hope and the population is 158.
When they arrive on LV-426 the place is totally desolate, the inside of the colony has serious damage but no sign of life, they come across a young girl, Newt. Ripley automatically becomes her protector and they develop a really strong bond. All the people on the colony have transmitters surgically installed which helps the marines to track them down to underneath the pressing station, expecting the colonists to be gathered together, the marines are shocked to discover that all the colonists are in fact dead or being used as hosts for the alien embryo's. It is in this point of the film that all hell breaks loose!
Needless to say the marines begin to taken Ripley seriously and they arrange to be picked up from the colony by the drop ship in order to get back to the mothership and nuke planet LV-426 in to next week. It is at this point that Burke orders then not to do it as the atmosphere processor is worth millions, but Ripley informs him that it is a military operation so he has no authority. Unfortunately the drop ship that is coming to collect them has an alien aboard which kills the driver and the ship crashes before Ripley and the marines manage to make there escape.
Feeling quite isolated and doomed Ripley and Co set up a base within the colony and try to figure a way out of the situation.
Aliens has real a real Vietnam element to it(hi tech war against low tech enemy) James Cameron who was a production designer before he became a director took a keen role in re designing the aliens, he wanted to make the alien suit simpler so that the actors in them were able to concentrate more on there movement which is why you will notice a more life like movement to them in this film.
The aliens in this film have 3 fingers as opposed to the 6 in Alien and their craniums have a "ribbed" effect whereas they have a smooth effect in Alien. The alien foetus has arms in this film whereas in Alien it did not..

James Cameron has decided to take things one step further in this film by introducing a queen alien who produces eggs. Cameron took the idea from ants (warrior and queen ants) therefore creating the mentality that all of the aliens in the film are catching and immobilising humans to impregnate them using the face huggers and therefore insuring the survival of the species.

Cameron also brough alot of hi tech equipment to the story for example the motion trackers, endless weapons and of course the cargo loader, all of which were essential to the story.

Overall I really liked the film, it was full of action, suspense and the one thing I really liked about the film was the fact that there were more aliens and Cameron has attempted to show us reasoning behind the aliens and what they do, the Marine characters were at first annoying but towards the end of the film I really did begin to like them.

The DVD itself has a really nice looking menu and the picture has been digitally mastered so it is sharp and clear. The only downside to the DVD was I thought there could have been more special features but I guess you cant win them all.