Reviewers consistently praised Weaver's performance. Benson called her the film's "white-hot core" around whose "defiant intelligence" and "sensual athleticism" "Aliens" was built, and Ripley returned not for vengeance but out of compassion. Ebert credited Weaver's sympathetic performance with holding the film together. Kogan compared her to a more attractive John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone's action character). Scott agreed, saying Weaver made action stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger look like male pin-up models. He described her as the ultimate adventure heroine, balancing action with femininity and maternal instincts. Critical of the film overall as a "mechanical" and "inflated example of formula gothic", Pauline Kael praised Weaver: "With her great cheekbones, her marvelous physique, and her lightness of movement, Weaver seems to take over by natural authority and her strength as an actress. Her surprisingly small, tense mouth holds all the suspense in the story ... Weaver gives the movie a presence; without her it’s a B picture that lacks the subplots and corny characters that can make B pictures amusing."