Alien has a dark purity about it, it’s nihilistic and nasty, and portrays the universe as a place hostile to human life. The original ending had Ripley die in the escape shuttle just when she thought she was safe - the studio wrestled Ridley back from that one.
Aliens is more humanistic and hopeful. Cameron is much better with characters, he adds many new shades to Ripley and every new character is memorable and quotable. The aliens become bugs and less obviously phallic Geiger-demons, the fact that they’re relatively easy to kill diminishes the threat a little, but by the time you see the queen it’s all just too awesome. The character building, plot setups and suspense all lay the foundations for possibly the greatest last 40 minutes in cinema - a breathtaking rollercoaster and epic final conflict.
The sequel aggressively crapped all over Aliens, and Ridley’s prequels double-down on his alien life-cycle and try to negate Cameron’s additions, but they all fail to diminish Aliens’ position as the king, or queen, of the series.
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